This is what it looked like as we approached by ship on August 12. We were in different parts of Norway about eighteen months ago on our winter Northern Lights cruise.
It was nice to be back in Norway, to see their flag, and be in the land of people who consistently poll among the happiest in the world.
Our tour left from the same pier our ship was docked. Convenient!
We were on a cruise of the Hjørundfjord Fjord. Twenty miles long, it is considered one of the most magnificent in Norway.
This is a map of the various fjords in this area.
Our guide’s name was Sigi. She is originally from Iceland and was totally delightful. As a “boy mom” to a seven year old, she had some interesting humor such as saying she thought the troll tradition in Norway was made up by generations of boy moms. They invoked bad trolls to keep their sons’ behavior in check – because sons do not listen to reason.
Sigi told us that settlers built red barns when the lands were first occupied. The white houses nearby were for the first generation settlers. Additional houses are for additional generations.
Ålesund is built across several islands stretching out into the ocean.
The history in this area can be documented to 400 BC. It was on important trade routes.
We were traveling the fjord where, in 989, there was a last battle between Norwegian Vikings and Christian Swedes. The Vikings lost, giving way to Christianity. (She said the area now is about 1/3 Lutheran, 1/3 Catholic and 1/3 Buddhist with tolerance for all.)
A large part, 85 percent, of the city was destroyed by fire overnight in 1904. Only one woman died but twelve thousand people had nowhere to go. Villagers on surrounding islands invited residents into their home.
The town invited 33 architects to design the new town. It was decided to rebuild in the Art Nouveau style.
Ålesund is also the city of the owls. When you see an owl on a building, or in a shop, it indicates it was once a pharmacy or doctor’s office.
Fishing and oil are the primary industries. This square, modern house indicates oil money.
This was our first view of glacial ice. Norway had 44 ice ages in its geologic history. There are many mountain peaks rising from the fjord to more than 5,000 feet.
This is one of several salmon fish farms. Scientists are working on a way to make the farms cleaner for the water environment.
Each little village has an avalanche tunnel, schools and either a medical clinic or a visiting doctor several times a week.
This village was featured in the latest Black Widow movie starring Scarlet Johansson.
This village at the end of the fjord is said to be favored by the king and queen of Norway.
The hotel is the large building on the left. Room number eight is supposedly the most haunted space in all of Norway.
On the way back, we just enjoyed the scenery.
I told someone once that the Tuscany region of Italy was just as pretty as you imagine it to be. Norway is exactly the same in that it lives up to every sense of natural beauty you might expect.
I am so pleased that it is in our plan of plans to be back in Norway in 2027.
On the right hand side of the photograph above you can just see a Norway ferry. They run on batteries and are plugged in at each stop. It is recharged in the 15 minutes it takes to load and unload. And in further technology news, we had 4 bars of 5G cell service throughout our cruise along the fjord. Impressive.
When we got back from our scenic cruise, we were hungry so went for lunch onboard Nieuw Statendam.
I had frits and mayo, a similar dish to the fries with peanut sauce and mayo we had in Rotterdam a few days ago.
Deciding we didn’t really want to go out again, I tried to photograph the Art Nouveau buildings in Ålesund that I could see from the ship.
As I walked around, I found this section designated for the crew. We’ve been on this ship several times and don’t recall seeing it before. We love that. The crew deserves an outside space to recreate and relax.
We finished our day with dinner and a show. We very much enjoyed solo guitarist Mark Hussey!
Departing for our 10 o’clock food tour, we got caught up with the last of 1500-ish people disembarking the ship in Rotterdam. That was poor planning on my part as we had to go through the same lines and try to engage the same Ubers. It was a live and learn moment. We knew there was a tram but we didn’t want to take the time to try to figure it out. In the end, we just paid the taxi fare ($41 USD equivalent) and got to our tour meeting place in time.
We were to meet under the cloud inside the Rotterdam Central train terminal. We had been to the train station a couple weeks earlier when we went to Amsterdam so it was somewhat familiar.
Our guide, Susan, said we’d start with some architecture and history as it was a Sunday morning and little was open for food yet.
Nearby, there was an entrance to a bicycle parking garage – about 5000 bikes can be underground.
Here is a double-decker bike parking area.
The Dutch were heavily involved in the slave trade for way too long, sending slaves to way too many places – the United States included. This statue was placed by the government as an acknowledgement and apology to the peoples and families of those taken.
This statue honors the unbroken, those in the resistance during World War II.
She showed us some interesting buildings! This one has some Art Deco going on.
I’m not sure what this one has going on – but it certainly was interesting!
Then there were Cube Houses!
This building was the first sky-scraper in Europe. I don’t know what the criteria was in determining that.
Much of Rotterdam was carpet bombed by the Germans in World War II. This memorial shows the part of the city that was devastated by fire from the bombing. It is hard to see in the picture, but the center part, with a matte finish, represents the part that was destroyed contrasting with the portions in glossy finish that remained.
This building was rebuilt, but the women figures in front were salvaged from the rubble. Susan pointed out several buildings where they were able to use something that was salvaged.
This building, the Atlanta Hotel, randomly survived the bombing.
This plaque acknowledges the original location of a historic zoo, Diergaarde Blijdorp, which opened in 1857. It was very successful and moved to a larger location right before German bombing in 1940. The zoo was severely damaged and reopened in 1945. Currently, it participates in 70 breeding programs.
We saw several sets of stumble stones. Our guide explained two meanings of the “stumble” stones. First, the people, primarily Jews, stumbled as they were taken from their homes by the Nazis. Second, civilizations stumbled in allowing that abuse.
We were very much on philosophical par with our guide in believing in humanitarian treatment of all peoples. She said that as the Netherlands begins to constrict tolerance, she may eventually be at risk of reprisal for teaching Dutch to refugees.
Susan was a most interesting woman. She was born in Cincinnati and lived there for the first 19 years of her life. She became a nurse on a ship during Vietnam very much against her parents’ wishes. She was appalled at the treatment of veterans, specifically by the VA, after returning home. She decided she’d be happier elsewhere.
Elsewhere became the Netherlands and she’s been living here ever since. She said it wasn’t easy to learn Dutch, finish nursing school etc. but has no regrets about creating her life here and giving up US citizenship. She worked as a nurse for decades in cardiac ICU and as medical support on North Sea oil rigs.
Our guide pointed out building murals many times.
This one features a local musical artist on the right but also features local folks that are part of the neighborhood community.
She said that she was depicted in the second row in the middle.
This McDonalds has been in this place since the 1950s. Its signage is now considered street art.
