My experience with Scotland
I've spent two wonderful months in Scotland in summer of 2005, it seems so far away, but when I look at the pictures, I'm right back there...It was a wonderful experience both from the view of a tourist as well as a language student. I did think my English was ... Read review
ITS SURROUNDINGS, COMES FROM CASSELL?S OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH, ITS HISTORY, ITS PEOPLE AND ITS PLACES BY JAMES GRANT, AUTHOR OF MEMORIALS OF THE CASTLE OF EDINBURGH AND BRITISH BATTLES ON LAND AND SEA ETC, DATES OF PRINTS ARE 1882, SIZE OF EACH PAGE IS APPROX 10 x 7 INCHES (260x180) NOTE THESE ARE ORIGINAL PRINTS AS PER DATE NOT MODERN REPRODUCTIONS.
SKETCHES, OR EARLY PHOTOGRAPHS WOULD MAKE AN IDEAL GIFT FOR CHRISTMAS OR BIRTHDAY . The actual date is printed on each page . This engraving is over 120 years old. And is not a modern copy. THESE IMAGES ARE scanned at low resolution for quick uploading and are much better than the scanned image.. Size of print is approx 14" x 9.1/2" if it is shown as whole page, or prorata.. Approx. Page size = 16" high x 11" wide. Ready to matt and frame. These old Prints really look great with Matt and Framed. . Note this print is from a periodical and has printing on reverse.
weeks date as shown on top of page, the size of each page is approximately 15.5 x 11 inches (395x280). All are genuine antique prints and not modern copies, the Illustrated London News is an illustrated magazine which was first printed in 1842 and is the finest pictorial example of a historic social record of British and world events up to the present day. The ILN is known for its coverage of the following subjects the wars, ships, boats, guns, sailing, portraits, fine art, old and antique prints, wood cut, wood engravings, early photographs, Victorian life, Victorian culture, kings, queens, royalty, travels, adventures, natural history, birds, fish, mammals, fishing, hunting, shooting, fox hunting, sports including tennis, cricket, football, horse racing, politics and many more items of interest founded by Herbert Ingram may 14th 1842.
weeks date as shown on top of page or in title, the scan size is approx 16 x 11.5 inches (405 x 290). All are genuine antique prints and not modern copies, the Illustrated London News is an illustrated magazine which was first printed in 1842 and is the finest pictorial example of a historic social record of British and world events up to the present day. The ILN is known for its coverage of the following subjects the wars, ships, boats, guns, sailing, portraits, fine art, old and antique prints, wood cut, wood engravings, early photographs, Victorian life, Victorian culture, kings, queens, royalty, travels, adventures, natural history, birds, fish, mammals, fishing, hunting, shooting, fox hunting, sports including tennis, cricket, football, horse racing, politics and many more items of interest founded by Herbert Ingram may 14th 1842.
WOULD MAKE AN IDEAL GIFT The actual date is printed on each page This print is over 100 years old And is not a modern copy There is a fold which sometimes shows as a shadow on the image, this will not show when framed Check the image for details Size of print is approx ; 12" x 10" (305 X 250) Approx Page size = 16" x 11" (410 X 280 Ready to matt and frame These old Prints really look great with Matt and Framed Note this print is from a periodical and has printing on reverse Scanned at a low resolution for quick uploading so the actual picture is better than the scanned image
of page or in title, the scan size is approximately 15.5 x 11 inches (395x280). All are genuine antique prints and not modern copies the Graphic is an illustrated newspaper and is a fine example of a historic social record of British and world events up to the present day. The Graphic is known for its coverage of the following subjects the wars, ships, boats, guns, sailing, portraits, fine art, old and antique prints, wood cut, wood engravings, early photographs, Victorian life, Victorian culture, kings, queens, royalty, travels, adventures, natural history, birds, fish, mammals, fishing, hunting, shooting, fox hunting, sports including tennis, cricket, football, horse racing, politics and many more items of interest.
A review by jeaniecz on General: Scotland July 15th, 2008
Author's product rating:
Value for Money
Excellent
Sightseeing
Excellent
Shopping
Excellent
Nightlife
Excellent
Ease of getting around
Good
Advantages:
too many too list
Disadvantages:
hmm, hardly any, it's just different and that's why I went there !
