As an American, when you think about taking a trip to Europe, one might not think that Scotland would be one of the “priority” destinations to include in an itinerary. You’d probably choose a city such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, London or Rome. I get it, there are A LOT of great places to visit if you are doing a 2-3 week Eurotrip. After our experience, one could spend that amount of time in Scotland alone. We had the opportunity to go to Edinburgh about 3 years ago, so we thought that if we return, we wanted to visit Glasgow and try to see the countryside.
Now, to see the countryside you need a car...and to drive on the other side of the road. Let me just say, Case really is my hero and he’s a total pro at this. He did amazing and we, and our cute little 2 door Ford Fiesta rental car, walked away with zero scratches.
Planning this trip was relatively easy. As an Outlander fan, I knew there were some filming locations that would be awesome to see, but also the landscape and castles. I marked them all on a map and then chose the closest cities near the concentrated sightseeing areas to stay the night. We did a mixture of Airbnb and hotels. I think we both liked our Airbnb experiences the best because it gave us an opportunity to chat with our hosts and get local recommendations.
Ok, now for some Scotland eye candy :-D
DAY 1 (arrival into Glasgow):
From Glasgow, we headed north to Fort William. We stopped at Kilchurn Castle. This castle was built in the 15th century and used until 1760.
The drive up to Fort William through Glencoe seemed to go by in about 20 minutes (it was really about 2 ½ hours). The scenery in Glencoe is absolutely unreal. Around every bend were more valleys between munros (a Scottish term for a mountain higher than 3,000 ft), some with a crystal clear creeks running through or a waterfall cascading down. The traffic was light, the tourist crowds were few and far between, and the weather during our entire trip was on our side. We didn’t get rained on once!
DAY 2: OBAN
Oban is a small fishing town (about an hour south of Fort William) with lots of cafes and souvenir shops along the main drag. This is also a popular launching point for travelers that take a ferry to the Isle of Mull and even on to Iona. We didn’t get the early start we wanted, and got caught in a massive traffic jam, so our time in Oban was cut short. However, we made the best of it and grabbed a quick lunch, bought some ferry tickets to the Isle of Mull, had some time before departure, so we went to the Oban Distillery and had a wee dram of local whisky.
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| Eilean Musdile Lighthouse |
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| Duart Castle |
DAY 3: FORT WILLIAM TO THE ISLE OF SKYE
Shortly before crossing the bridge to the Isle of Skye is the majestic Eilean Donan Castle. This is one of Scotland's most photographed castles. It was built in the 13th century, partially destroyed by the Jacobites in 1719, and then rebuilt 200 years later to what it is today.
From the moment we landed in Scotland, my eyes were PEELED for some highland coos. I scanned every field we passed by, so when I saw this guy, I was pretty excited. I walked through some mushy, muddy, poopy ground to get to him, but it was worth it to capture one of my favorite photos of the trip.
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FAIRY POOLS
After checking into our Airbnb in Portree, we headed to town for a fish and chips dinner.
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| Portree Harbor |
I feel like I keep saying that everything was our favorite, but this day was probably the most memorable. It was a day of the outdoors finished with a whisky tasting at the Talisker Distillery.
Stop 1: The Old Man of Storr
I really have words for this beautiful place, so I’ll just let you look at the pictures <3
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| On our way up |
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| A rare photo of the both of us :-) |
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| The Old Man of Storr in all its glory |
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| Thank you fellow tourists for the lovely photo <3 |
Stop 2: Kilt Rock (the basalt columns past the waterfall)
Appropriately named for the resemblance of a kilt.
Stop 3: Talisker Distillery
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| We sat on a bench at this spot and soaked up this view |
DAY 5: ISLE OF SKYE TO INVERNESS
This was such a bittersweet day. Sad to be leaving Skye, but excited to continue on our adventure. On our way into Inverness, we stopped at Urquhart Castle. This castle sits on Loch Ness and was used during the 17th century. We kept a look out for the Loch Ness monster, but still no sign of it. There are some “museums” and touristy exhibits that you can visit, but we decided to pass and continue on our journey.
DAY 6: INVERNESS / CULLODEN
There aren’t too many sights to see in Inverness, but we managed to use our full day very well. We visited the Culloden Battlefield and toured through the exhibit. There is a detailed timeline, from both the British side and the Jacobite side, and order of events leading up to the battle as well as some letters and items on display.
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| Each stone is a memorial for the clans that fought and died here |
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| The red and blue flags mark the front lines for the British and Jacobite army, respectively |
DAY 7: INVERNESS TO ABERFELDY
Just beyond the Culloden Battlefield, are Clava Cairns, or the real “Craig na Dun”. It is said that Diana Gabaldon was inspired by this site for Craig na Dun. There are large, circular stone burials that date back to the Bronze age that are surrounded by standing stones.
DAY 8: ABERFELDY / PITLOCHRY
Aberfeldy is a wee town, so there aren’t many sights. Our host recommended, that as long as the weather cooperated, we should go for a little hike around "The Birks of Aberfeldy". This was the perfect hike to start our day. There were waterfalls almost the entire way, and again, no crowds. I think we may have passed less than 10 people. My kind of hike :-)
After our morning hike, we headed into Pitlochry for some lunch, window shopping, and visited what used to be Scotland’s smallest distillery, Edradour. Delicious whisky, the most quaint setting, and a great tour guide.
DAY 9: ABERFELDY TO GLASGOW
The day we headed to Glasgow was yet again another day full of highlights. First stop was Falkland. In season 1 (and later in season 4), this town square was 1946 Inverness when Claire and Frank went on their second honeymoon. Absolute magic!
Next stop, Blackness Castle. This location was used as Fort William in season 1.
The last stop before dropping the car off was at a park with giant sculptures of horse heads called The Kelpies.
DAY 10: GLASGOW
The sights we wanted to see were on opposite sides of the city, so it gave us a reason to use the local public transportation! I think we will forever compare public transportation to that of Berlin’s network, so we weren’t too impressed. We took the bus to the Glasgow Cathedral and then to Glasgow University.
The crypt in the Glasgow Cathedral was used as the L'Hôpital des Anges in Paris where Claire volunteered as a nurse in season 2.
And last, but definitely not least are these beautiful cloisters at Glasgow University that were used in season 3 as the set for Harvard University.