We saw this corner with a Starbucks and Five Guys – that could be anyplace USA instead of Rotterdam, Netherlands!
This is a municipal building. There is much symbolism with the statues and carvings and each of the coat of arms. I don’t remember details but the meanings and connections to the past were significant and well thought out.
We didn’t see many churches – not like some European cities. This one was damaged in the war. Oddly, the tower survived the bombing and the rest was re-built.
We stopped and watched a few minutes of surfing lessons in a central canal-pool with a wave machine.
We’d had a coffee/tea stop early on, but our first food stop was for poffertjes. Oh my, they were delicious. They are little circular puffy pancakes with a little butter and a whole lot of powdered sugar. We haven’t had that much powdered sugar since Cafe du Mond in the French Quarter in New Orleans when we had beignets. The poffertjes were so good!
And, of course we had beer with our poffertjes! It tasted way better than it sounds! Randy had the Dutch beer, Texels. Serving it with that much foam is required. Mine was Affligem from Belgium. I rarely finish a glass of beer in a timely manner (if at all) but this one was very nice and Randy didn’t get any of it.
Our other food stop was in the market area. We walked into this huge building and your eye is drawn to the “pencil” building visible through the other end.
Then your eye is drawn to the beautiful roof.
We were heading to a French fry stand with the “best French fries in Europe.” They have developed a special kind of potato for their Fries at War.
Fries at War are presented in a paper cone with a generous portion of fries as the base. The fries are topped with peanut sauce, mayonnaise and fresh onions. You eat it with a wooden fork. I know that sounds bizarre but it was delicious!! What fun!
We could have had more culinary treats but we needed to get back to the ship. Susan was very nice and rode the tram back with us to the port area since the trip involved a transfer.
Our cost was $1.78 each US equivalent – definitely less than the taxi! Susan’s fare was free because seniors ride free when registered for a transit card.
She gave us some Holland black licorice clogs. This is the second time we’ve been given this special Dutch treat by a guide. Randy dislikes black licorice so they are all mine!
I had wondered about having two food tours in communities, Amsterdam and Rotterdam, that aren’t that far apart. The fact that our second was a private tour meant that we could skip the herring and stroopwafels this time and try different things. Where the tour in Amsterdam really focused on the food, this one was just as much about architecture and street art and history. They were both so good.
And because our eyes had been focused on architecture all day, we enjoyed these interesting buildings as we sailed through the port of Rotterdam towards the North Sea.
Our sea day, August 8, was a calm one on the North Sea. We’ve missed ports and had excitement on previous sailings through the North Sea. On a previous cruise, we had to learn that ginger and green apples are a more common “antidote” for sea sickness than the saltines we usually reach for.
Today, we could see oil derricks and wind turbines from our balcony.
We had a relaxing day enjoying ship activities while Cindy and Darrell had to pack, weigh their bags and all that.
We had our last dinner together in the dining room with our waiter Hendri. He was very good and always had Randy’s ice tea with stevia ready when we arrived. Getting to know members of the crew always enhances our cruise experience.
We finished the evening with the strings group Vivace and then a performance by Juliette Primrose on the World Stage.
The next morning, I had set the alarm to wake me up at 6:00 to see the White Cliffs of Dover. Fortunately, Randy got up about 5:45 and noticed we were already sailing by. I grabbed my robe and went out on the balcony to see the cliffs and take pictures.
They weren’t super impressive in the early morning light but later they were sparkling white.
The cliffs are about 350 feet high and I was pretty entranced.
Microscopic analysis shows they are made of compressed sea life, chalk and flint stone. The cliffs stretch for eight miles.
One cliff is named for William Shakespeare as he was impressed enough with the cliffs that he included a reference to them in King Lear.
The South Foreland Upper Lighthouse was built in 1843 and decommissioned in 1988. The upper lighthouse used to work in tandem with a lower lighthouse of the same name. That allowed sailers to better determine position until the lower light was turned off.
Five generations of the Knott family were keepers in this lighthouse. It was also used in experiments in wireless radio transmissions by Guglielmo Marconi.
In Dover, 600 of our fellow passengers left the ship, including Cindy and Darrell. We always enjoy traveling with them and look forward to the next time. (Next time was undetermined when they left the ship, but has since been scheduled for September 2027.)
With so many passengers gone, disembarked or departed on excursions, it seemed we had the ship to ourselves. (I didn’t take the people out of this picture, they just weren’t there.)
I wandered up to the crows nest and found an acquaintance, Jo, who writes a blog called “Writer on Deck”. I’ve enjoyed reading about her travels as she mostly lives on Holland America cruise ships.
Jo and I had spoken briefly a couple days prior but this was a better time to visit. Randy also came up and joined the conversation. It was very pleasant and we made plans to get together for dinner during this next cruise.
Our afternoon tour destination was Canterbury Cathedral. It is considered a masterpiece of art and architecture, and one of the UK’s most-visited historic sites.
The cathedral website describes it as the “Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, UNESCO World Heritage Site, and resting place of royalty and saints.”
Dover’s first cathedral, St Augustine Abbey, was established in 597. This cathedral took its place. Initial construction took place from 1070-1077.
A defining event that happened in the Canterbury Cathedral was the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170 by the knights of King Henry II. The king and the Archbishop had frequent conflicts and the king is said to have asked in exasperation, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” Four of his knights took his words as a directive. (This event was chronicled in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.)
The murder happened in this chapel.
Becket’s body was placed in a cathedral shrine in 1220. However, King Henry VIII destroyed the shrine in 1538.
The candle depicts where that shrine once was.
Speaking of Henry, the entrance gate to the cathedral commemorates the marriage of Catherine of Aragon and Arthur, Prince of Wales. Arthur was Henry VIII’s older brother. Arthur died shortly after his marriage to Catherine. King Henry VIII then married her.
Catherine was Queen of England for 23 years but was discarded in favor of Anne Boleyn. That set off changes in English, church and world history.
The gate was covered during our visit, but I was able to take a picture of a picture on display.
The Canterbury Cathedral was impressive in its size and gothic touches.
Work on the soaring nave began in 1377.
In this chapel, people are asked to pray for all in the world who suffer unlawful imprisonment and torture.
There are many tombs of important people in the Anglican Church of England. They are currently in process of discernment regarding appointment of their 106th Archbishop since the year 597.
The cathedral was beautiful as so many of them are.
It was very impressive.
We left the grounds and gathered in the courtyard just outside the front gate.
Walking around the village of Canterbury, we were told this building is where the Mayflower pact was negotiated and signed in 1620.
