Historic Scotland (Day 2) - Sunday, April 22, 2007

Sunday morning I felt wiped out after spending the previous day driving and visiting historic sites, but by noontime I decided to make the most of the free admission weekend by catching a couple more sites before the end of the day.


DUMBARTON CASTLE

The Main Gate to Dumbarton Castle lies at the bottom of a giant rock on the north side of the river at the Firth of Clyde. There isn't much of a castle to see, but the main attraction of the site is the narrow stair climb up the rock to several viewpoints that have been used strategically for thousands of years. The rock itself formerly contained the ancient city of Dumbarton, the heart of the kingdom of Strathclyde from the 5th Century to 1018.

This narrow ravine winding between rock cliffs appears to be the primary route to the top of Dumbarton Rock, and would have been heavily defended by locals under attack by the Vikings and other invaders. Access to the top by any other means would have been extremely difficult...portions of the Rock (outside the monument area) now serve as a world-class rock climbing venue.

Many of the homes and civilian buildings of Strathclyde were tucked in this area near the top of the Rock.

Looking westward toward the Firth of Clyde from one of the battery fortifications at the top of the Rock.

The story is that Mary Queen of Scots was harbored briefly at Dumbarton Castle as a young child in 1548 before embarking for France, where she spent her childhood.


INCHMAHOME PRIORY
Inchmahome Priory, the ruins of an Augustinian monastery extending back to the mid-1200's, lies on a small island in the only body of water in Scotland called a lake - Lake Menteith (haven't heard a decent explanation for that). Access is by small boat that carries a maximum of 12 passengers.

Visitors to the Priory wait at the dock for the small ferry boat to pick them up and deliver them to the island.

Ruins of the Priory...

More ruins...

This tree is one of three 400+ year-old chestnut trees still living on the island near the Priory. They may have been around when - none-other-than Mary Queen of Scots - visited back in the mid-1500's.

Drizzly weather kept the crowds away, but that just made for a nicer & quieter walk around the island.


DOUNE CASTLE
I didn't made it to Doune Castle until after it closed, but I was able to walk around and explore the grounds a bit. It's recognized as one of Scotland's best preserved medieval castles (dating back to the late 1300's), but it's more famous to some as the site of several key scenes from the "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" movie.

Historic Scotland - Saturday, April 21, 2007

Last Saturday, a co-worker and I carpooled through Lanarkshire (south of Glasgow) to the Scottish Borders area (East Coast near England) to visit several historic sites managed by Historic Scotland. The organization offered free admission last weekend to their sites as part of a membership recruitment drive.

We avoided the places that would be jammed with tourists -like Edinburgh and Stirling Castles - and picked places that looked interesting but might be overlooked by most visitors. We lucked out and missed the crowds, and were able to spend a good amount of time at four different sites before the end of the day.

Now for my vacation slide show...yawning is allowed.


MELROSE ABBEY
The ruins of Melrose Abbey, originally founded by Cistercian monks in the mid-12th Century. It was destroyed and rebuilt in 1385 - the shell of that structure being what's left. In the 1600's local townsfolk made significant modifications to the roof structure and room layout, and for a second I found myself thinking, leave it to the modern generation to mess up a historic structure.
If I remember, this was the base of the wash basin where the monks would cleanse themselves prior to entering the (formerly indoor) dining area.

Visitors are welcome to climb a narrow spiral staircase to survey the ruins from a portion of the roof. There was no handrail up the stairs - only a rope that dangled down along the center pillar to give people at least something to reach for if they stumbled.


CRAIGNETHAN CASTLE
The tower house of Craignethan Castle in Lanarkshire, dating back from around 1530.

The castle grounds are located on a hill in the countryside with a steep drop-off to a river gorge in the back. Access to the tower house in the background is over a bridge that crosses a ditch.

In the 1960's, excavations inside the ditch revealed this caponier, a hidden artillery chamber that would have been used by castle defenders to ambush invaders trying to attack the tower house. Apparently caponiers are rare in Britain - once identified by the enemy, their primitive design left defenders vulnerable to staged attack, and they were poorly ventilated so defenders were frequently choked out by smoke from their own weapons.