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
My experience with Scotland
I've spent two wonderful months in Scotland in summer of 2005, it seems so far away, but when I look at the pictures, I'm right back there...It was a wonderful experience both from the view of a tourist as well as a language student. I did think my English was kind of good even back then, but coming to western Scotland was a bit of a shock as the accent and dialect people speak there was much more difficult for me to understand than let's say how they talk in London. Ok, so for the first week or so I had to keep my ears super opened and concentrate on everything they said. That was both frustrating as I had a job there and this was an extra hurdle to cope with, but also great fun as I have learnt (and by now also forgotten most of it, I admit) some dialect and I tried to absorb their accent. I loved the long and opened "a" in words like cab, rag, bag, Jack and wide somewhat muted "i" in short words sounding rather as "ae". And be sure the Scottish had fun with my English, too :p
Ayrshire Ayrshire is located on the west coast of Scotland, Ayr its centre. I've spent most of my time (due to job) in two small towns named Auchinleck and Cumnock. Sadly there wasn't much to do in the area of my residence, nor nature to admire as those towns are basically connected by a busy road surrounded by not much more than impassable fields, so I've made a couple of trips around Ayrshire, the furthest I've gone was Glasgow and Stirling. Ayr is a beautiful small town with an atmosphere I've never experienced elsewhere before! My most favourite sight of the place was the riverside and Wellington square which offers a lovely view over the Esplanade and the bay, which made me amazed how well-matched the city and coast were!
Kilmarnock We got to Kilmarnock by car, which was pretty handy as we got around very easily and the only problem was to locate the Dean Castle we wanted to visit in Kilmarnock. The city itself is a bit grey and apart from a couple of churches (we were lucky to get a guided tour in one of those as the Father found out we were Czech students and took it as his duty to introduce his parish to us, which was very nice of him and I was amazed to see a part of a church could also be a gym!) it wasn't very interesting to me for other reasons but shopping as I needed to buy new shoes, and also got them there.
Dean Castle is a wonderful piece of fortification surrounded by a large park and gardens that are free to enter. We were lucky enough to arrive just on a day when no entrance fee was to be paid to visit the castle. The castle consists of two towers and a castle yard, however, it's not really known when were those built, but it's known that this castle used to be a property to the noble family of Boyd. The castle served as a place of residence, prison where some neat torture instruments can be seen, the main residence chambers and an attic decorated with many signs of power and nobility such as coats of arms and family precious items. The park is a lovely place for a picnic or just taking a little rest after having toured the castle, I've seen around a lot of families with lil kids who just looked like they came to enjoy an afternoon in this calm and peaceful place, far enough from the city buzz.
Saltcoats We have visited Saltcoats on the way back from Kilmarnock, just to stop by the sea for the evening. Saltcoats is a place from where ferries take you to islands by Scottish coast, but unluckily I didn't have free time enough to make such a trip. Saltcoats was quiet and amiable, we sat by the beach and then paddled in the sea playing with jellyfish. The only disturbance was from a funfair on the opposite side of the bay where someone was using a loudspeaker loud enough even for us to hear.
Stirling Stirling is just beautiful and I fell in love with it on the first sight!! We walked up the steep and crooked lanes all the way to the castle only to find it closed...I have taken approximately thousand pictures only in Stirling, the old tiny houses piled up in the narrow streets just fascinated me. It was where we came across a pub called Pivo (that means beer in Czech) and I was impressed to find its walls covered in quotes from Bohumil Hrabal, one of the most famous Czech writer. The menu was in English and nobody of the staff spoke a word of Czech which was a little disappointment but hey, they had Czech beers on tap!
It was near Stirling that we visited Highland Games, something typical of Scotland I was so fond of seeing! And I gotta tell you I wasn't disappointed in the least! The only thing that seemed awkward to me was a modern kind of funfair attached (and parasiting, in my opinion) on the HG area. We parked on a vast meadow and tried to remember where the car was...Admission was 5 pounds per person which I found ok. It was a great day out at the Highland Games, I think my most favourite discipline to watch was throwing the log, then Scottish dance, wrestling in all age categories and bike race - I admired the competitors to even get on a bike on such muddy surface and riding so fast without breaking their necks!
A chapter of its own were the bagpipers...you probably haven't been to Scotland if you haven't heard a bagpiper's band to play! Well, there there were approximately 12 bands, each neatly organized into a circle and they played nonstop practising their virtues. Don't get me as ironic, I loved to hear them play, the only problem there was too many bands within small area and as we walked around and got out of radius of one, we already heard another and that made me hear the bagpipes nonstop for another day! I admired their uniforms, especially the kilts and during HG it was the only time in Scotland I've also seen girls wearing the kilts, which made me want to get one as well!
Another place of interest near Stirling is the Wallace Monument. Actually you can get a wonderful view of this tower from by the Stirling castle, which is on a hill from where you can observe a wonderful valley and on the other side there's the Wallace Monument. As you can guess, this monument was erected to the Scottish national hero William Wallace nicknamed The Braveheart who fought against the English king Edward III. to maintain Scotland's independence. We paid another 5 pounds to enter, but I have to say that the best of this monument was its outside and the view you had from its top. Simply beautiful!