There is commemorative information on one wall.
We saw an example of a Tudor house from the 15th century.
The Sun Hotel, built in 1503, was formerly known as The Little Inn. The inn was made famous in the writings of Charles Dickens.
Earlier I mentioned that flint stone was a component in the white cliffs. We passed some walls and buildings made of flint stone. I never knew flint stone was a real thing – just a cartoon.
As we drove back to the pier, we could see a ferry heading across the Strait of Dover, part of the English Channel, to a village near Calais, France. The distance is approximately 23 miles. This is where people swim, or attempt to swim, the English Channel.
Finally, we stopped to have good views of Dover Castle. I had seen it from the ship in the morning but the distance and weak light did not make for a good picture!
Building began in the 11th century and the castle had a very extensive history over the next 900 years. The castle has been described as the “Key to England” because an aggressor needed to get by it to have hope of conquering England.
Extensive medieval tunnels were built under the castle eventually totaling approximately 3.5 miles. The tunnels became bomb shelters and command centers during World War II. The evacuation of Dunkirk was directed from Dover Castle tunnels.
Dover Castle is the largest castle in England by size. Windsor Castle is the largest occupied castle in England. This picture was taken from our balcony when we were back onboard.
As we arrived in Edinburgh by tender on August 7, we were greeted by a lone bagpipe player.
We began our first of three tours, learning a few things as we rode on the coach to the old city.
We hadn’t been sure how to pronounce the name of Scotland’s capital city. We were told that Scottish people call it Edin-burro while English people call in Edin-berg.
Andrew Carnegie was born in Fife, now a suburb of Edinburgh. Of course, he moved to the United States and made lots of money. We knew about Carnegie funding libraries all over, but hadn’t known he donated more church organs than libraries.
King James VI of Scotland was heir to the English crown after the death of Queen Elizabeth I. Renamed King James I, he ruled over the combined Scotland and England.
In 1603, he gathered churchmen and scholars who took seven years to write the King James Bible. The first complete King James Bible was printed in Edinburgh in 1633.
We left the coach and walked a few hundred yards to tour Mary King’s Close – a network of narrow underground alleys and abandoned houses that have been beneath the Royal Mile since the 17th century. Closes were private community streets which were locked at night. The wealthy lived in the top floors where the light could enter their homes. The poorest lived in the dark underground with livestock and open sewers. .
Unfortunately, no underground pictures were allowed beyond this point. The next few are from their website or outside the close.
During the 1600s, this area was the very heart of Edinburgh. The close was named for Mary King, 49 years after her death, a sign of how loved and respected she was. Currently, Edinburgh city offices sit above the remains of Mary King’s Close.
Plague outbreaks happened in Scotland since the 6th century, with a third of the population dying in the 1300s. In 1645, the city had two horrible bouts of plague, both pneumonic and bubonic. The crowded living conditions in the close made residents very susceptible.
Community measures, recommended by the plague doctors, were not saving the population, or themselves.
The last plague doctor did some things right, not because he understood the illness, but because he was trying to protect himself. He had his mask nose filled with spices and herbs to keep the odor out and that protected his breathing. He dressed in a full cloak sealed with beeswax and that protected him from fleas.
The people of Edinburgh also got some things right accidentally. They burned the possessions of plague victims to get the bad demons out. In reality, the smoke killed the fleas, and dispersed the rats that carried the plague.
In our exploration within the close, we went into one bedroom that is said to be the most haunted place in Edinburgh. There was once a psychic from Japan, who was disturbed by the sensations of despair in the room. She believed a young girl, Annie, was upset that she had lost her doll. The psychic brought “Annie” a Barbie doll. Supposedly, that gave Annie peace. Many others have brought Annie dolls and they are collected in her bedroom.
Our daughter, who is into all things haunted, was aware that the close was on the registry of most haunted places.
When the tour was over, we did not return to the ship. We stayed in Edinburgh because we had booked an afternoon tour of Edinburgh Castle.
We spent our time in-between tours on the Royal Mile. The Mile has Edinburgh Castle on one end and Holyrood House (residence of the British monarch) on the other. There were so many people!
We happened to be in Edinburgh during the three week Festival Fringe and Scottish Tattoo. More about the Tattoo later, but Festival Fringe is a major arts festival including thousands of acts and artists – both little known and world known.
What it meant to us was a fun assortment of street performers to watch and enjoy.
We walked by the 900 year old St. Giles Cathedral, where reformation in Scotland began.
The country had a difficult transition from Catholicism to Presbyterianism. The change was officially adopted in 1560.
Along the Mile, we saw a unicorn on a spire. The unicorn is Scotland’s national animal. In Celtic mythology, the unicorn is a symbol of purity and power.
We eventually gathered for our independently booked Edinburgh Castle Tour. Our guide had a great sense of humor and was a wealth of knowledge.
One of the things she made clear was that the movie Braveheart had many inaccuracies in how it represented that era of Scottish history. The real Braveheart was Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland from 1306-1329. She said the movie was filmed in Ireland, not even in Scotland.
Castle rock is Britain’s longest occupied piece of land. Ancient peoples lived there from 900 BCE.
The rock is a volcanic plug rising 445 feet above the land surrounding it. The height and access from only one side helped make the site defensible. It also made water availability difficult during drought or seige.
Edinburgh Castle was the home of Scottish kings and queens for centuries. It has a wild history over its one thousand years. The castle came under attack 23 times and changed hands several times. The cylindrical walls helped deflect canon fire.
This is the shield of Scottish monarchs.
Within the castle walls, St. Margaret’s Chapel, built around 1130, is the oldest building in Edinburgh.
During the 15th century, Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to the future King James VI of Scotland in this apartment. He became James I of England and commissioned the bible mentioned earlier.
It has been over 300 years since a monarch lived inside Edinburgh Castle.
The last was King Charles II.
The gate house in front of the castle is from the 1800s. Queen Victoria arrived here and thought it needed a better entrance. In our guide’s words- “a little more curb appeal for Queen Vicki”.
The castle cannon are really ship cannon brought here because Queen Vicki thought there should be cannons to make it look more “palacey”. Our Scottish guide was so fun, but I do think these comments diminish Queen Victoria a bit. She was a historic and accomplished monarch.
This is Castle Square, the hub of Edinburgh Castle. The Scottish Crown Jewels, the oldest in Britain, are held in this building. We didn’t take the time to wait in the long line to see them.
I removed people in this picture to get a good photographic expanse of the castle within the walls. Actually, I removed people in nearly all of the photos. This entire part of Edinburgh was very crowded during our time there.
