Last week in – Part 2 – I spoke about driving the coastal and highland tourist routes. The week before in – Part 1 – I spoke about the city of Aberdeen.
Vintage bikes in Banchory
We gave up on finding stone circles for a while and made it in time for a quick cup of coffee with the biker friend in Banchory – before heading off again. Along the Royal Deeside route are yet more gorgeous villages such as Braemar, Blairgowrie and Pitlochry. In the cooler months the mountains in the Cairgorms are covered with snow and there are – ski resorts. The last two winters in Scotland, 2010 and 2011, have seen plenty snow. In summer people come to climb the munros, cycle the hills, canoe up and down the River Dee or go fishing – read more – here. What is a munro you ask? Follow – this link – to find out.
Balmoral Castle
Look out for indigenous – red deer along the way and of course the cutest ever shaggy – Highland cows which are farmed in the area.
River Dee
One of the must-sees on this trip was Balmoral Castle. It was apparently Queen Victoria’s favoutite home and still much loved by the current Queen Elizabeth. It’s only open April to July when the royal family aren’t in residence. Read more – Balmoral Castle. I would allow at very least two hours to walkabout and watch a plethora of presentations. Avoid the cafe if you can. My Swedish friend had the very worst burger of his entire life there. A floppy white bun with a mingy piece of meat. That was it! He was bitterly disappointed.
Croft Moraig Stone Circle
At Braemar we popped into the tourism office and asked where we could find stone circles en route to Edinburgh. The young lady was somewhat surprised by our request but she found info on the internet and set us on the road to find – Croft Moraig. Happiness!! We found a stone circle. Unfortunately so did another party of other people together with a bunch of children. They spread themselves all over the place and these kids were charging and leaping about the stones making it hard for us to get a
picture. But we did. We ticked stones off our to-do list and headed for Edinburgh.
The smaller roads in Scotland and the UK are mostly narrow, windy and single lanes. There are few emergency zones or places to pull over. We got stuck behind tractors, slow cars and trucks most of the time and our journey took a lot longer than we anticipated.
Croft Moraig Stone Circle
We finally got to Edinburgh at 18.00pm. Fortunately in summer the sun goes down very late in Scotland so we knew we could afford to take our time.
I booked a budget hotel in Pilrig Street in Edinburgh with – booking.com – as it had parking for our car and also because it was walking distance to town. The room cost £52 per night. When we arrived at this place my heart sank into my stomach. The reception area looked dreadful. Fortunately the room wasn’t bad and the bloke at reception was well meaning and helpful.
By now we were starving hungry and we took a walk to Port of Leith which was about 2 kilometers away. There are lots and lots of pubs, cafes and restaurants in the area. Mostly seafood and steak type places. ( a vegetarian sigh!) However, I had a nice meal at The Kings Wark – read about it – here.
North Bridge Edinburgh
I always skip breakfast at hotels if I can. Eating out is usually cheaper than at hotels and it’s another way to explore the city. The next morning we went in search of breakfast and we found a French Style Cafe along Leith Walk. A meal for two with coffee came to around £18. Then we hit Edinburgh on foot to see as much as we could in one day. Read about that next week.
Next week in – Part 4 – and the final part I talk about what to do in Edinburgh.
For more on Scotland visit – here.
For more on my other destinations and a few travel horror stories go to the Travel Archive Page.
Last week in – Part 1 – I talk about doing an Aberdeen city walking tour and shopping in Aberdeen.
River Dee near Duthie Park
Carrying on from last week and where to get healthy vegetarian food – Pret-a-Manger do great take-outs – see their menu – here. There is a big one in Union Street and a smaller one in the Bon Accord Centre.
Walking along the old railway line
Marks and Spencer also do healthy, tasty take-out salads and meals. Plus you can pick up a great bottle of wine to go with. Read more – here. Find Markies in St Nicholas Shopping Centre.
What you absolutely have to do is visit a pub and try one of the local ales. There are microbreweries all over the UK and I would argue that the UK produces some of the best beers. Visit – CAMRA – to find out if there are any beer festivals when you are visiting. Some pubs can be a bit skanky and full of bar flies but I kind of like seeing life from all angles and hey, a great beer is a great beer, quirky company makes having it that much more interesting.
Greenie and Swedish friend
The Tourism office also gave us a printout for a walk which starts at Duthie Park and runs along the River Dee. Read about it – here. Duthie Park has a free indoor garden that grows just about everything. We intended to
do that walk the next day. But we had a slow start and decided to rather walk along the
– old railway line – from Duthie Park in Aberdeen to Cults which is about 6.5 kilometers. Fitter people can walk all the way to Peterculter [pronounced Peter Cooter], add another 6 kilometers. The walk allows you to see the outskirts of Aberdeen and villages like Cults or Peterculter, but also to see trees, birds, farms and natural scenery of the area.