Glasgow Glasgow had too much to see in just one day, so I have made two day-trips there. Already the Glasgow Central was interesting to me so there was something to look at since I got off the train. I didn't know really anything of the city I should go see in particular, so I just got a small tourist map and wandered around checking out whatever caught my fancy. First place I got to was George Square, I admired the architecture of City Chambers and Walter Scott's column. My favourite part of the city was the Merchant City with Mercat Cross and a clock tower nearby, then the river Clyde's banks. I loved how the modern parts were sometimes funnily fitted into obviously old buildings, some of those left shallow for what seemed like ages telling from the stuff that grew over the facades. Modern places like the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall nearby the Virgin megastore which gave me shelter from rain and Princess Street packed with shops and boutiques only add to Glasgow's fancy face.
What did I enjoy particularly in Glasgow? First of all, the city itself, I loved to walk around and explore! I didn't use public transport to get around so that I wouldn't 1) get lost and 2) miss anything interesting to see.
The selection of muffins to have with your coffee amazed me and during my time in Scotland and Glasgow particularly I developed a habit of having a coffee with raspberry muffin with my cigarette at least once a day. Now I miss that.
Bookstores. In Waterstones I was like in a paradise. You gotta think of that I'm talking about some 3 years ago and even if that's not SO long, back then there wasn't such a range of English books available in my country, so I was more than happy to scout this bookshop and come back home with a few gems of my library, the Helen Fielding and Stephen King books I've reviewed among them.
Sheep Could I leave them out speaking about Scotland? No way, especially as I've had a little insight in the sheep breeding at a farm near Muirkirk. I've never been into soil-digging, I don't like gardening or farming and I actually can't really relate to how some people love their gardens, orchards or fields and they can happily spend their lives working hard in the mud every day. On this farm I got the impression the sheep were almost members of the family...sheep pictures all over the house as well as rewards and prizes won on sheep and cow exhibitions, the people lived for those animals which I thought was amazing! Ah and don't forget the midgies! I thought I was used to mosquitoes but these things are just horrible and nothing (I have tried, at least) will stop them. Welcome to the farmland!
How did I get there and back I flew with Flyglobespan and I was happy with their service, a return flight Prague-Glasgow cost something around 4500 CZK (3 years ago, again), which was a pretty good low-cost travel! They had a 20kg limit on big bag, which I managed to fit into, but they didn't charge me anything for almost 2kg extra on my hand lugagge, which was nice. There's not much I can really say about the airline now, because times, prices and terms of use have changed, but if I were offered Flyglobespan among companies to fly with and hadn't known the others from personal experience, I would certainly go for Flyglobespan again.
Remarkable moments A soccer-sized lawn surrounded by trees is called "park" in Scotland. Soup of haggis and Scotch broth were delicious!! A groom dressed in a creamy-white kilt suit. Bagpipers. Fruit'n'Fibre cornflakes, Irn-Bru and sponge cakes covered in pink glazé with ground coconut. This is a country of Robert Burns more than of anybody else and be sure you will hear about that! His wife came from Mauchline, which is near CUmnock, so I heard a LOT about them.
Conclusion I loved my time in Scotland, it was a wonderful experience and traveling fun, I'll try to go back and see other places as well, I'm particularly sorry I didn't manage Edinburgh and the islands, but there has to be something left for the next time.
Advantages: See my review Disadvantages: See my review
Before I begin this review, I'd like to underline the fact that I first published this text on the French version of ciao! last August. I translate it now and may change some points. What's more, it's the first time I write an opinion in the "travel" section of ciao.co.uk so I may lack method and organization. I've decided to deal with my travel through Scotland day after day.
۞ Before leaving :
For various reasons, goig to Scotland has been ... ...(discovery, hearing the Scottish accent, knowing if I'll be able to understand it and be understood by the locals). With three other people, we had been seriously talking about it for at least six months when we decided on the dates of our journey.
At the end of July, 2008 we were off to Scotland ...
We left early on the morning on July, 20th and came back at night, on August, 1st.
I'll focus on 10 days of our journey, from July, 21st to July, ...
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Think of a Scottish place to spend a few days on holiday or even just for a short weekend break & it is doubtful that Aberlour will spring to mind. Which is quite a shame because this small village in North East Scotland has a lot going for it.
Charlestown of Aberlour (to give it its proper title) is situated 56 miles south east of the highland capital Inverness, 60 miles North West of Aberdeen & 35 miles east of Aviemore. It means that should you ... ...hour twenty minutes driving time from most of these places. You are also close to the ski centre at the Lecht, dolphin watching on the Moray coastline & about two hours from Loch Ness. If that's not enough Aberlour is surrounded by beautiful countryside for walks, cycling & fishing, golf courses & whisky distilleries.
You could drive through Aberlour in about two to three minutes flat & not notice anything, it's that kind of place, nothing stands ...
