Edinburgh, Scotland (4/14 - 4/18/25)

After we completed our Rhine River cruise, we decided to stop in Scotland on our way back to the states to see the country where the Ferguson Clan originated. We stayed at the excellent boutique Bonham Hotel in Edinburg in walking distance to the city's best attractions. Although fairly small, this hotel had a nice restaurant and a 24-hour lounge. Thanks again to Heidi from Terrapin Travel for arranging these tours for us.

One of the days here we dedicated to touring the Scottish Highlands. We also did a food tour in Edinburgh and took a tour of Edinburgh Castle with the multiple museums around the castle.

Edinburgh Castle is located right in the city and is a very popular attraction with tours available to hear more about the extensive history of this place.

At the top of the castle grounds is the seemingly plain building of St Margaret's Chapel that was built in the 1,130 and is the oldest building in Edinburgh.

Inside, you have a small chapel that was used by early Scottish royalty but forgotten for many years only to be revived in the 1,800s.

Like most castles, this one overlooked the city and the harbors below. This canon is called Mons Meg and was brought to the castle in 1,460. A tradition of the castle is to fire a canon at exactly 1:00 pm everyday. Here is a video of the canon firing we witnessed when we visited.

In the Great Hall, many medieval weapons are on display.

I really loved the ceiling in the Great Hall.

Although we were not allowed to photograph them, we did take a tour to see the Royal Crown Jewels which were on display here.

We also spent a full day on a 12+ hour bus tour of the Scottish Highlands. Located in the northwest part of the country, we enjoyed the spectacular views and took a boat tour of Loch Ness.

Although we did not stop here, this was a distant view of the Doune Castle which was a filming location for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Game of Thrones and Outlander.

One of the highlights of the tour was to stop at Glen Coe. This beautiful site is near the the Massacre of Glencoe where Scottish government soldiers killed many of the rebelling Jacobites in 1692. If you've watched the show Outlander, you know all about this history.

We also took a boat cruise on Loch Ness to hopefully get a rare glimpse of the famed sea monster Nessie.

Lo and behold we were not disappointed! Due to clever window stickers, we have a perspective of what this prehistoric creature may have looked like if we had seen her.

In our off time, we could wander the streets of the city from our hotel to see the historic architectures and stop in to shop and eat/drink.

Of course, the cathedrals are usually the most impressive.

One of thing you'll notice are hundreds of chimneys coming from all the residences. We were told these were for coal stoves that ended up causing quite a bit of pollution in the city a hundred years ago. Now we head back to the states to continue our vagabond adventures across the USA.