Travelogue: Scotland Days 1 & 2

Last January, when Holiday Vacations invited me to host a tour to Scotland and Northern Ireland, the actual trip was months away. I couldn’t even imagine packing a suitcase or hopping on a plane to Europe. Even so, I immediately said yes, and the days were quickly swallowed up with work and family life here at BHH. After a lovely twelve-day holiday, as they say abroad, we are back, and I am excited to share some highlights and photos. We saw so much during our time in both countries that I’m giving Scotland and Northern Ireland several posts this week.

My mom was an excellent traveling companion. She lives in Missouri, but she arrived early, and we departed together from Buffalo, New York. I was absolutely sweating our two layovers because airline travel is a bit of a nightmare right now. Luckily, we breezed through JFK and Amsterdam, landing in Glasgow right on time–around 10 am.

After we joined our tour director, Callie, and the rest of the group, our driver, Joe, picked us up in a motorcoach. I had never traveled on a tour before, and I did not know what to expect. So far, everything had gone smoothly.

Glasgow

I would love to tell you all about our first day in Glasgow, but I don’t remember a lot of it. A step-on guide took us on a tour of the city, and she jokingly said that her job was to keep us awake until it was time to check into our hotel rooms. She sure had her work cut out for her. There were an awful lot of heads, including mine, lolling off to one side.

Luckily, looking through my photos sparked a few memories. For one, Doctor Who was there for reasons only he knows.

Also, many of the buildings were built with nubby sandstone bricks. I think I was the only person in our group taking photos of bricks instead of churches.

Since sandstone wears away fairly easily, the powers-that-be in Glasgow do not clean the bricks. So, the oldest buildings are covered in soot and dirt from years of life in the elements. However, since the streets and gardens are kept so well, the patina only adds to the character of the city.

Something I enjoyed seeing was the mash-up of very old (1700s and much older) structures and very new, modern buildings. There are over 1800 buildings listed as architecturally or historically significant in Glasgow ^(ref). So, it was exciting to see the historic buildings respected instead of torn down to build flimsy, high-rise condos in the name of “affordable housing.” (I’m looking at you, United States.)

I couldn’t get enough of the architecture. Even though I was half asleep, I snapped over 100 photos.

Glasgow is the birthplace of Scottish architect, designer, water colorist, and artist, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Although we did not tour any of his famed buildings or tea houses, we did see a replica built in the style of Scotland Street School. Check out the steel windows!

Speaking of steel windows, they were everywhere.

We ended our city tour at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. There was a ton of cool stuff there, but I took photos of the ceiling…

…and chairs. Jetlag makes you do crazy things.

We ended day one at our hotel where we enjoyed a much-needed full night’s rest.

Inveraray

Glasgow was our home base for three nights, but on the second day, we headed to Inveraray and Loch Lomond. Our first stop was Inveraray Castle, owned by the Clan Campbell. The 13th Duke of Argyll and his family currently live in one wing of the castle, but somebody has to pay the bills. So, the rest of the impressive Gothic Revival castle is open for individual visitors and tour groups.

If you are a Downton Abbey fan, Inveraray Castle might look very familiar. That’s because the 2012 Christmas Special was filmed there.

I adored this stop and the nearby town of Inveraray too. Throughout my travels, I have seen quite a few fortress castles, but there is just something special about seeing a residential castle–a home. A family actually lives there, and the Duke reportedly works part-time in the gift shop–no joke! As I said, somebody has to pay the bills.

Now I harbor no illusions that the way of obtaining such generational wealth was pure. However, living strictly in this moment, Inveraray Castle and the adjacent town were awe-inspiring and delightful places to visit.

Coincidentally, my friend Martin lives in Scotland. So he drove over two hours just to say hello. We hadn’t seen each other since 2019. Martin took the castle tour with us, and then we spent the rest of the time chatting as we wandered up and down the two streets in town.

Even though we were having a lot of fun, Inveraray was only our first stop of the day. So, I gave Martin a hug goodbye and waved to the castle on our way to Loch Lomond.

Loch Lomond

After a very social day, I was ready for a cup of coffee and an idyllic countryside view. Fortunately, I got both during our boat ride on Loch Lomond. I don’t have too much to share about the history of this area because instead of listening to the guide, I soaked up some quiet time chatting with our tour director, Callie.

After the boat ride, the motorcoach wound through the lower highlands as we made our way back to Glasgow. There were dreamy views around every curve where Outlander fans could get lost in their daydreams. (I’m a season three drop-out.)

The tour was off to a great start.

To be continued…

Travelogue: Wrapping up our Tour of Scotland (part II)