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Advantages: the landscape Disadvantages: the weather
Clearing a bookshelf I found the diary my friend and I had written when hitch-hiking through Scotland in 1964 (!), let me warn you, this op is a bit on the longish side, if you´re in a hurry, you´d better pass on . . .
My friend from uni and I had come to London at the beginning of August to take part in a language course, but something went wrong and we could only begin in September. We had our youth hostel cards with us and a small rucksack each ... ...on a hitch-hiking tour. Where to? Why not to Scotland? We didn´t know anything about the country besides its position north of England and the usual clichés, we bought a road map and off we went.
Crossing the border was disappointing! We, continental Europeans who had already travelled abroad had distinct ideas about what a border should be like: bounds and barriers and a policeman who´d put a stamp into our passport watched by an Alsatian with ...
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Advantages: Small, friendly, beautiful scenery, a great village to visit. Disadvantages: bit of a hike to get there if you don't drive
Charleston of Aberlour, or Aberlour, as it is mostly known as, is where my heart lies. I've been to lots of places, lived in lots of places, but it's always Aberlour that I get homesick for. How strange then, that although I know this tiny place like the back of my hand, could wander its streets and lanes blindfolded, I've never actually lived there.
Aberlour is where my Father's family stay, and it's where we spent all the summers of our youth, ... ...by the river, and generally roaming wild. It is a place where I learned how beautiful nature is, and how harsh. It's where I learned how to tell a wild raspberry from a bramble, and where to source the finest specimens of pine cone (for tossing on an open fire before bed to sent a pine scent through the house). It is where I learned to fish for minnows with a jam jar and a crust of bread, and where I first saw the almost prehistoric grace of a Heron ...
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Advantages: Beautiful but unsung corner of Scotland Disadvantages: Staying alive on the A75
It was the autumn half-term holiday last week, so for those with kids or connected to primary and secondary education in some way, it was a last chance to get fleeced by the tourist industry before the bargain basement off-season prices apply.
Whoo-hoo, my daughter is now 22. Booo, I’m married to a teacher!
Ruth and I tend to alternate between catching the last of the sun in the Med area and having a relaxing if calorific time usually in our beloved ... ...the UK’s turn this year, but we fancied somewhere else. I’m running out of places to see in The Lakes, and I’ll be bug****d if I’ll go to see all the Beatrix Potter memorabilia just because we’ve “done” everywhere else. Having been to Carlisle a few times whilst in The Lakes, I remember making a mental note that “Scotland can’t be far” – well the border at least, so despite the fact that Lakeland is far enough for any Londoner in his right mind to ...
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Advantages: Quiet, away from it all, great base for activities. Disadvantages: None
...Being a hill and mountain walker and person who generally enjoys life in the high lands of Scotland, it is quite inevitable that I will journey to the town of Braemar on occasion. I went there a few years back, camping with a few mates, using the place as a base whilst we went off to 'bag' a Munro (mountains over 3000 feet) or two. I am not here to discuss those specific hills, though, but to talk about this little town.
Braemar is well known for it's walking - as I have mentioned. It is right within the grasp of the famous and notorious Cairngorms. The area contains some 24 Munros, with three over 4,000ft. This is truly beautiful and breathtaking scenery, and even if you go just to view the place and take photos it is worth it!
The town has the highest 18 hole golf course in the country, and at 2,100ft the highest through road in...
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Advantages: Opens early Disadvantages: Grubby and uninteresting
...I simply to had to write a review on this topic, simply because I can't believe it is in the database. It is neither a famous nor interesting pub, but it has a certain charm about it.
For those who know Edinburgh, The Scotsmans Lounge is situated at the top of Cockburn Street, just off The Royal Mile. While it may be devoid of the Americana / bric-a-brac feel of its near neighbour The Filling Station, it has bags of character. You really do feel as if you're in a 1950's watering hole where shift workers congregate both late at night and early in the morning. The only problem with this is that the 1950's were a dismal period in Scotland and shift workers are generally rude, dirty and smelly. Of course, opening at 6am is a major virtue in an establishment of this kind (many's the time we have ended up in here or The Penny Black...
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Advantages: Cheap, increasing routes Disadvantages: Lack of service
...Flown Ryanair on about 8 trips. Generally quite impressed although the flight attendants seem to vary considerably - as do the aircraft!
On internal flights (Scotland) the aircraft are pretty ancient - I'm sure I saw Orville Wright at the controls. Not a major problem as I am sure they are well maintained but reliability and comfort probably not as good as an airline flying more modern aircraft. Invariably the staff look pretty grumpy.
Internationally, the aircraft are very modern and reasonably comfortable. It is, perhaps, understandable given the low fares that they have jammed every last seat in. Cabin crew are much better.
Costs vary enormously. I have been lucky on a number of occasions and got to Glasgow for £9 return - just look at how taxes increase the cost though!
Generally an impressive airline in terms...
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