Wednesday 5 September Today we are leaving our cosy wigwam at Morton’s Hall Campsite and we intend to spend the whole day in the old town of Edinburgh before taking the road to Glasgow. The weather is fine. In our journey around Scotland, we look forward with much anticipation to our last day in the Scottish capital city and our … Continue reading →
Monday 3 September 12:00 we leave Mortonhall campsite. The place is rather empty at this hour of the day except for our little friends, the rabbits, which play around and hide below our wigwam. They must be eager to be left alone in their realm… Highland cows keep watch at the entrance of the campsite. We already know … Continue reading →
Hi everybody, Lovely as this double-decker may look like we are not going to visit Edinburgh aboard it though it might have been a solution to avoid parking and traffic problems in the city (tram works presently). Here’s our starting point today, at Mortonhall Caravan & Camping Park, as I’ve mentioned it in the first part of our ‘Journey … Continue reading →
Hi Mairiuna! From all the marvelous paths one can travel while exploring the Scottish walking trails, one that I would be delighted to experiment is the Ayrshire Coastal path as illustrated in the map above. Just imagine how exciting it is to see seals, porpoise and perhaps even otters! Wow… We did drive through some of the gorgeous cities along … Continue reading →
To discover literary Edinburgh, you have to walk it, defying Robert Louis Stevenson’s “bleak winds” and exploring Dorothy Wordsworth’s “passes of dark stone”, simply because there is no other way of penetrating the ancient wynds, closes and creeper-ridden burial grounds of this city, whose literary past is written on its dark and hoary face. (Allan Foster – The … Continue reading →
(Edinburgh Forth Bridges © 2006 Scotiana) The Scottish capital is a place of outstanding beauty. It’s a city we’ve fallen in love with when we first discovered it a few years ago and we can’t wait to go back there! There is truly something “very special” about Edinburgh… As soon as you approach the city, you can feel the … Continue reading →
Here fond affection rears its sculpted stone… (from John Henry Alexander’s epitaph – Glasgow Necropolis) “CEMETERIES ARE FOR THE LIVING. Sure, the dead are the permanent residents and the living merely visitors but the Necropolis and every other burying ground in the world were imagined, designed and built for the benefit of other living people. Time, as … Continue reading →
Hi everybody ! Try to imagine we’re all sitting on a Mackintosh chair round a Mackintosh table, in the very special atmosphere of the Willow Tearooms in Glasgow, chatting about everything Scotland, our favourite subject ! To begin with, have you read our friends’ second Letter from Scotland? This time, Iain and Margaret have told us a very moving story. … Continue reading →
At the end of the nineteenth century, Art Nouveau transformed towns and countryside around the world. Even though its style had gained popularity from just the last ten years or so, Art Nouveau permeated many arts & crafts: jewellery, book design, glasswork, textiles, wrought iron, and architecture, to name just a few, with its high Victorian design and craftwork. The … Continue reading →
Back in 1840, Glasgow architect John Baird was commissioned by Sir James Campbell, to design the large block of business premises in Buchanan Street, known as Prince’s Buildings. The buildings formed a four-storey merchant square in yellow sandstone, named in honour of the birth of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) A year or so later, the building was … Continue reading →
If it is pouring with rain, as is often the case in Scotland, and if you are not lost in the midst of nowhere in a most desolate and remote place of the Scottish countryside with only a thermos of black coffee to cheer you up, it would be unthinkable not to be able to find a castle, a museum, … Continue reading →
. Hey Mairiuna, before we hop unto Princes Square’s inviting blue escalator leading up to it’s animated galleries, let’s stroll a bit longer on Buchanan street, the most popular and well known shopping street of Glasgow. I was so impressed by the urban design that I would happily spend more time in this premier pedestrian thoroughfare housing more than 125 … Continue reading →
From our different trips to Glasgow, we came back with a great number of photos and unforgettable memories. We never stayed long enough, alas, to be able to visit all the treasures hidden in the rich and fascinating Scottish metropolis but it did not take long for us to feel the sense of place there and to love it. Glasgow … Continue reading →
. Oh yes! Mairiuna, it was quite a fun ride we took aboard Glasgow’s Clockwork Orange subway train. Remember this photograph I took of you both just before we escalated down to the ticket booth? At the ticket booth, we had a good laugh when the ticket officer, after we told him that you and Jean-Claude came from France and … Continue reading →
We like our Underground. From down below it tells you a lot about what is happening up above. South of the Clyde it is largely deserted. Traffic between St Enoch’s and Hillhead is busier with students and shoppers. Some people only like travelling clockwise or anti-clockwise. It is a subway with a heart. (Glasgow from the Eye in the Sky … Continue reading →
