Our Fantastic Scotland Vacation, August 2003

by Russ Laher

If you are thinking about a European vacation, but don’t want to hassle with the language barrier or the politics of red wine, Scotland is the place for you. My wife and traveling companion, Mami, and I spent twelve lovely days touring this beautiful and sublime country. If it is your first visit to Scotland, as it was for us, you’ll be amazed at the variety of interesting things to experience. The Scottish people are warm and friendly, not to mention well-mannered and polite to an extreme (we heard “sorry” and “thank you” quite often). August is the best time to go, when the weather is warmest and the chance of rain is lowest. Also, to round out the our vacation, the Edinburgh Festival was underway, an “August” tradition there, and we bought tickets in advance online to attend one of its many concerts.

Driving in Scotland

We flew into Glasgow airport. To get around the country, we rented a car from Avis (or as the Scots would say, we hired a car). Only a passport and your regular driver’s license are required (forget the “International Driver’s License”). We were lucky enough to get a brand new car, a Ford Focus with only 19 miles on it! It was big enough to put our two larger suitcases in back and our smaller suitcases on the back seat. We settled for a manual transmission (an automatic is much more expensive and harder to get), but opted for air conditioning, an absolute must for luxurious comfort. The cost of gasoline, or petrol as the Scots say, is approximately $1.30 per liter, which is about $4.85 per gallon (1 British pound = 100 pence = approximately $1.60). Having a car gave us maximum flexibility; we could literally go anywhere, anytime, and we ended up putting close to 1,500 miles on that car over the entire trip. Most of the interesting spots in Scotland are accessible only by motor vehicle. As in England and Japan, the Scots drive on the left-hand side of the road, but it did not take me long to get used to it (I have a lot of experience driving in Japan), although I was a bit rusty the first day, and found myself on the right (wrong) side of the road a couple of times during our tour (fortunately, Mami sounded the alarm before anything bad happened).

Aside from left-handed driving, the roads are paved, in excellent condition, and well sign-posted with route numbers and points-of-interest. One notable difference from the U.S. is the near non-existence of stop signs. Instead, there are yield signs (actually, they read “give way”) and “roundabouts”, which are traffic circles where two or more roads meet. You enter a roundabout in a clockwise direction, yielding to any traffic coming at you on your right. The busier roundabouts have traffic signals controlling the flow into them. Other notable differences are that there is almost no billboard advertising along the roads, and we saw no graffiti whatsoever, a refreshing change. A word to wise: Scotland makes prodigious use of speed cameras on its freeways and highways, and, although warning signs are posted, the cameras are not easy to spot – I’m still checking my mail to see whether I got any speeding tickets (I wasn’t, honest!).

Our trip strategy, which we followed fairly well, was to get a hotel for a few days in Glasgow, then nearby Edinburgh, then Aberdeen to the northeast, then Inverness on the north end of Loch Ness and, finally, Glasgow for the last night. We took many day trips by car to surrounding areas. Scotland is a small country and a lot of ground can be covered in a day by car, with ample time for stops along the way. We even drove all the way to John O’ Groats and the nearby Dunnet Head, the northern-most tip of Scotland.

Hotels

We first stayed for three days at the Glasgow Radisson SAS hotel. It is relatively new (built within the last couple of years), modern, and unique among all the hotels we stayed at in Scotland in that it has air conditioning, with temperature controls that actually work. Downtown Glasgow has a network of one-way streets that makes driving difficult, and we had spent over an hour retracing the same streets while looking for our hotel, which was educational, to say the least. We had to pull over into a double-yellow line, no-parking zone many times to check the map and also to unload our bags in front of the hotel (there is no reception driveway in front of the hotel), but luckily, we didn’t get any parking tickets. There is a parking structure, or car park as the Scots say, across the street from the hotel, and the cost is half-price hotel validation. It’s best to request an upper-floor room overlooking the train station. The hotel has two room decors available, Nordic and Italian, and we experienced both (Nordic for the first three days of our trip, and Italian on the last night).

