Scotland is full of surprises—a pretty little hill can turn out to be an impregnable peak, a sunny warm morning can turn into a bitter cold, and a bus takes you to the edge of an island in the wilderness with no return journey. You might find it hard to understand a thing the locals say because they speak Gaelic. But all the suffering is redeemed by the sights and adventures to be had in this blessed land. If you're looking for a different kind of adventure after a day of exploring, you might want to try your luck at an online casino. Richard casino review suggests it’s a great place to start if you’re feeling lucky. Here are 14 reasons why traveling in Scotland is a must-do.
1. Live in a madhouse
The Scots have a distinctive attitude to life and sense of humour. I was shocked by the old lady friends (all clearly in their 80s) who were hanging out in the bar next to our hotel. They ordered litre mugs of ale one after another and flirted with the handsome waiter. My young team gave up after one mug and retired at 11 o'clock without energy, and the grannies had fun until almost morning. And Edinburgh residents were shocked by a local hotelier who set up a hotel in a former yellow house. The Scots appreciated the humour and the luxurious Hotel du Vin is always full of guests.
2. See the scenery from The Royal Scotsman luxury train window
Belmond has several luxury trains. I've travelled on two of them and have written about them before - Andean Explorer in Peru and The Orient Express in Asia (this article is more about David Souchette, the best Hercule Poirot actor I met on this train). Belmond has a luxury train in Scotland too - it leaves from Edinburgh and runs through north-west Scotland. Everything is just as it should be - bagpipes playing, whisky being poured, scenery pleasing and the clatter of wheels lulling you to sleep.
3. Catch a giant salmon
The best fishing is in the Scottish Borders, the biggest fish are found there. The only restriction is that you can only fish from Monday to Saturday, as Sunday is a legal day off. There are many companies that offer to organise fishing trips, you can type ‘fishing in scottish borders uk’ into the search engine and many options will come up.
4. Visit a distillery
Scotland has a cult of whisky and an irreconcilable feud with the Irish over the right to be the inventors of the drink, so it's hard to resist visiting at least one of the 97 distilleries. Even if you're not a whiskey drinker, it's interesting to see how cleverly and beautifully everything here is organised. The producers realised a long time ago that tours and tastings can also make a lot of money, so now they compete to see who has the best tours and guides. Balvenie is said to be the most successful.
5. Go in search of the most delicious haggis
Strangers' opinions on haggis tend to be the opposite - some can't stand it, and some really like it. I'm not talking about the Scots, they love it, and the poet Robert Burns even wrote an ‘Ode to Haggis’. It's hard to understand how it could inspire a mutton stomach stuffed with a mixture of trebuchets, onions and oatmeal. But I loved the stuff too and ordered it wherever I could. Not everywhere has it on the menu, though, and alas, not everywhere makes it well. I liked it best at a small hotel in the Glencoe Valley.
6. Experience the world of servants and masters
If you like the TV series Downton Abbey, then you need Pollock House in Glasgow. It's a huge mansion in the city centre with a great art collection and a gorgeous park. But the most interesting thing is the tours that are organised here. For example, you can dive into the world of servants and see how the invisible life of the house was organised, which enabled aristocrats to enjoy privileges. Or conversely, see how those aristocrats lived. In the past, they even used to do full immersion tours here when costumes and props were given out.
7. Take a ride to Hogwarts on the famous train ride
The train runs from Fort Williams and the final stop is every bit as good as Hogwarts - the cutest fishing village with great restaurants.
8. Walk through a magical valley with a tragic history
This beautiful valley is worth the long journey to get there and the patience for the endless rain. I told you about it here
9. Visit Duncan Macleod.
It's not Dunvegan, it's just a pretty picture, and the castle itself is in the second picture
The last of the Macleod clan is not called Duncan, but Hugh and lives in the family castle on the Isle of Skye. For £10 he is happy to let visitors into the castle and give a guided tour.
10. Try cod and chips at a Michelin restaurant.
When Martin Wishart was awarded a Michelin star, the gastronomic world was puzzled - how can fried cod and potatoes be called haute cuisine? But everything here is honest, cod and potatoes are on the menu, but it is really haute gastronomy, however, there is a lot of everything there. So the Martin Wishart restaurant is well worth the trip to Edinburgh's old harbour.
11. See a ghost in an ancient castle
It seems like every old castle in Scotland has its own pet ghost. We have householders and they have ghosts. Endless touching stories about unhappy lovers, gruesome crimes and other horrors are told here with pride, because every decent Scottish castle must have its own ghost. We were told about such a ghost in Ackergill Tower in the very north of Scotland. The local ghost's name is Helen Gunn and she has lived in the castle since she threw herself from the tower in the 15th century trying to escape the claims of a local nobleman. The horror was that my name is Helen in English and I was given her room in the tower, saying that they don't often have Helens from Russia and the ghost and I should become friends. There was the steepest staircase leading upstairs, from which you could wind up without the Count's pretensions. I don't know about the ghost, but the gloomy old authentic photos were really scary, and the girl in one photo was so obviously following me around. Now, alas, someone bought the castle and the hotel closed, but there are plenty of other castles, and their ghosts are no worse.
12. Taste heather honey
Heather honey has nothing to do with bees. The proud Picts invented heather ale and poetically called it honey, taking their recipe with them to the grave, if Stevenson's ballad is to be believed:
The story goes that Scotland was once called Pictland, that is, the land of the Picts. The famous fourth century navigator Pytheas noted that the Picts brewed a certain great and terrible drink, called heather ale, from heather and some unknown fogg'a. The kings of Pictland repelled many invasions by Europeans, Anglo-Saxons and Irish, and they even drove back the forces of the mighty Roman Empire. For this they gained fame as a fierce people who possessed a secret magic potion called heather ale. One legend, which is still alive today, was recorded by Neil Munro, Sir Herbert Maxwell, and it served as the subject for a poem by Robert Lewis Stevenson - its account differs only in detail.
In 400 AD, an Irish king invaded Dalriada in south-west Scotland and began exterminating the local Picts. Consumed by a wild desire to win the battle, he killed them all before he remembered the existence of heather ale. He sent his army out to find survivors, and they returned with the Picts' chief and his son. The Irish king was about to torture them to find out the secret of the heather ale, when the chief suddenly agreed to tell the secret on the condition that they kill his son quickly. As soon as the young man was thrown into the sea, the old chief said: ‘But now the torture is in vain, fire will not help here, behold the secret of heather ale dies in my bosom.’
But one enterprising brewer managed to get hold of the recipe for the ancient drink and now supplies his best Leann Fraoch ale to every bar in Scotland.
13. Taste a rat and survive in the wild
Famous extreme adventurer Michael Grylls served in the S.A.S Special Forces, and after retiring he started doing all sorts of tricks to conquer whatever he could and survive wherever he had to. He is an expert at surviving in extreme natural environments and believes that these skills are useful to everyone. That's why he set up the Survive the Highlands Group Challenge survival school in the North Scottish Highlands. It teaches how to build a fire, pitch a tent, overcome obstacles, find food - in short, how to survive in the wild. And yes, they say that you really have to eat a rat, but all the barriers are in our heads, I realised this when I did an experiment with exotic food in Vietnam.
14. Go falconry
There are many centres in Scotland where you can learn how to handle this beautiful raptor and go hunting with an instructor during the hunting season from September to January. The most famous centre is in the town of Kerkoldi called Elite Falconry or there is a school in the famous Gleaneagles Hotel.