Inside the caponier - not for the claustrophobic.


SMAILHOLM TOWER
15th Century Smailholm Tower is located on hilly farmland surrounded by sheep and cattle. I figured the tower must have served some unique purpose given its proximity to the English border, but the information at the tower focused mostly on the strange doll collection inside. Guess I missed something somewhere...


BOTHWELL CASTLE
The ruins of Bothwell Castle lie upstream on the shores of my neighborhood river, the Clyde.

The oldest portions of castle were constructed in the 1200's. This section formerly accommodated several floors, including the chapel. The holy water basin used by the priest can be seen inset in the back wall on what would have been the second story.

A tourist tagger apparently left his mark on one of the walls back in 1821.

Surfing in Scotland - 04/09/07

Our office was closed for the Easter Holiday recently so I drove with co-worker John (of Ben Lomond repute) and a few others to go surfing on the east coast of Scotland at Coldingham, not far from the border with England.

We brought John's surfboard along by strapping it to the roof of my car, but the rest of us rented boards and wetsuits at a small surf shop at the bay.

I tried surfing with a longboard in Southern California once in college, but between the crowded water and the unwieldy board, I lost interest quickly. I had much more fun this time, since I had a more manageable board and more room in the ocean to flail about.

The North Sea water was cold, but I hardly noticed since my wetsuit did its job well. Gloves and boots were included in the rental package, but since I didn't rent a cap, my head was the one place vulnerable to the cold. When I'd go under a wave (which was frequently), it felt like my head was getting slammed into a snowdrift and pounded with ice picks. Fortunately I've got somewhat of a pin-head, so there wasn't enough surface area getting cold for my body as a whole to get chilled. Maybe that's why I felt like I could stay out in the water longer than the rest of the group...now I'm excited to go back!


John was able to secure his surfboard to the roof of my car with a couple of small ropes and sailor's knots of some type. My own expertise with knots is limited to granny-style ones, so John told me, "if you don't know knots, tie lots!"

Coldingham Bay down the path from the car park. The wind really kicked up as we were returning to the surf shop, and one of the biggest challenges of the day was getting myself and my board up the hill in one piece. I had to constantly fight the wind from spinning me in circles as I carried the board at my side. Rookie problem, I'm sure.

John's friend, Pete, and me getting a quick surf lesson on the beach from John before heading out to catch the waves. I wasn't able to fully stand up and ride many times, but I caught one wave just right and rode it long enough to surf right over the top of Pete, who was still flat on his board. No blood (and no sharks), no foul.

West Coast Scotland Roadtrip (April 3, 2007)

While Mom and Dad were in town last week, we had the opportunity to take a day and drive around some notable parts of West-Central Scotland. Our road trip took us west from Glasgow to Greenock...across the Firth of Clyde on the auto ferry to Dunoon...north to Inveraray...northwest to Oban...north to Glencoe...and back to Glasgow - passing through Rannoch Moor and along the west side of Loch Lomond (in the dark!) on the return trip.

McCaig's Tower - A model replica of the Colosseum built atop a hill in Oban at the turn-of-the-century to provide work for unemployed stonemasons. Apparently the structure was left unfinished after benefactor McCaig's death, but it formed a complete ring and seemed good enough for me.

Overlooking southwest Oban from the edge of the Tower.

Oban Harbor, as seen through what I guess would have been a window in McCaig's Tower had it been completed.

Sunbeams over Oban Bay. Kerrera Island in the foreground - Isle of Mull in the background.

After lunch in Inveraray, we stopped off at the Duke of Argyll's pad to see if they had socks on sale. Inveraray Castle was constructed in the mid-to-late 1700's as a "fancy house" for the clan chief of the Campbells, and not as a defensive fortification. I confirmed there was no portcullis or murder holes for defenders to pour boiling oil onto charging invaders.

A portion of the mountains surrounding Glencoe. This shot from the Clachaig Inn is of the side of Buachaille Etive Mor (I think), or "The Great Shepherd of Etive." The infamous massacre of members of the MacDonald Clan by government forces took place in this area in February 1692. Can you find the Toyota Celica in the picture?