Our Edinburgh base was the Radisson near Airth Castle, which is actually about 20 miles outside of Edinburgh near the town of Stirling. We figured it was all right to stay outside of Edinburgh, since we had a car, and this turn our fine: we not only had good access to the local sights, such as Stirling Castle and Bannockburn battlefield, but Edinburgh is near enough for our day trips there. Our room was large, as we requested, but instead of the nice views on their website, we got stuck with a view of the construction site and housing development next door (“sorry, a wedding party took all the good rooms”). While this was a disappointment, we took some consolation in the delicious breakfast buffet that was included with the room.

The hotel we had booked in Aberdeen, the Hilton Treetops, was completely different from our expectations. After staying one miserable night there, we moved to the Thistle Hotel in downtown Aberdeen and got the large, second-floor corner front room just above the flags in front of the hotel. It was very nice and also included a good breakfast: a waiter will bring the hot food from the kitchen to your table that you order, and cold buffet-food is also available. The Thistle Hotel is within walking distance of Union Street, where there are many shops and restaurants, including a supermarket. The Aberdeen Art Museum is also a 3-minute walk away.

In Inverness, we stayed for two nights at the Royal Highland Hotel. A very nice old hotel in the heart of town, within walking distance of many shops, a shopping mall, restaurants, and train station.

Shopping

Within walking distance of the Glasgow Radisson, which happens to be just across the street from the central train station, is Buchanan Street, a pedestrian-only street lined with shops and restaurants. Except for the availability of Tartan-wool clothing (kilts, skirts, scarves, socks, etc.) and adornments of traditional Scottish costumes, it is not unlike the Third-Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Plan on spending about $100 for a lady’s wool plaid kilt. The Scottish National flower is the thistle, and you’ll find many goods emblazoned with it; surprisingly, we found this flower still in bloom along the roadside in spots (in August). Similar shops are present along the “Royal Mile” in Edinburgh. Guys, unless you have your eye on a Scottish kilt and all the accoutrements that are worn with it on formal occasions, such as a knife to tuck in your hose (all of which will cost you plenty), your best shopping will be at the distilleries in northeast Scotland. Not only is it a good excuse to buy some Scotch whiskey, but they also let you sample it before you buy. We went to the Strathisla distillery in Keith, the oldest working distillery in the Highlands, home of “Chevas Regal”, but we didn’t touch any of that blended garbage (thanks to Professor Gertmenian of Pepperdine University for setting me straight about this). We sampled their various single malt Scotches, and I bought a bottle of 120-proof Aberlour A’bunadh (siphoned directly from the cask and not watered down) and a cool engraved hip flask.

Museums

We visited a few art museums during our stay in Scotland. We wanted to see the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, but found it is now closed until early 2006 for refurbishment. Instead, we went to the nearby Hunterian Art Gallery and were rewarded with an exhibition of Whistler’s many works, including the famous “Whistler’s mother”. We also went to the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, which is home to Scotland's greatest collection of European paintings and sculpture from the Renaissance to Post-Impressionism, as well as the largest collection of paintings by Scottish artists in the world. In the northeast city of Aberdeen, we went to the large art museum near the city’s center and viewed their European and Scottish collections; the current exhibition was of colourist paintings by Scottish artists, including Peploe, Hunter, and Cadell. Colourism was a post-impressionist art movement during the first half of the 20th century where vivid and luminous colors were used in artistic expression. Mami took a particular liking to George Leslie Hunter’s works (for example, his still life “Roses And A Black Fan”). It was a real treat to see the focus on Scottish artists and their landscapes and home-life scenes that are unique to their country. There was free admission to all of these museums.

Utopianism

One of my most memorable visits was to a small village called New Lanark, located about half way between Glasgow and Edinburgh and to the south. This is the site of a restored 18th-century cotton mill and infrastructure that has a special place in economic history, all because of a man named Robert Owen, who married the mill owner’s daughter and purchased the mill in the early 1800s. Owen’s ideas of social reform were way ahead of his time. He believed in education for the young and old alike, and that young children should go to school instead of work in the mill. He set up a school for the mill workers’ children and evening classes for the workers. He believed that the workers should have access to health care and he hired doctors to provide it. He opened up a mill store where the workers could buy affordable food and clothing, and the store profit was used to fund the school and health care. He aimed to improve the workers’ living standard by providing them with decent housing and rules of conduct to promote cleanliness and maintain discipline. He abolished corporal punishment of poorly performing workers and set up instead a color-coded system where each worker was graded with a painted wood block hanging above his or her station and given encouragement to do better. Robert Owen is counted among the cast of important economic figures in the popular and important book The Worldly Philosophers by Robert L. Heilbroner.