The castle is still an active military base, as well as a major tourist attraction. This area houses the military museum.
We had nice views of the city from the castle.
As we left our tour and the castle, heading back down the Royal Mile, we had a great view of one more street performer from the Festival Fringe.
We needed to get back to the pier to meet our evening tour. Our choices were walk, Uber or tram. We decided to try the tram.
As we walked, we passed some great buildings!
It was either misinformation or misunderstanding that had us go to Waverley Station. Unfortunately for us, Waverley was the train station – not the tram station.
While at Waverly, we were in the only train station in the world named after literature. Sir Walter Scott, 1771-1823, wrote many Scottish and European classics. He was once the most famous writer in the world. His works include Ivanho, The Lady in the Lake and Waverly.
I’m not sure that was worth the thousands of extra steps to go to Waverly and then redirect to the tram station, but it was eventually accomplished. Observing others who seemed to know what they were doing, we finally made it back to the pier. There, we connected with Cindy and Darrell for our evening excursion.
None of us had heard of the Scottish Tattoo until a few weeks before we embarked on this trip. We received notice from Holland America that they had added shore excursions for the Tattoo. Randy and I initially dismissed the expensive additional excursion until several random people mentioned how lucky it was that we were going to be in Scotland at the time of the Tattoo. Our friends had a similar experience. In the end, we were all in.
Tour busses took us back to the Royal Mile where we got in long quickly moving lines. We made our way onto the castle esplanade and, since we hadn’t eaten dinner in our need to get back to the pier, we purchased meat pies from a vendor, Randy had a steak pie and I had a vegan curry pie. Both were delicious.
A “tattoo” used to be a 30 minute drumbeat telling British soldiers to return to their quarters for the night. They needed to be in place before the drumming ceased.
In the case of the Scottish Tattoo, it is a ceremonial performance of military music, dances and drills.
We were there for the 75th annual Tattoo with over 800 performers from all over the world.
Of course the group was dominated by the home performers including the Massed Pipes and Drums.
The Band of the Polish Border Guard performed.
Ukraine Naval Forces Orchestra received a warm, warm welcome.
The United States Honor Guard Drill Team from the Air Force Academy was excellent.
The Swiss Top Secret Drum Corps performed.
The United States Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps were also there.
For the first time ever, drones were used.
After 90 minutes, the Edinburgh Tattoo ended with a lone piper playing. The experience was amazing. Those that told us we should go were absolutely right.
At the conclusion, we had a bit of embarrassment. We from the ship, mostly Americans, were towards the top of our section and just started heading down the isles. It was only when we were stuck in the isles that we noticed a protocol happening all around the stadium. People all around us were orderly going out row by row from the bottom to the top. Ooops.
It was another example of how some countries do things better than we do. Travel and learn – it’s what we do!
The ship excursions team had designated people along our half mile (ish) route to help us navigate from the castle to the coaches. The coaches took us back to the pier, to the tenders, to the ship. All this was happening after midnight. The ship was scheduled to leave at 1:00 am but actually left closer to 2:30.
It was all good, because the next day was a Sea Day! The captain could make up the time and we could do anything, everything, or nothing at all.
After six port days in a row, we had a scheduled sea day on August 4, 2025.
And then we had an unscheduled sea day.
Storm Floris delivered high winds and rough seas across and around Scotland.
We missed out on the Isle of Sky and Scotland’s most photographed castle, Eilean Donan. (This picture is from the castle website.)
We spent two days relaxing, playing cards, going to lectures, eating and drinking, and listening to music. We could not walk outside on the promenade for safety reasons.
And then we had a sunny morning. We were headed to Loch Ness to see Nessie!
As we boarded our tour bus, we were told that the wind and salt water discharge from the nearby oil (or gas) rig left the bus windows very dirty. Ummm, why park them there, or why not clean them?
It was not the best view out the windows for a Scenic Tour of the Scottish Highlands.
As always, the guide gave us some random facts:
It is estimated that Scotland once had 3000 castles now there are remains (sometimes very minimal) of 900.
There are over 150 whiskey distilleries in Scotland.
Curling stones are made from granite from Alisa Craig, a small Scottish island.
Scotland uses miles per hour. They refer to lanes as carriage ways so highways are single or dual carriage ways.
Mac in front of a name means “son of.” MacDonald is son of Donald.
Scotland is making an effort to show signs in both Gaelic and English. Since 2005, Gaelic is included as an official language in Scotland, instead of being ignored or suppressed.
We had a 20 minute stop in Inverness. It was too short to do anything but walk around the cathedral grounds. We could not go in.
We did find the nearby roof-lines to be interesting with the various chimneys.
This seemed to be a staging stop so all the busses didn’t get to Urquhart Castle at the same time. Unfortunately, our driver did not use the time to clean the windows.
We travelled along Loch Ness, the second largest loch in Scotland. It is very deep at 734 feet. Strange creatures in the loch were “known” to the locals long ago.
Interest grew in the 1930s after a modest article in the Inverness paper sparked a surgeon to take this photo. That was 91 years ago. The photo made Nessie a world wide phenomenon.
Our guide reported that modern technology has found unknown creatures very deep in the loch so maybe there is some truth to it all.
We didn’t see Nessie but were glad to see a much better view of Loch Ness from outside the bus.
Urquhart Castle was built both as a fortress and as a residence. It has over a half million visitors a year and is said to be the greatest castle of the Scottish highlands. (Cindy and Darrell toured a different highlands castle. Perhaps, their guide said the same.)
We had a short 45 minutes at the site so we walked around quickly. There were in-person and audio tours if you had the gift of time.
We watched an eight minute film that covered 1000 years of castle history!
The present Urquhart ruins date from the 13th century. A medieval fortification pre-dated this fortress.
The castle and its inhabitants were instrumental in the 14th century wars for Scottish independence. Then, it was a royal residence for a time.
The highlands MacDonald clan raided repeatedly.
Urquart Castle was awarded by King James IV to John Grant in 1509.
The Grants built this tower and made the castle their luxurious home.
The MacDonalds continued their raids and the castle was strengthened.
The castle was abandoned in the middle of the 17th century.
Then, it was purposely destroyed in 1692 so the Jacobites could not use it. Jacobites advocated that the House of Stuart be restored to the throne.
The saga of British, Irish and Scottish history is extremely long and complicated. It would take more than an eight minute film or a paragraph or two. I’m not going there.
As we came back to the busses, we saw one of the other driver and guide combos working on cleaning the windows on their bus. Our driver and guide made a half hearted attempt at the last minute. I think if we hadn’t seen the others being cleaned, they wouldn’t have bothered.