Stonehaven
At Cults we had lunch and then we walked back in the drizzle. I have to mention that Aberdeen is not a sunshine destination. Even when the mercury is reaching 27’C in Glasgow, Aberdeen is significantly cooler, and often cloudy. This has to do with a coastal fog that occurs in eastern Scotland known as The Haar. In essence the east coast of Scotland has it’s own little micro climate. Read more – here.
The upside of this is that the east coast has less of a problem with midges. Coming from Africa where we have deadly mosquitoes and insects, I scoffed when the Scots moaned about midges. Until one hot day I got eaten alive and had a bad reaction to them. Read more – here
Dunnotter Castle
We hired a car from here on and the next full day we drove the coastal route taking in old fishing villages such as Stonehaven, Montrose and Arbroath, finally finishing in the fourth largest city – Dundee. Whether you drive north or south, you encounter these picturesque little villages, castles, ruins, harbours with fishing boats and rolling green hills as far as the eye can see. We stopped at – Dunnottar Castle – and walked along the cliffs. It’s a full day out. Read more about the area – Coastal Route. Golf lovers might want to squeeze in a game at the home of golf in St Andrews. If you miss out, fear not, Scotland is crammed full of golf courses as you will see – here.
Arbroath
The next day we headed out to take in the – Cairngorms National Park – and the – Royal Deeside – area. I was determined to find a stone circle or two as they are of interest to me and there are plenty circles, henges, cairns, barrows and all sorts of prehistoric monuments in Aberdeenshire.
The plan was to go via Inverurie to see the – Easter Aquhorthies – and then head toward Banchory to meet a friend who was doing a motor bike rally. Somehow we missed the turn-off and unfortunately stone circles are often not sign posted. Have a look at these sites before your trip to make sure you locate the stone circles before you leave for your journey – stone circles Aberdeenshire or – historic Scotland
Part 3 – next week deals with road trips via the Cairgorms National Park and Royal Deeside
and in – Part 4 – I talk about Edinburgh.
This is Part 1 of a 4 part series. Links to the other posts are at the bottom of the page.
Union Street
I recently had a Swedish friend over to visit in Scotland. Aberdeen has (sort of) become my second home so I don’t always view the city as a visitor anymore. It was lovely to have a chance to explore this part of the world again. We only had 4 days, not a lot of time.
Market Street
I decided that we would do a walking tour of Aberdeen the first half day. We stopped in at the Tourism office in Union Street and they kindly printed out a walking tour for us. Just a note here. The Tourism office is not open all day, every day. They open later than most of the other shops in the area, they close for lunch, half-days on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays. Also there is one, maybe two people at most to help. Aberdeen is clearly not a massive tourist destination.
Union Terrace Gardens
The tour starts at Castlegate, which is the furtherest end of Union Street – not too far from the Tourism office. The walk weaves around Union Street taking in historic buildings, statues and examples of Aberdeen architecture. The printed brochure includes a map and interesting information. For more on what to do in Aberdeen read – here.
Aberdeen is known as either the Silver City or the Granite City due to the silver granite buildings that comprise most of the city. It’s the third biggest city in Scotland and is a major fishing harbour. However fishing is small fry compared to the oil industry. Aberdeen is the oil capital of all Europe.
Union Square
The walk takes around an hour and a half, depending on how long you make it. If you have time in hand, and want to include a bit of shopping, or people watching, the two main shopping malls are Union Square and the combo of St Nicholas and Bon Accord Centre, which are right next to each other.
You’ll find Union Square by going down Market Street off Union Street. Head down towards the harbour and then right into Guild Street. The other two shopping centres are behind where Market Street meets Union Street.
St Nicholas Kirk
As a greenie I love the plethora of UK charity shops which usually stock exceptionally good quality used clothing. I’ve bought an almost new Marks and Spencer leather jacket for £6. (Do vegetarians wear leather? I wear recycled leather clothes but not new. Read – this – for an interesting take.) Look out for charity shops along Union Street.
There are more of them further along Union Street and up Chapel Street. My favorite area in all Aberdeen is The Spital where Old Aberdeen is. Read about it – here.
I don’t eat out much in the UK. I find restaurants very expensive and the food is not great. Service is, sorry to say this, OK. My view is tainted by the fact that I’m vegetarian. Very rarely on my travels anywhere have I found a good vegetarian meal and most Western European places are reluctant to modify a meal to accommodate me.
Charity shops
I prefer to buy a yummy take-out and eat next to a river, in a park, on a beach or even relaxing in a hotel room. No fighting, no stress and no disappointing end to an evening.
Supermarket food is brilliant and service is usually excellent.
In Part 2 – here – I talk about where to find food. Part 3 – here – deals with road trips via the coast, stone circles, the Cairgorms National Park and the Royal Deeside area. In Part 4 – here – I talk about Edinburgh.
Belgium is bi-lingual so all signs and notices are in Flemish and French. Since I can speak Afrikaans I was more or less able to figure out the Flemish words.