The Scottish people are proud of this legacy, and New Lanark receives over 400,000 visitors a year from all over the world. We saw inside Owen’s house, the store, the school, the worker’s apartments, and the mill, which operated in full-scale production until the 1960s and has working machinery today to demonstrate how cotton is spun into yarn. You can even buy a skein of yarn or two at the gift shop there if you are so inclined. The experience also features a riveting Disney-like moving audio/visual program.

Castles

Scotland has many old castles, filled with renaissance and later relics, paintings, lairds’ (landowners) family portraits, and furniture. Most of them are open to tourists (the entrance fee is usually $8-12 per adult), and many have been converted into hotels. We didn’t actually take any castle accommodations, but given the number of castles that we were planning to visit, it made financial sense for us to join the National Trust for Scotland (family membership costs about $85 per year), which we found out about when we visited Culzean castle (pronounce “culleen”, according to one of the castle docents), the first one on our list. With the membership, you can visit for free all NTS properties (castles, keeps, palaces, gardens, etc.), and there are many all over Scotland, more than can be visited in a couple of weeks. However, there are many castles that are not in the NTS (e.g. the Scone Palace in Perth), in which case you’ll have to pay the entrance fee, if applicable. Culzean castle is unique in that, not only is it one of the larger castles, part of it was given to Dwight D. Eisenhower as a gift of gratitude from the Scottish people for his leadership during World War II. Eventually, this was turned over to the NTS, and for about $600 per night, double occupancy, you can book the Eisenhower Suite. The strategically important Stirling and Edinburgh castles are worth visiting (although we missed the latter because of the Edinburgh-Festival concert we opted for instead). Stirling castle was very impressive, prominently sitting atop a volcanic formation above the town of Stirling.

Restaurants

Hands down, the best, most consistently tasty fast food you can get in Scotland is fish and chips. Breaded haddock and sole are usually offered, but they always seemed to be out of sole. A “single” for about $5 just comes with a nearly foot-long piece of fish, while a “supper” for about $8 includes chips (French-fried potatoes). This kind of diet is deliciously addictive and terribly fattening -- let’s just say the U.S. isn’t the only place with overweight people. The French cuisine at the Glasgow Radisson’s Collage restaurant is very good, although it’s best when ordering roasted chicken to ask whether it’s just coming out of the oven or has been sitting around for a few hours. I ordered a cheeseburger a couple of times at different local restaurants (not at McDonalds), but was disappointed with the taste; I later found out that they mix lamb and beef when they grind hamburger, and this gives it a different flavor from American cheeseburgers that will take me some getting used to. The seafood is always a good bet no matter where you eat, it seemed. Some very exceptional restaurants we experienced are The Alexander Bain in Wick, Yu Chinese in Aberdeen, Café 1 in Inverness, Brig O’Doon House in Alloway, and Collage in Glasgow. We recommend you make reservations before visiting the last three, in order to get a good table.

Edinburgh and The Festival

We decided to forego the crowds and skip the Scottish Military Tattoo parade and fireworks show at Edinburgh Castle, but this is not to be missed if you are into that sort of thing (in retrospect, we should have gone, darn it!). Ironically, on the day when we walked the “Royal Mile” from Edinbugh Castle and the Palace of Holyrood House and then back (two royal miles!), we were swept up by the crowds converging from all street leading up to the castle for the evening’s performance, and it took some effort to extricate ourselves from it. The L.A. Philharmonic also played in Edinburgh this year, but we found that their concerts were sold out by the time we inquired about tickets. We were unperturbed by this as we live in L.A. and last saw them this summer at the Hollywood Bowl. Instead, we opted for the Baroque concert in Usher Hall, which made for a very pleasant evening.

It is worth mentioning that parking near Edinburgh Castle during the Festival requires much patience. We waited in a line of cars into the parking structure below the Castle for almost an hour, but finally was admitted and luckily found a spot. The many street-parking spaces that are usually available in the area were restricted to vehicles involved with the Festival.

