(click on any of the pictures for a larger version)
Friday was whisky day--good for Matt, less good for me. We started the day at Balvenie Castle, which was interesting. It's a ruin, but much smaller than Urquhart, and we didn't see anyone else there. Here are a couple photos--there are rooms, but they were so dark that we couldn't take pictures.
After Balvenie we headed to Glenfiddich--the biggest distillery in Scotland, if I remember right. The tour there started with a film that was kind of informative but was so over the top that I was working hard at not laughing. On the whole, the tour was pretty interesting, and I definitely learned a lot about the process of making whisky. It's pretty straightforward, really.
Here's a photo of the distilling tanks (Matt points out that distillation sure doesn't look like this at a refinery), and a general one of the roofs.
After Glenfiddich we stopped for lunch in a nearby town--I was driving, because Matt had drunk both of our samples at Glenfiddich--then started making our way south. Our next stop was Glenfarclas, near Aberlour. It was a smaller distillery. Matt thought about taking the tour but decided not to, which was fine with me--I was planning on finding a chair and reading if he'd done it. He did try a sample or two, and he liked them a lot.
From there we drove down to Pitlochry without stopping--it was a long drive, and the weather was drizzly, so we wanted to just get there and find a hotel. We both had steaks for dinner there, and they were fabulous. Best ever. Then we stopped off in the pub and both had too many beers, but we did recover.
The next morning, on the recommendation of some locals, we tracked down the Edradour distillery--the smallest one in Scotland. We were the only Americans on the tour; it was quite the international group. It was interesting, and it was nice to see the distilling process on a smaller scale, but at this point I was very much ready to be done with the whisky. Matt enjoyed their product a lot.
Here's some old distilling equipment, from back when everyone did it underground to avoid paying taxes:
And some general photos of Edradour:
By this time it was obvious were were leaving the Highlands--the landscape looked more like Wisconsin than anything, only with sheep instead of cows. (OK, there were cows, too, but lots more sheep.) Here's a photo from near Edradour:
After Edradour we headed for Stirling. Our one stop was at St. Serf's Church in Dunning, to see the Dupplin Cross. It's a Pictish cross from the 9th century. This is the church:
And here are some photos of the cross. They don't capture the carving very well; it's quite worn, after all this time, but the carvings are much more visible than the photos show.
From there we headed straight to Stirling Castle. We were trying to get there in time for lunch, and we managed, mostly, but we were both ravenous. It was a terrific place to visit, mostly because they're in the process of restoring a lot of the castle. They've finished with the Great Hall and the Chapel, and were starting in on the Palace, which had been turned into army barracks at some point.
Here's the statue of Robert the Bruce that stands outside the castle:
Some general shots of the castle:
The Great Hall, which has been restored:
These tapestries, which hung in the Chapel, were interesting. Historic Scotland is recreating seven tapestries called "The Hunt of the Unicorn"--the originals are hanging in New York, I think. Some of the weaving is being done in England, but they also have a workshop at the castle, and visitors can watch the weavers work. We walked through there and were fascinated.
Here are the two tapestries they've completed so far--the first and last in the series:
The tapestries are hanging in the chapel, which was built in 1594 for the baptism of James VI's son, Henry. It's been completely restored, and it's a gorgeous space.
We don't have any photos of the palace interior--it's pretty much a construction zone. The army split it into two floors when they turned it into barracks, and the restorers have their work cut out for them. We're looking forward to going back in five years or so to see what it looks like. These are photos of the outside of the palace.
The area around Stirling is gorgeous--more pastoral and less rugged than the Highlands. The views from the castle tended to be spectacular. You can see the William Wallace monument in some of these; we didn't have time to visit it, unfortunately.
After Stirling Castle we found the B&B outside Stirling we were staying at, and we had dinner in Thornhill, a town a few miles from there. As usual, the food was terrific (salmon and Stilton in puff pastry, yum!)--overall, the food was probably the best surprise of the trip. (The beer was also good, but that was less of a surprise.) The next morning we ate a quick breakfast and left at 7:30 to drive to the Glasgow Airport, where we tried (and failed) to spend the last of our pound notes. We're already looking forward to going back.