City and Country Snapshot: Scotland

I was inspired today, by a close friend of mine, who is planning to elope to Scotland at the end of this year. I had tried to explain the natural beauty, and old ruins of Scotland, but as they say, pictures speak a thousand words, so Crys, this is for you.



I didn't have enough photos to just concentrate on one city, so I have made a "Country Snapshot" instead!

The photos above are of the amazing Glencoe area. It is about a 1.5 hour drive from Glasgow. The tiny house above looks like a matchbox, next to the enormous mountains! This area is what my friends in Glasgow considered to be "typically Scottish". It is hard to describe how beautiful, cold, and serene- but yet very bucolic this area is... I hope my photos do it justice.



I visited Scotland in 2004, and I dare say that I don't think this area would've changed much since.

One of the amazing things I found about Scotland is, although it is a very Western country, it seems to have remained individual (to some extent). For example, when I was there, there was only one McDonald's in the whole of Glasgow. And no, I don't go around counting McDonald's- I just thought it was astounding, since even in Sydney there are streets that have a couple of them. Even small country towns have them over here!

So it's nice to know that you can go to Scotland and find a very different experience!



One of my favourite photos above, Glencoe area again.


This is where my memory gets a little hazy... not sure if the above photo was taken in Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Another thing I noticed, was everywhere there were tanning salons, solarium's, etc. I guess they don't get a lot of sun there!



I also visited Edinburgh. A very beautiful city, with the famous castle (pictured in the photo above). More tourists were evident in Edinburgh than Glascow, very pretty city though, in that Olde World sort of way.




Unfortunately, I can't remember all of the places I visited, but one I do remember was St.Andrews, in Fife. A very beautiful, old town, with loads of history. It has the world's oldest golf course, Scotland's oldest university, and Holy Trinity Church, pictured below.



I guess, coming from Australia, it is a novelty to see such buildings, and ruins... we don't have anything like this back home, so I found it fascinating! I could let my imagination run wild here!