Isle of Skye, or the Cloud Island

The first time I went to Skye was with a group of friends when I was studying at university. As proper twenty little year old students, we thought we knew it all but we knew nothing, so we decided to visit Skye in January. Probably you remember what I said yesterday about the sun in Scotland in winter, so yeah, my first memories of the Isle of Skye are at night time.

The second memory is of a sheep in the middle of the road at (guess!) night time. My friend driving was not realising there was a sheep there, staring at the car but without moving. Three other people were shouting at him to stop the car, to be careful with the sheep. Well, the problem mainly was that he is French and we were shouting at him in Spanish, therefore he had no idea what we were saying.

Don´t worry! The car finally stopped centimetres away from the sheep, this one looked at us for a brief moment, and run away! I think sheep and car passengers were as fright as each other.

True sheep from Skye

Years later I went back to Skye, as my Scottish boyfriend had never been before (aha!). The island is beautiful, it is joint to the mainland by a quite impressive bridge, and you have to pay attention to the roundabout at the end of the bridge, otherwise you will be going round a couple of times!

In the island you can find from dinosaur fossils to, yes, sheep. Oh well, and people! Very nice people actually! In the capital, Portree you can find charming shops and little cafes, and good food! Plus one can´t get lost as it is not that big. It is tiny actually! You can find more information about the Isle of Skye here.

As you will see on the photos, the views are incredibly amazing, the mountains, cliffs, beaches are just spectacular. To me the Isle of Skye is the perfect place to enjoy a week of relax, being away from everything and everybody. Just renting a little cottage and enjoying life. The more I write about it the more I wish I could do it starting tomorrow!

I hope you like the photos!

Oban and the Seals´Island - Scotland -

First of all I don´t think the island (rock) is called Seal´s Island, I don´t even think it has a name. I just thought it was appropriate for the amount of seals we found in such a small space.

Oban is a beautiful town on the Scottish coast. It is considered the Seafood Capital of Scotland, although I didn´t know this until I saw their website (...). Oban is quite small, but has plenty of things to see and do, the one I enjoyed the most was going out on a boat to find seals! To find ideas on what to do on a day there, please check Oban´s website as it will give you plenty of ideas and information.

The best thing to do is to walk around the town, discovering charming houses and buildings and stunning views from almost any street. Another important thing is the inhabitants character, they were always very nice and helpful, even when the seagull attacked the kid in the harbour to steal his chips. I must say that the poor kid got the fight of his life and couldn´t stop crying, I still don´t know if due to the lost of this food or because he wasn´t expecting such an attack.

When you go to Oban you have to go all the way up to McCaig´s Tower. It is at the top of a hill and the views from there are fantastic! Plus you can sit down on any of the benches or the grass and unwind, it is so calm and relaxing I loved it.

Here are some photos I took during my hours there that I hope make you think about visiting such a pretty and interesting place. Oh and try the seafood too!

Spot the seal (s)! 

You may be thinking that all my photos look like there is an eternal sunset. Well yesterday´s and today´s photos were taken back in October nearly November and yes, at that time of the year the days in Scotland are incredibly short, and the sun never makes it to the top of the sky. That is why the sun is so low on all these photos!

Thank you very much for reading, I hope you like today´s post!

Bee

Skyfall or the Scottish Highlands

If you are a fan of James Bond you already know that on the last movie, Skyfall, they go to the Scottish Highlands. But what you may not know if that the Highlands are even prettier when you see them live. I mean, in the movie it looks nice, it is presented as a place where time doesn´t go by, where technology hasn´t really arrived (??) and where you can find beautiful old houses.

I personally love the Highlands. I can have some peace there, enjoying the surroundings, in a quiet and beautiful place. I like going there specially in spring and autumn (fall for my American friends!). And why is that, you might be thinking. Well, those are the two seasons when nature changes the most. In autumn the trees display amazing gold, red and brown colours, the sun is low, and the sunrise and sunset are incredible.

In spring the skies tend to be blue more often (c´mon, it is Scotland in the end...), the trees are jewel green, full of flowers, and everything around you seems to be waking up from a long sleep. I promise you, if I had the money I would buy a house there and spend weeks over there.

