In this first picture, you can see the mighty Edinburgh Castle high up on its volcanic rock. In the Middle Ages, this must have been a fortress nobody could conquer. Around the castle was Nor Loch (the north lake), which was the open sewer of the town. You know, in these old days, the inhabitants threw their 'wee-wee's' and 'jobbies' (don't the Scots have nice words for excrements?) out of the window at set times (7am and 9 pm). When it rained, these excrements were carried along the winding Streets down to the loch. This is why Edinburgh was nicknamed Old Reeky in those times...
And Nor Loch did not only contain excrements. When the lake was drained in the 18th century, when construction of the newer part of town began, they found at least 600 skeletons, mainly of women who were supposed to be witches.
Here is a picture of the newer part of town. See the difference? This is Georgian style, and the house you see can be visited. It once belonged to the Marques of Bute.
And we also went to see some Highland Games in Luss (near Loch Lomond). It was nice to see all the different disciplines of pole throwing, dancing, pipers, etc.
The drive to the Highlands was wonderful. We came through the most beautiful scenery you can imagine. Especially Glencoe has its charm. Has anyone seen Monarch of the Glen? We passed the house where the series was filmed, too.
And of course a visit to Loch Ness could not be missed. We did not meet Nessie, but I suppose that was because the place was too crowded. I imagine, if we could be there on our own, we might catch a glimpse of the monster...
No comments:
Post a Comment