On the way back to the port, our guide serenaded us in English and Gaelic. Many on the bus knew the words to sing along, but we did not.
The guide pointed out a standing stone that is likely 3000 years old. Standing stones may be singles, like the one above, or placed in circles, lines or groups. They date to 4000 BC to 1,500 BC and are attributed to Neolithic peoples, those from the final period of the Stone Age. The stone’s purposes are not known but generally thought to be practical, ceremonial or religious.
Although we enjoy most tours, this one was not good. Considering the dirty windows, the wasted time in Inverness, and our shortened time at the castle, we were not impressed. We aren’t even factoring in that we didn’t see Nessie!
We came back to the ship and enjoyed some drinks and peanuts before dinner and our evening entertainment. Randy had a Smoked Cherry Old Fashioned. Even with the elite beverage package, it cost $1 extra!
The next day was a big day in Edinburgh, as we would be touring morning, afternoon and night. I needed to resist waking up and listening to the Mariners game in the middle of the night.
In preparation for visiting Liverpool, I gathered our British pounds left from a previous trip to London. My goal, after the next few weeks, was to have no pounds or euros left. We always tried to tip tour guides in local currency so that is where most of it was destined.
Our luck at avoiding really wet weather had left us. At each previous stop, it seemed we were one step ahead of the big rains to come. Today, August 3rd, we were going to get wet.
We boarded our bus and got a bit of information along the way.
We passed the Royal Liver building, the tallest building in Europe until the 1940s. The first picture is what we saw out the bus and the second is a better picture from the internet. The clocks were large enough so sailors could know the time from their ships.
The Cunard building was the home of the cruise line. Twelve million Europeans used Cunard to emigrate to North America.
This building is the Port of Liverpool building. Together these three buildings are known as The Three Graces.
From 1840 to 1900, Liverpool was the world’s busiest port. Currently there are eight miles of docks.
Part of the port is Royal Albert Dock. It was developed in 1846 and named for Queen Victoria’s husband. Albert Dock had secure, fireproof warehouses. Cranes lifted heavy loads. Traders could buy and sell wares before import taxes were paid. Albert Dock procedures cut in half the time it took to unload and load ships.
This picture shows an abandoned Royal Albert Dock in 1980, when time and silt greatly reduced its stature. In 1986 a Maritime Museum opened in an abandoned warehouse and restoration began. Restoration continued over the next twenty years and, with the Three Graces, became part of Liverpool’s Unesco World Heritage status.
We were headed to the Royal Albert Dock because that is where The Beatles Experience is!
Since the early 1960s, when The Beatles first made their appearance, Liverpool has played a leading role in the formation of the world’s popular music culture.
We are a decade too young to be serious Beatles fans but we were certainly aware and knew some of their major hits.
The Experience started at the very beginning, a very good place to start. (Oh wait, that isn’t a Beatles’ song.)
The group, with a different drummer, began playing at the Casbah.
They bought their first instruments at Hessey’s Music on Mathew Street. We walked Mathew Street later in the day.
We saw a remake of the Cavern Club where the Beatles performed 247 times, making it the most famous club in the world.
August, 1962: Peter Best was out and Ringo Starr was in as drummer.
The Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan Show February 9, 1964.
Beatlemania!
Costumes from the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band Tour.
There were sections of the museum dedicated to each of the band members. These are the things we learned:
Paul McCartney is the most successful recording star ever.
John and Paul were very successful song writers together but George Harrison wrote some of their great songs like Let it Be, Love You Too and Here Comes the Sun.
This is the rebuilt Cavern Club. The original was demolished in 1973 but the new one built with the same bricks and same dimensions. In addition to the Beatles, there is a list a mile long of other past and current stars who have played there.
George was stabbed in his home and his wife went after the intruders.
Ringo was the only one to remain on good terms with all the other Beatles after the break up. Ringo was also the voice of Tommy the Tank Engine we learned about at Isle of Man.
There was a large section of the museum dedicated to John Lennon.
We left the museum and went to explore areas of Liverpool significant to the Beatles.
This is Mathew Street.
It is paired with Beale Street in Memphis as the two most musical streets in the world.
Liverpool is in the Guinness book of records for the most artists with number one singles of any geographical location in the world.
There was no alcohol served in the Cavern Club so the Beatles and others made their way to The Grapes between sets.
Outside the Cavern Club is this statue of Cilla Black. She was the coat-check girl at the club. With their help and encouragement, she was able to go on stage with the Beatles. She was signed by their manager, Brian Epstein. She was the top female recording star in the UK in the 1960s and 70s with songs like “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “You’re My World”. She later had a career as a television personality.
I did not know the name Cilla Black so did a bit of research in writing this. I thought it was interesting that her name was really Priscilla White. I found this photo.
Enroute to more Beatles’ sites, we passed the Liverpool Lime Street Railway Station. It is the “oldest still operating grand terminus mainline station in the world”.
I find it interesting that so many places we travel have the oldest of this or that. I feel like I should have been keeping a list!
We also went past the Liverpool Empire Theatre, venue of the last Liverpool concert site of the Beatles. It was held on December 5, 1965.
The group Queen recorded epic song Bohemian Rhapsody for the very first time at The Empire.
The Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool is the largest cathedral in Britain and the 5th largest in the world. It is the largest non Catholic Cathedral in the world. Paul McCartney auditioned for the boys choir and was not selected.
Decades later, Paul McCartney’s live album, Oratorio, was recorded in the cathedral in 1991. Paul had asked that the old choir director be present, and he was. Our guide said they had a very sweet, cordial conversation.
The 1967 song Penny Lane was on audio as we drove down Penny Lane.
The song was about life on the lane and Liverpool in general.
Strawberry Fields was a girl’s orphanage during John’s youth near where he lived with his aunt. Now it is a non profit work training center for Liverpool youth.
This was John’s childhood home when he lived with his Aunt Mimi. Aunt Mimi and her husband had taken him in when life with his parents was unstable. Still, it was often lonely and difficult after his uncle died. His aunt did not appreciate his music noise.
With the massive success of the Beatle’s, Aunt Mimi felt like a prisoner of her own home with people always outside. John bought her a home away from the city.
We drove by the street that had the house in which Paul McCartney lived for several years. Our bus was too big to go directly so this is a picture from the internet. It was a hangout for the Paul, John and George to practice and write songs. It is labelled by the National Trust as “the birthplace of the Beatles”.
It was in this house that they practiced the newly learned B7 chord and incorporated it while writing “I Saw Her Standing There”.
