For humans interested in our planet and connections to the people living on it.
So on a Saturday Morning in August we started on our new adventure—and on our way to the Hotel we stopped at
where we had lunch at a Woolen Mill
where we also toured and learned the story of Scottish wool industry
Then it was on to our hotel which is in the foothills of the Trossachs, and at which we spent three nights.
Now the McDonald’s Forest Hills Hotel
Aberfoyle
The hotel had a beautiful view of Loch Ard and was deep in a 25 acre private area with landscaped gardens and pathways and had great food and and an indoor swimming pool and sauna.
While we were there was a wedding on one of the terraces overlooking the lake—its my most vivid memory of the hotel—with the groom and his attendants all in formal kilts attire—-this vacation wasn’t cheap but it was well worth the price. It was outside the dining room so we could view it along with the lovely scenery — so great
Aberfoyle is a testament to the early power of literary tourism.
Stirling Castle from the West
Sunday we left the hotel for
to see Sterling Castle where James VI of Scotland (and eventually James I of England)m son of Mary Queen of Scots,
was crowned.
Historic Scotland described Stirling Castle as “without doubt the grandest of all Scottish castles, both in its situation and in its architecture.”
Places to visit include
The Lower and Upper Squares
and
it’s stunning renovations completed in 1999 (just 6 years before our visit), was one of the largest historical restoration ever undertaken in Europe. You could also visit the medieval kitchen with its glimpse of culinary efforts that both amaze and appall our modern concepts.
and standing at
from which you can see
and the heights of
Ben Lomond.
Stirling Castle Tour
Our next stop from Stirling on to
to visit the
which is reputed to be the oldest working distillery in Scotland,
where we toured and then had lunch.
Then our bus took us into the Scottish Highlands to
where we toured a Stone Age Crannog (dwelling) was a great afternoon—the guides here at that time where college age students that had worked here for the summer from all over the world—in fact our guide was a lovely young lady who had been working here all summer and was putting in her last day on the job before she returned to the USA, the love of the work being done here was evident in her presentation to us about the site. The Crannog was built over the waters of Loch Tay. It is a carefully researched and accurately completed to bring the Stone Age to life for us.
Then it was on to the Highland Town of
where we had dinner and then attended a performance of
at the
then back to Forest Hills Hotel to put an end to our late night outing.
About Pitlochry – Pitlochry Scotland – Pitlochry Tourist Guide
Monday August 15
We leave the Forest Hills Hotel for another day–and back to Glasgow
destination
University of Glasgow’s campus and
which includes the reconstructed house of Charles Mackintosh
who I am told is a pioneer architect and designer in the Art Nouveau tradition—-all I can say the house was amazing—not sure I can live in it—-but I’d sure love to visit it again. Mackintosh’s wife Margaret MacDonald, designed furnishing in the house. There are many paintings by Whistler hung there, as well.
The museum also included the
Burrell was a millionaire ship owner and self-taught art collector who amassed a splendid collection of art and artifacts from ancient civilizations, Oriental art—with a lot of Chinese porcelain, pottery, jade and bronzes, as well as Japanese prints. Near Eastern ceramics and carpets . Medieval post-Medieval European Art (inluding world-famous tapestries and stained glass), and many paintings (especially French Impressionists), drawings and bronzes. After Sir William gave the entire collection to the Scottish nation, it was many years before a suitable site was found on which to build the lovely gallery with its glorious vistas of the surrounding parkland. And we had lunch on our own with a stipend at Burrell
After lunch we left the museum and made a short visit to
which by the way is the only Scottish mainland cathedral to survive the Reformation untouched.
We then continued on to
this is a cotton mill and community created by Robert Owen in 1785
where unlike similar institutions around the country and the world for that matter the mill workers lived in comfortable surroundings at least a century ahead of the norm for the rest of the world. A village store was the insperation for the co-operative movement and Owen himself moved on to found Indiana’s New Harmony project.
and finally one more stop at the lovely woodland site
and then back to the hotel (Forest Hills still)
As I mentioned before this tour was all inclusive and included all meals during the program, except meals in transit to, from and between programs. Also stops during the walks to get a coffee, snack etc was also not covered
Also it was necessary that the participant be able to do considerable walking as tour included castles museums, fishing villages and palaces as well as Edinburgh which is pretty much up and down in a lot of the areas.
Please come back next Tuesday for the second part of this tour days Aug 16-19.
