So it begins

Dublin

Published Date : May 21, 2001

I must say that I couldn’t have timed this trip better if I had tried.  Gorgeous weather, St Patty’s Day celebrations, elections in the North, the anniversary of the hunger strikes, and today I saw the Lord Mayor of Dublin, the President of Ireland and US President Bill Clinton at Trinity College.

Other than seeing famous people, I did what tourist do.  I walked.  A lot.  I started out with an open-top bus tour which is my standard procedure in a new town that I’m unfamiliar with.  Many of the sites I wanted to visit were closed today.  Good for my wallet, not so great for filling my time.

I ended up seeing the wax museum, the general post office (which was the HQ for the 1916 Easter Rising), the chimney observation tower, St Stephen’s Green, Phoenix Park and the zoo.  The zoo was amazing – probably the best one I’ve ever seen.  It should be though since it’s the second oldest zoo in the English speaking world.

Phoenix Park was huge.  It’s apparently the largest urban park in Europe.  It even has a herd of wild deer in it, as well as the zoo.  I really enjoyed walking around it.

So I basically spent 12 hours outside today walking around.  Needless to say, I’m sunburnt and tired.  Tomorrow I fly back to Edinburgh.  Tonight, I’m looking forward to a room to myself and sleeping in.  What bliss.  Now if only I had some money…

Moving on

Published Date : May 27, 2001

Loch Ness

The last week has been busy as I said my farewells to everyone in Edinburgh, sorted out final payment from work, dealt with closing out the lease on our flat and prepared to say goodbye to the place that had been my home for the last 6 months.

This afternoon, Carmen and I hopped on the train for the three hour journey north to Inverness.  She and my brother are still fighting, so he elected to stay behind.  It would have been nice to spend a few more days with him, but I’m not sorry about not having to deal with their bickering for the next three days.

The train journey north was uneventful and we arrived around supper time to find a very quiet city.  Apparently nothing much is open on Sundays.  After checking in at the YHA, we went looking for somewhere to eat.  The only place that was open was a very nice, slightly expensive Chinese restaurant.  We decided to splurge and ordered a delicious dinner platter.  It was worth the money!

We retired early in preparation for tomorrow’s adventure.  Loch Ness monster hunting!

Monster hunting

Published Date : May 28, 2001

Urquhart Castle

Awake by about 09:30 this morning, we wandered into town to book a half day tour of Loch Ness and the surrounding countryside.  Business taken care of, we had the rest of the morning to explore Inverness.

The first thing on the agenda was to find a bakery to enjoy a cheap breakfast of pastries.  We spent a leisurely couple of hours strolling around town and along the banks of River Ness.

Back to the info centre to meet our tour guide for the afternoon, there was only one other person on the tour with us.  It seems that tourist season hasn’t started yet in the Highlands.  Into a small bus, we headed southwest along the banks of Loch Ness towards Urquhart Castle.  The area strongly reminded me of the Okanagan valley in the interior of British Columbia with the rolling green hills risking out of the lake.

Scottish countryside

Despite its ruinous state, the castle was still impressive.  It was easy to imagine how imposing it would have looked when it was in its prime.  Our next stop was Drumnadrochit to board a boat and explore the Loch.  It was chilly out on the water, but it was still an enjoyable way to spend the afternoon.  There were no Nessie sightings for us today.

Back on dry land and back on our bus, we continued our drive around Loch Ness.  Heading into the sparsely populated hillside, we visited a traditional crofter’s cottage.  Carmen and I both purchased some local pottery for souvenirs.

The drive back to Inverness was long, but pleasant.  It’s hard not enjoy a drive through such beautiful country.  Back in Inverness we enjoyed an inexpensive dinner at a local café before heading back to the hostel for the night.

Scenic Route

Published Date : May 29, 2001

Kyle of Lochalsh

Today’s destination is Portree on the Isle of Skye.  There was only one option for the train across to Kyle of Lochalsh and that left at 11:00am.

The journey across to the west coast of Scotland was marred by constant rain, but it was still gorgeous.  Arriving in Kyle of Lochalsh, we discovered a long wait ahead of us until the next bus to Portree.  Finding not much to entertain us in Kyle, we opted to catch the next bus across the Skye Bridge to Kyleakin.

While scenic, Kyleakin didn’t afford much more for us to do than Kyle had.  So we enjoyed the view of the sea and waited for the next bus to Portree.  Luckily the rain had stopped, but everything was still wet.

At last the bus came, and we arrived in Portree after dark.  On arrival at the hostel, we discovered that there was a Ceilidh going on tonight.  So after settling in and grabbing a quick bite to eat, we headed out again to enjoy some traditional Scottish entertainment.

Travel day

Published Date : May 30, 2001

It was unfortunate that we arrived in Portree so late in the day yesterday.  We had to be back in Kyle for a midday train to Glasgow today so we could have used the extra time yesterday afternoon.  Despite the whirlwind visit, it was worth making the journey.  This is a part of the world I would definitely like to come back to.

Today was entirely a travel day.  It took us most of the morning to return to Kyle, then we spent the rest of the day on the train to Inverness before heading south to Glasgow.  It was almost 7:00pm by the time we reached our hostel in Glasgow.  We managed a quick wander through town before calling it a night.