In this post I just want to show you some photos from my last trip to the Highlands, last October. We were lucky enough to have beautiful blue skies and it was even hot! In Skye people were just wearing t-shirts, I thought it was crazy Scottish people because, let´s tell the truth, they wear t-shirts in January when it is about to snow. But it was actually hot!

I hope you enjoy this selection and soon I will post more about the trip to the Scottish Highlands and the amazing B&B where we stayed, with views to the loch and the mountains.

I hope you liked today´s post and thank you very much for reading!

Bee

A Day in New Lanark, Scotland

Sorry for not posting these last few days, I have been ill and basically I slept through the week. I can´t believe it is Friday already!

A couple of weeks ago we spent a day in New Lanark, 30 - 40 minutes from Glasgow by car. New Lanark is a World Heritage Site and it is the perfect place to take the kids, go for a walk on the forests or just visit the little town, and this last thing is what we did.

New Lanark used to be a mill village and was established in the 18th century. The history of the place is fascinating, in its origins hundreds of orphans were taken from Glasgow to New Lanark to work in the mill. These kids were as young as 4 years old, and all lived on the top floor of the main building, girls in one room, boys in another.

There was a school for the kids, which doesn´t mean they could choose if there wanted to study or to work, it meant they had to work and after they could study if they felt like it. 

When the mill changed hands, the new owner determined that the conditions of living were not the best, so some changes were introduced. Families could have access to an apartment (a tiny one where 5 or 6 people lived all together), but the conditions improved, as cleaning standards were introduced.

Nowadays the mill still works, and the apartments were the families used to lived in tiny rooms are now proper apartments with several rooms for each family. There is also a hotel, a cafe and a museum, where to learn more about the history of this unique place.

There are also tours available, and a very nice guide will explain everything there is to know about New Lanark. One can also visit the old houses, with all their elements still in place, the school and the mill.

Have you visited New Lanark? Do you like historic places? Where do you usually travel during the weekends?

Thank you for reading!

Bee

The Shore - Edinburgh -

The Shore is the new trendy neighbourhood in Edinburgh. It is full of pubs, restaurants, cafes and little shops, not far from the city centre but it offers a much more relaxing atmosphere. Some years ago all the area had a pretty bad reputation, as all Leith was considered the place where all the bad things happened.

Nowadays the Shore is a very safe area, with the prices of the properties rising by the minute, and a good range of Micheline star restaurants based there. Leith used to be the harbour of Edinburgh, and a very important one due to its whaling activity. If you walk near the water and pay attention to the buildings, you still can see some of the hooks used to lift the whales, ships or any other heavy things.

The Shore has that Nordic look to it, with old buildings painted in white and colourful windows. In fact Nyhavn in Copenhagen (see more here) reminded me a bit of the Shore in Edinburgh. For me it is just a shame about some of the new constructions, as they don´t look as good as the old bits. Although I have to say that while building below has one of the best views in town!

As I said there are three Michelin star restaurants in the area, The Kitchin, Martin Wishart and The Plumed Horse (I think this last one doesn´t hold one just now, but it used to and will again soon according to the critics).

There are also some other nice places such as Chop Chop, one of the best Chinese restaurants in (probably) Scotland, The King´s Wark (try the fish and chips, you won´t regret it), The Granary, Bond Number 9, The Ship on the Shore... To sum up, at the Shore there is a place for every taste and budget!

And of course Mimi´s. Mimi´s is amazing. They have the best cakes, cupcakes, banoffee pie and French toasts ever. Sometimes (quite a few times) we travel all the way from Glasgow to Edinburgh just to go to Mimi´s!!

One piece of advise, book in advance as it tends to be always really busy. Mimi´s has opened now a new venue away from The Shore. It is on the Royal Mile, it is smaller but the product is the same, therefore amazing!

If you are visiting Edinburgh, don´t miss this area, it is very special and different from the city centre. It has its own history, its own way of living, and it is a great place where to spend a day or at least half of it. And the best thing is that it is not full of tourists like the centre. Actually you nearly don´t see any!

Have you been to The Shore? What did you think of this area? Did you try any of the restaurants?

Thank you for reading!