The Pap of Glencoe at sunset, as seen from the village.

Venice, Italy (March 30 - April 1, 2007)

Continuation of photos from my weekend trip to meet up with Mom and Dad in Venice...

One of my first sights of the city as I took the Vaporetto ferry boat from Piazzale Roma (the bus station) to Piazza San Marco. Not quite the image of gondoliers in striped shirts happily singing "O Sole Mio" like I imagined, but the cold and rain made me feel right at home. Actually it was an improvement from Glasgow weather.

Our hotel room was a neat place that overlooked one of the narrow canals. I think it's standard Venetian operating procedure for tourists to poke their heads out the windows to watch the other tourists in the passing gondolas. Here Dad and I get in on the action.

Traffic jam outside the hotel window. Mom getting in on the action now.

Pigeon's-eye-view of passing gondolier

The resident pigeons of Piazza San Marco

Saturday morning the sun made an appearance, and Venice looked more as I envisioned.

Plumb bobs have never been stylish in Italy

Mom at the Bridge of Sighs. The bridge was built in the 1500's to connect the Doge's Palace to the former prison.

I think I took this from the Rialto Bridge. Can't really remember, and I'm sure nobody really cares. Just a fun Venetian picture.

The gondolier unemployment line

More tourists than you can shake a stick at

This alleyway is famous in Venice as the only one you can't buy souvenir Carnival masks or Murano glass.

...for those in the market for a mask or glass

Sunset at Piazza San Marco

My Gateway to Italy...Bergamo

My parents had been planning a trip to Italy for months, and we agreed that it would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet up in Venice for a weekend. Afterward, we'd all travel back to Glasgow. While Mom and Dad would be arriving in Venice via train from Florence, I took an inexpensive RyanAir flight from Glasgow to "Milan" (actually Bergamo, 40-50 km to the northeast) on Thursday night, and arrived at Orio al Serio Airport around midnight. I decided to eliminate the risk of inconsistent and confusing trains, so I reserved a wee car.

I had some trouble locating my hostel in the hills outside of town in the dark since I had several things going against me...I had driving directions from the airport, not the satellite rental car lot...the road into Bergamo was blocked off and closed...and the road signs were in Italian (unfortunately there weren't simple names like "Elm" (Elmo?) and "Main." No, of course they were mostly multi-word names packed with a dizzying array of zz's)

After driving around for an hour, I was just about to park off to the side of the road and fold down the seats so I could sleep in a fetal position in the car. Right then I saw a road sign with a familiar-sounding word linked to my hostel, and suddenly I was back on track. I checked into the silent hostel, found my room, and stumbled through the dark to claim the last available bunk of 8 in the room. Not having met my sleeping roommates and wanting to keep close tabs on my suitcase, I decided to sleep with it on my bed - even though that meant I still had to sleep in a fetal position.

The next morning I decided to go for a bit of a walk through Bergamo. I hadn't read up on the town, since I didn't think I'd be spending much time there and I didn't realize that it was as big as it was. It was a neat surprise to "discover" that within the boundaries of the modern city was a medieval city atop a hill and surrounded by a massive 17th-Century wall constructed by the Venetians. I could have easily spent days exploring the narrow, cobbled streets and storefronts of Citta' alta (Upper City). At the end of the weekend, Mom, Dad and I were able to explore a bit more of the city before leaving for Scotland.

My stroll through town took me past this classic Italian farmhouse outbuilding just outside the modern portion of Bergamo (Citta' bassa).

Except for the ducks, I had this path around the outskirts of modern Bergamo all to myself.

The funicular railcar provides easy access to the medieval portion of Bergamo. I discovered it at the top of the hill after hiking up a narrow street and entering Citta' alta through the gate at Garibaldi Port.

Looking southwest over Citta' bassa from the wall of Citta' alta



Gotta have at least one shot with a Vespa in it

Who needs bottled water when you've got access to Citta' alta's plaza fountain?

Citta' alta scenery

My camera's self-timer function came in handy in some of the less-crowded parts of the city. Mom, Dad and I just before leaving Italy for Scotland.