Ringo lived across the street from where this mural. He was a sickly child. Ringo taught himself to play drums at an early age. He played as a left handed drummer on a right handed drum set. This allowed for his unique sound.
This Beatles sculpture is the most photographed sculpture in Europe.
It was a marvelous day learning about Liverpool and the Beatles along with Cindy and Darrell.
We celebrated a good day with martinis – chocolate martinis for the guys, a lemon drop martini for Cindy and an espresso martini for me!
The Isle of Man is one of three self-governing British island territories. It sits in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland.
The United Kingdom is responsible for the island’s defense and representation abroad, but the Isle of Man has a separate international identity.
Humans have lived on the island since before 6500 BC. Gaelic influences began in 5th century AD. We had the Isle of Man’s history described to us as before the Vikings, during the Vikings, and after the Vikings. We visited on August 2nd.
As we came into port, we could see many wind turbines in the distance. Randy counted about 85, but said there were more on the horizon.
Our excursion was to travel by steam train from Douglas to Castletown.
The train station was made of bricks that were originally ballast on return voyages from Ireland.
This narrow-gauge train began operations in 1874. It still runs with its original locomotives.
There were eight passengers per car.
The only disappointing thing about the train ride was that our views of the sea were few.
The children’s storybook character Thomas the Tank Engine was based on a fictional island near The Isle of Man. That is just the first of several random things we learned about the Isle of Man – more to come!
Our destination, Castletown, was named for its fortress, one of the most complete medieval castles in the British Isles.
This clock on the Castle Rushen’s exterior is prominent from the town square. It was presented to the island by Queen Elizabeth I in 1597. It has only ever had one hand, but is still operable after 400 years.
Castle Rushen’s first line of defense was an outer wall that was 7 feet thick and 25 feet high. The castle’s walls themselves were 12 feet at the base thinning to 7 feet thick at the top.
We paid our fee and began 90 minutes of exploration.
The castle entrance was protected by a drawbridge and two porticuilles with a killing area between.
The castle is operated by the Manx National Heritage, an organization that manages a significant proportion of the Island’s heritage assets including over 3,000 acres of coastline. It took over managing the castle in 1988 and completed restorations.
The Manx are the ethnic group that originated on the Isle of Man. Their language has a Gaelic origin but developed in isolation so is unique. Their governance structure, The Tyndall, was introduced by the Vikings over 1000 years ago. For example: A potential law must be read publicly, outside, in its entirety in both English and Manx.
Although the castle has been found to contain some construction materials dating to 947, it is advertised as 800 years old. It was developed by successive rulers between the 13th and 16th centuries.
After its initial construction and use by Norse and Gaelic rulers, the castle changed hands repeatedly between the Scots and the English.
From 1405 to 1738, the Isle of Man, and the castle, was controlled by the Stanley family, beginning with Sir John Stanley. His title began as the King of Mann, and over the centuries, the title transitioned to the Lord of Mann. Today the reigning British monarch, currently King Charles III, is the Lord of Man (The spelling changed over the years).
In the 18th century, the castle shifted in use to an administrative center including a mint and home for the law and parliament. The Isle of Man has the longest continuous parliament in the world. In 1881, it became the first national legislative body in the world to give women the right to vote in a general election although the action excluded married women.
Late in the 18th century, the castle began a steady decline and was converted into a prison. It was in notoriously poor condition. The prison held both men and women (and the children born to the women).
Early in the 20th century, the castle was restored under the oversight of the Lieutenant Governor, the highest ranking government official in residence on the island. The castle transferred from the British Crown to the Isle of Man government in 1929.
We lost count of how many rooms there were to explore in this compact castle.
One of the eight bathrooms had a medieval “resident” trying to do his business, with sound effects! It is too bad we don’t have a video, or at least a picture of that memorable room!
Some rooms were decorated to show how it might have looked during medieval times. The bird is only in silhouette in this picture, but the bird being served was stripped of its beautiful outer plumage, cooked, and re-dressed for serving.
We went up and down many circular stairways.
Many rooms had placards indicating what the room was used for during its medieval, administrative and prisons timeframes.
The castle was very interesting but when we got back it was time to explore the town of Douglas a bit.
The Gibb brothers – the BeeGees – were born on the Isle of Man.
There is an infamous TT Motorcycle race that takes place here. (We didn’t know it.). Friend and reader, Mark, just gave us the scoop on the race. Over 260 people have died since 1907. Sheesh!
Manx Cats were known as cats from the Isle of Man early in the 19th century. Their lack of tail arose as a natural mutation on the island.
The Manx Loaghtan is a small native sheep from the Isle of Man. They usually have four, and occasionally six, horns. It is much desired for its unique meat.
The Isle of Man flag was first recorded in its presentation to parliament in the 14th century. A common interpretation is: Whichever way you throw me, I will stand – indicating resilience. The symbol was also used on coins printed in the 17th – 19th centuries.
Shipwrecks on the coast of the Isle of Man in 1822 inspired local resident, Sir William Henry to encourage the British government to establish “a national institution for the preservation of life and property from shipwreck.” He was instrumental in saving lives personally and in development of this resource.
The little castle below is on the Island of Refuge. There is always supposed to be bread and water in the little castle for anyone in need.
Nieuw Statendam is the largest cruise ship that will visit the Isle of Man this year. It is a ship of about 2600 passengers, mid size by industry standards.
The Isle of Man was one of the more interesting places we’ve been that we had not even known existed before arriving and exploring.
For many, many years, we had gotten a Christmas ornament from every new place we visited or every special trip we took. We have had to get much more selective in recent years because we don’t have tree space for all the ornaments we already have. That being said, I bought this one from Isle of Man in a heartbeat.
I will smile in remembrance as I place it in a prominent place on the tree this year.
Next up: Liverpool, England. We went Beatles-centric!
This was our first view coming into Galway, Ireland on the morning of July 31st. It was early because we had a 7:00 am meet-up due to the need to tender into the port.
If tendering is required it means the ship can’t dock at the pier, perhaps the port doesn’t have a pier, or the dock is too full or the ship is too big. We will have four tender ports on this cruise and Galway is the first.
We are on the same tour with Cindy and Darrell!
There are 265 days of rain on the west of Ireland vs 165 on the east. This was our first rainy day.
Galway has been on maps since the mid 1400s likely because of its inclusion on shipping routes.
Fourteen families ran Galway quite well from medieval to modern times. Thus, the city is called The City of Tribes.
The Browne family was one of those family tribes. The Browne Doorway was part of the family townhouse, built in the early 17th century. The ornate decoration represent two families united in marriage.