So, what to see and do? We only had a few hours at the end of each day. Heading out to the Atomium wasn’t an option. That’s the structure that looks like a huge big molecule, Google Antomium to find it. We did see it in the distance from the train when we went to Antwerp. We also saw a red light district just north of Brussels from the train window. They have windows with girls in them, exactly the same as the ones in Holland. Who knew?
Belgian chocolatier
Fortunately our hotel gave us a map so we could find the key attractions. Once we got close to Grande Place/Grote Markt we encountered hoards of tourists, all with the exact same idea as us. The square is really impressive. It’s surrounded by some of the most beautiful and gilded old buildings I have ever seen.
Belgian beers in matching glasses
Grand Place/Grote Markt
Mannekin Pis is not far away. He is much, much smaller than I was expecting. Trying to get a pic of him without other tourists posing is impossible. We wandered around this area finding pubs and shops. We noticed frescoes of Tin Tin and other cartoon characters on the buildings.
Brussels has signs pointing you to the various attractions. If you can follow the signs you can see quite a bit, even at night, as we did.
Grand Place/Grote Markt
The following evening we went walk-about in Avenue Louise area via the Palais du Justice. I guess Avenue Louise is the Brussels version of the French Champs Elysee. All posh and pretty. Then we walked back to a Lebanese restaurant we found the night before, near the Grand Place/Grote Markt area.
It was cold, raining and we just wanted to relax and eat. After a Belgian beer and Belgian chocolate of course!
Mediterranean food area
What we did do – because we were viewing boats – was catch a train to Antwerp and then another to Bruges. A train trip is around €7 one way. Because Belgium is so small, the ride doesn’t take long.
The great thing about getting out of Brussels was observing ordinary everyday Belgian life just outside the city and seeing the countryside. Both Antwerp and Bruges are different in character to Brussels. We had to make a detour via Ghent due to an accident on the train line. I wish we had been able to stop and see Ghent. It looked lovely.
Although Brussels is the home of NATO and plenty other international headquarters, it’s a relaxed country, free of pomp and ceremony. I loved the juxtaposition of comic characters alongside awesome architecture.
It’s as safe a city as you can get, and strolling about, working off beer and chocolate, is a great way to explore the city.
Up around the posh Avenue Louise area
Just don’t forget your umbrella.
Go to – My Holidays and Trips – at the top of this page to read about other places we have visited. Or just click on – this link.
This was a whistle stop trip as we only had two nights and three days in Belgium. The point of the visit to Belgium was essentially for my husband to look at boats. Fortunately Belgium is a small country making it possible to squeeze in a fair amount of sightseeing around the boat viewing. It’s the ideal place for a long weekend or city break.
The Eurostar
We arrived at London Heathrow early Friday morning and took the tube to St Pancras Station. That cost around £5. From there we took the Eurostar, which traveled south through the UK, into the underground tunnel, back up and on to Lille in France, ending up in Brussels. The train takes 2 hours from London to Brussels and cost £69 each. There is a one hour time difference between the UK and Belgium so bear that in mind if you make any travel connections.
Ibis Ste Catherine
Turns out the Eurostar is a great way to get around much of Europe. There are trains to Holland, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. See more here – Eurostar.
Tin Tin fresco
The Belgian weather is a lot like Holland and Britain. It’s a sequence – the sun comes out and then it rains – all day long. We arrived at Gare du Midi/Zuid Station to a chilly, drizzly Brussels. We usually stay at Ibis Hotels since we always look for bargains. The cheapest Ibis was Centre Ste Catherine which was in the heart of the city. It wasn’t the most upmarket area but their rooms were of the same standard we have come to expect from Ibis Hotels. Affordable, comfortable, clean and decidedly compact. Most services are usually extra at Ibis, however in this particular Ibis, wi-fi was free.
Ibis do a buffet style breakfast, for a fee, with emphasis on local cuisine. We always eat breakfast out.
One reason is because we usually find cheaper food elsewhere and the second reason is that it gives us a chance to explore the place we are visiting.
Breakfast on our first day wasn’t great. We were in a helluva hurry and ate at McDonald’s. No need to explain. But on the second day we found a gorgeous place where they served pastries and quiches with coffee.
Waffles and ice cream vendor
Art at one of the underground stations
There were plenty fancy restaurants in and around the Grand Place/Grote Markt which was walking distance from our hotel. Since I don’t eat meat and Belgian food is similar to French fare, we opted to eat at the one of the Mediterranean places that we found. They are cheaper and healthier with lots of fresh salads. But not before we tried a Belgian beer, or two, in a pub. And we ate Belgian chocolate. After all that is what Belgium is famous for. Be warned. Belgian beers are surprisingly tasty and some of them pack a punch. The chocolate is divine. You can buy assorted individual hand-made chocolates and we tried loads of different ones. Good thing we only had a few days in Belgium.
Read Part 2 of our Belgium city break – here – or go back to the – Travel Archive – page to read about other destinations.
Go to – My Holidays and Trips – at the top of this page to read about other places we have visited. Or just click on – this link.