Adjacent to the Palace of Holyrood House is Holyrood Park, wherein lies hills which are remnants of an ancient volcanoes. We hiked the footpath up the nearest hill for about 20 minutes to get a panoramic view of Edinburgh Castle and surrounding city (from an elevation of about 300 feet, according to my altimeter). Not only did we get some good exercise, but we also took some nice city/sunset photos as well.

Local Art

We drove north along the northeast coast from Aberdeen and decided to make a stop in a small fishing village called Peterhead. We proceeded down to the harbor to get a better view of the North Sea, and came across a fisherman’s fair. There were booths selling dried seafood and candy, fisherman’s gear, and like. There was also a booth that sold oil paintings, which was operated by the artist himself, George Strachan, and his daughter, Jane. Mr. Strachan, now age 64, has been painting since his early 20s and comes from a family of fisherman since the late 18th century. His work can be seen at www.buyascottishpainting.co.uk (Jane created the website for him). I looked over his stock of more than a dozen of his works, and decided to purchase a small painting of some boats moored in the harbor. The muted colors and open space in the foreground of the painting conveyed to me a sad loneliness. I was also attracted to the composition, symmetry, and perspective of the picture.

The author (right) and artist George Stachan.

People

The people of Scotland are very kind to strangers, and they demonstrated this in many ways. If you need directions, all you have to do is stop someone and ask. A young couple with a baby out for a walk very patiently took us through some complex instructions for getting from a south Edinburgh suburb to Airth castle in Stirlingshire (we were very lost!). A workman stopped his chore and walked us a half a block to show us the entrance to a restaurant, when he could have just pointed his finger and told us it’s on the corner.

A clerk at a gas station in Wick was also very friendly. Not only did she recommend a restaurant open for lunch on Sunday, but she also drew me a map of how to get there. Because of the photo on my REI Visa card, the conversation turned to hiking and she said Aviemore, which is about one hour south of Inverness, is the best and most beautiful locale for backpacking in Scotland.

We also had a long chat with a retired elderly woman living on the wind-swept coast in the northeast near the town of Keats, who interrupted her gardening to come out and tell us it is all right to continue walking along the beach there, even though it is private property (she said we looked “apprehensive”). She told us she wasn’t from Keats originally and wanted to find an isolated place to retire to because she “has a low opinion of the human animal”. Nevertheless, we talked of many things: how she had the old croft on her property knocked down to build her present house; who her neighbors were; her dismay as to why people walking on the private beach path of her property don’t help keep it clear of the large stones that are thrown up from the beach after a storm; that the cement blocks lining the beach were to prevent German tanks from driving ashore during World War II; the fact that it was impossible to get trees to grew along this harsh, windy coast (she said she planted a hundred trees right after she bought the property, but they didn’t make it); that a certain Scottish bush in her garden (I forgot the name), which was about 4-feet tall, 20- feet long and with red flowers, was doing quite well and would take over the entire garden if she let it. Before we took our leave, she and her small dog “Henry” agreed to pose for a photograph with Mami. All in all, she is a very nice lady for someone disillusioned with humanity.

Loch Ness and Drive back to Glasgow

Loch Ness is a long and large body of water, not unlike other large bodies of water you’ve ever seen. It's image as the home of a sea monster is highly over-rated, and this aspect of it is best left undisturbed in your imagination. The 50-mile-long lake is nestled in a valley with heather-covered mountains towered overhead on both sides its shores. We saw many backpackers and cyclists along the road that runs along the lakeshore. It was hard to understand why the backpackers weren’t on a trail somewhere in the surrounding mountains and forests, instead of dodging cars. There were kilt-clad bag-pipe players playing for handouts at car turnouts alongside the lake. It rained off and on all day long on our last full day in Scotland when we drove from Inverness along Loch Ness and back to Glasgow. We stopped at a "haunted castle" near Ft. Williams; the rain made it even spookier. We were sad over our trip coming to an end, but while driving, I was already making plans to return, go hiking in the area, climb the highest mountain in Scotland (a day hike!), and even paying another visit to George Strachan in Peterhead. What a memorable trip!