The Doorway is in John F Kennedy park. President Kennedy came to Ireland and gave a speech in Galway asking “Who has a family member who has emigrated to America?” Of course, there were many given the potato blight famine in Ireland.
This sculpture commemorates the Galway Hooker, also called Red Sails of Galway. This sturdy boat is characterized by a black-colored hull (originally a tar coating) and rust-red sails.
This is Galway Cathedral built between 1958 and 1965. It was the last Cathedral built in Europe in the old style. A lot of money from Boston helped finance the cathedral.
Galway has strong pharmaceutical, education and tech device industries. The economy is typically strong and has been recession proof.
As we left Galway and went through nearby villages, we saw unique walls. In the past, families designed and built walls in their own style.
We saw how these walls separated the farms.
Our destination was Rathbaun Farm.
We enjoyed exploring the 250-year-old farmhouse.
We had tea and scones.
Randy was teaching us little finger positioning while drinking tea.
We had a few minutes more to explore the grounds. This thatching was interesting.
The Connolly family, still actively farming, allowed us to view their various sheep types. They had about eight different varieties penned so we could see the differences.
One ewe had triplets, but she only had two teats. Having two lambs is the norm. After a couple weeks, the largest will be taken away and bottle fed because she will no longer be able to provide for all three.
Two women on our tour bottle-fed two lambs.
This ewe had a premie, only a couple days old. In this picture she seems to be protecting her baby from too much attention.
Then the farmer went in and took it away from her so we could see it close up for a few minutes. I didn’t much like that he did that. Cindy got a good picture of the little baby.
We watched the farmer maneuver his flock.
Then he showed us how his dog moves the sheep. I asked if the sheep were afraid of the dog, and the farmer acted as though it was a dumb question. He said of course, because dogs kill sheep. They have a problem with roaming pets occasionally killing sheep.
When we have seen sheep and dogs in other places around the world, Randy and I have never had any sense that the dogs were any more than protectors and gatherers. Maybe it is a Scotland thing or maybe Randy and I just never ever thought about dogs being aggressive.
On another tour in Scotland a few weeks later, we saw this sign.
The wool shearing costs more than the wool is worth. That is pretty common except for Merino wool from sheep in the southern hemisphere. The wool from here goes to China, India or Eastern Europe and will be mixed with other fibers in products.
There are breeding modification attempts being made to develop sheep that don’t grow as much wool so wouldn’t need to be sheared.
We drove by Dunguaire Castle — a small 16th-century castle built by the Hynes clan. Defensively, there is water on three sides.
It is one of the most photographed castles in the west of Ireland and was used in the movies Guns in the Heather (1969) and North Sea Hijak (1979).
A group of writers, including WB Yates, bought the castle and had writers’ meetings and workshops. Then there was a period of disuse until it was renovated and opened for tours and period dinners activities.
The castle was closed for renovation at the time of our drive by “visit.”
More castles remain in western Ireland than other places in the country because development was slower so they weren’t taken down.
We were still following the Atlantic Coast Way that I wrote about in Donegal. It is Ireland’s Route 66 for tourism.
July 30 was the first visit of Nieuw Statendam to Kellybegs, Ireland. Our ship was one of 24 ships that has, or will, arrive this season.
Killybegs has a deepwater harbor that opens into Donegal Bay. It boasts Ireland’s largest fishing fleet. The fleet are allowed specific seasons to get their quota per species. Herring has not been fished for more than 20 years as the government tries to rebuild the population. Our guide mentioned two fish species that they fish to export but wouldn’t eat locally.
Donegal is in the Republic of Ireland, but is also in the historic region of Ulster. Ulster was divided in the decision for independence, generally along religious lines. Three of the nine counties voted to join the Republic of Ireland while the remaining six chose to form Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom. Since 1998’s Good Friday agreement there is peace after centuries of warfare.
Our drive to Donegal took us along part of the 2,500-kilometer-long coastal route known as the Wild Atlantic Way. It was developed as a “Route 66” type tourism enhancement and has been very successful. Due to the problems in Northern Ireland, many tourists had been reluctant to venture this far north.
We arrived in Donegal and walked to the ruins of an ancient Abby. The Abby was built in 1474 through the efforts of the powerful O’Donnell family who led this area for centuries. Overtime, both Catholics and Protestants were buried there.
One of the significant historical events of the Abby was that Annals of the Four Masters was written here. Four friars wrote one of the earliest texts of the history of Ireland.
From there we moved to Donegal Castle, also built by a 15th century O’Donnell chieftain. The O’Donnell clan ruled the area from the 12th to 17th centuries. Early inhabitants of the area had been tribal, flighting each other.
The tallest part if the castle is over 550 years old. It was originally built as a fortress for the O’Donnell clan.
This depiction shows how the castle looked at that time. The reality of living in a castle in that era was that it was cold and dark. The defensive features were walls made of 10 feet of solid stone and small windows presenting a wide range to shoot out, but little opportunity to shoot in.
Another defensive feature was the trip stairs. The steps aren’t even to trip the advancing enemy. They also go in a clockwise manner given that most of the population is right handed. It means a right hand of swordsman coming down the stairs as the advantage of the full swing of their sword. There is only one castle in all of Ireland, in which the staircase goes counterclockwise, Park Castle in County Lerum, likely built by a clan of predominate left handers.
The O’Donnells capitalized on the fishing industry that existed even then. The fish was salted and sent to France and Spain. They brought back 100 tons of wine per year – likely in those same barrels.
In England, Henry VIII gave way to Elizabeth I (although it wasn’t quite that simple) and she pressed British rule on Ireland. In time the chieftains were run out and the O’Donnels destroyed Donegal castle so the British couldn’t use it.
In 1611, the castle and its lands were granted to an English captain, Basil Brooke. His family re-built and refined the tower house and added a new wing.
The dining room has many windows for natural light under the Brookes. Only wealthy families could afford them.
The two engravings of Coat of Arms represent the Brookes family and that of his wife, the Leyster family.
Over centuries the castle belonged to others and was abandoned. It has undergone periods of restoration since 1990 by governmental agencies.
Inside the castle we saw a painting done to commemorate the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. In 1847, the Choctaw donated $170 to help the Irish poor during the potato famine. That was only 14 years after the tribe was marched along the Trail of Tears. The gift created a lasting friendship between the two nations.
There is a second commemoration to the Choctaw in Cork County, Ireland.
With an hour to ourselves, Randy and I stopped at McCafferty’s Bar for a Guinness. Our tour guide said true Irish don’t drink Guinness – but we are tourists!
