Student Bloggers
Loch Ness, Inverness, and more!
Date
April 2, 2015
This weekend was a blast! One of my best friends came and visited me from Rome and we explored Edinburgh Friday night before heading to Inverness on Saturday morning!
We climbed Salisbury Crags at sunset, which was gorgeous. Watching the sun go down over the city was very neat- now I have to climb it at sunrise (which actually sounds rather awful)! Of course, we had to see the Elephant House, where JK Rowling wrote part of Harry Potter because we are huge nerds. I also had the chance to demonstrate my new dance moves when we went to a Ceilidh Friday night!
I think I’ve said this before, but let me reiterate- I love train travel! Our train from Edinburgh went over the Forth Rail Bridge (incredibly cool!) and went up the eastern coast of Scotland before veering back towards Perth and heading north to Inverness through Cairngorns National Park. How awesome does that sound?! I love being able to see the countryside and appreciate the diversity in Scotland’s truly magnificent landscape! From coastal fishing villages, to the impressive North Sea, to rolling green hills, to dramatic mountains, to snow capped peaks, this was probably my favorite train ride yet.
I feel like all my travels begin with an early start, maybe it’s because I want to maximize my time or perhaps that’s because it's when travel is the cheapest. Either way, it’s no fun to leave your cozy bed to catch the 6:30 train. After we arrived in Inverness and checked into our hostel, we headed down to Loch Ness. We visited the ruins of Urquhart Castle, which are situated on the edge of the loch. It was a particularly beautiful day! We drove around the area a bit more, going up to Dingwall and driving a bit around the Black Isle. For dinner we found a pub and tried some of the local beers.
We left Inverness the next morning to head back towards Edinburgh. My friend still needed to see a lot of Edinburgh in her short time here. We walked up and down the Royal Mile and visited Edinburgh Castle before finishing off the night with Holyrood 9a- one of my favorite burger places in Edinburgh!
Looking ahead: This weekend I’ll be catching a plane to Rome! We will also be visiting Florence and Crete.