The Irish bartender, in the Irish bar, was not aware that true Irish don’t drink Guinness. He says he serves a lot of it.
As we drove back our guide told us more information – although at this point all of it may be suspect! Guides are memorable for many reasons.
He said people build their houses along the roads in Ireland because they are likely built on family lands. The highest home ownership in the world is in Ireland. That standing is at risk since the price surge post covid.
Since 1922, the police, or garda, in Donegal have not carried weapons. The crime rate in this part of Ireland is very low .
Our guide also said that 5000-6000 Americans emigrate to Ireland each year. The number of research requests increased after November 2024.
The guide said leprechauns are an American invention and no Irish say “Top of the morning.” Someone we met later wouldn’t comment on the leprechauns but did agree no one says “Top of the morning.”
Ireland was a new country for us and we had an interesting first day.
We started this cruise where we will end it, in Rotterdam, shown at #12. We had a sea day through the North Sea enroute to the Isle of Lewis, north of the Scottish mainland, depicted by #2.
We received instructions about the immigration process for Scotland and Ireland. The process was specific and different for those holding European or non-European passports. On the day we arrived, July 29, we had to wait for our group to be called and proceed. Our group was determined by our shore excursion.
All the passengers on the ship had to meet face to face with an immigration officer, even if you did not have an excursion. Our next step was to surrender our passports to ship personnel so immigration officials could view them at any time. Our passports would be returned when we left Ireland. (I do not know if the crew had any/all of the same requirements. I assume that their passports are already held by ship personnel.)
Our ship docked at Stornaway, on the Isle of Lewis. The town has had a deep water port for only two years. That allows passengers to walk off the ship instead of “tender” from anchor. Lewis, and our destination, Harris, are in the remote Hebridean islands.
Most island residents work for the local government in services and infrastructure. Medical workers are the second largest group. Some work off shore in the oil industries. Tourism is growing but has a short season.
These pictures are summer in northern Scotland.
Ninety-three pieces of the famous “Lewis chess set” were found on the island in 1931. Most were purchased by the British Museum shortly thereafter. The game pieces came from at least four chess sets and other games. The pieces were probably made in Norway in the late 12th or early 13th century.
One of the three known missing pieces was found in Edinburgh during the Covid pandemic. I vaguely remember hearing about that and researching the Lewis chess set at that time. It was nice to put a place to the memory.
There may be some unclear geologic or geographic separation between the Isle of Lewis and the Isle of Harris but we never crossed a bridge or waterway. When I asked the guide about it, I was told it technically IS the same island – kind of. The bus driver from one, and the tour guide from the other, put on quite the good natured show of being from separate entities.
Our tour went from Lewis to Harris to visit the Isle of Harris Distillery. In a long history of illegal distilling, this distillery was the first legal one ever built on the island.
We had a tasting and behind-the-scenes tour and learned how whiskey and gin are each made.
Our first tasting was of something that was 65% alcohol. It was comparable to bad moonshine and pretty awful! Although I’m not sure, I think this was the whiskey before it was improved, processed, and aged.
Our second and third tastings were Scotch whiskey, the two types this distillery produces. The difference in color and taste have to do with the cask, or barrel, in which the whiskey ages. It must age for a minimum of three years.
The lighter color whiskey utilizes former bourbon barrels from the United States. The barrels can be used only once for bourbon and are then sold to Scotland for whiskey.
(We were at this place on a day there were massive protests against Donald Trump being in Scotland. I wondered if this distillery will continue to have access to the barrels if Trump retaliates. Of course, all things are connected and if that happens, the distilleries in Kentucky will lose market for their used barrels.)
The darker colored whiskey sits for the same three years but in barrels from Spain that were last used making sherry.
We didn’t really like either whiskey, but the one from the sherry barrels was our preferred. It seemed a bit sweeter.
In Scotland, a person will add small amounts of water to fine tune the whiskey to individual taste. She had us try it and it did make a difference. They do not use ice.
The first time the cask is used for whiskey, it holds some of the flavor of either the bourbon or sherry. The second time this distillery uses the casks, the batch will have more of a whiskey base flavor. The casks are then sold again and not used in this distillery.
Cutting and burning peat was once a primary source of household heat in this area, but is no longer. However, peat is still used in drying hops which enhances the flavor of their whiskey.
There is also a factor in whether the barrel has a light char or medium char when it was first prepared.
This whiskey flavor abacus allowed them to present a visual for the flavor differences between the whiskey aged in bourbon casks or sherry casks, in light char, or medium char casks, first or second use and other variables.
Our guide showed us the various steps in the process.
This distillery opened in 2015 but didn’t release their first whiskey until December 2023.
In the meantime, while waiting on their whiskey, they needed to stay afloat financially so began producing gin. Gin only needs to sit for 72 hours.
Local seaweed is used in making Harris gin.
Again, we saw the machinery involved. The gin is just pouring out in the picture on the right.
Harris gin put the Isle of Harris Distillery on the world map, selling in 24 countries. Gin is the largest part of their business and is covering the company financially as whiskey consumption has declined worldwide. Whiskey is the largest export of Scotland.
To the credit of our guide, her information was fascinating- even to someone who didn’t like, know, or care about whiskey or gin.
I was interested in this tour for the Harris Tweed, also a product of this island. We were supposed to spend time learning about and shopping for Harris tweed. When the distillery tour took most of our time, we only had twenty minutes to browse in the tweed shop.
Randy bought some tweed slippers because he’d actually been thinking about a second pair. I bought a small case for my headphones. We live in the desert and already have more winter clothes than we need.
With no tour guide to explain it, I had to do my own limited research. Harris Tweed is known worldwide and originated in this small village.
Historically, sheep were important as they could survive the harsh winters. They were kept for meat and in the summer they were sheared for wool.
Beginning in the 17th century, the local wool was made into a special cloth. In 1908, the fabric process was trademarked.
Harris Tweed is an iconic product but also an evolving industry. The desire for new products has changed the industry. Scotland is involved in producing cashmere because of the pure water. There is also growth in “smart textiles” for quick dry products and burn fabrics. The textile industry that started with tweed has changed and remained successful.Harri
In our visit to the shop, and seeing various tweeds around Scotland, we saw far more plaid than anything else.
Other random things we learned on our bus ride back to the ship:
The movie 2001 A Space Odyssey was shot on the barren landscape of eastern Harris.
Peter May wrote The Blockhouse Trilogy while on the Isle of Lewis and, in negotiations, has insisted that any future movie adaption be filmed on the island.
Serene Wandering 