Scotland, May 22- 28, 2014

After crossing the Irish Sea from Belfast, we drove north from Craigryan to Edinburgh, stopping to revisit Culzean Castle, a masterwork of Robert Adam, the 18^th century neo-classical architect.  Since we had toured much of the Scottish Highlands in 2006, we decided this time to concentrate on the Edinburgh area and rented an apartment near the Firth of Forth in the city’s north.  This location gave us easy access by bus to central Edinburgh and by car to the outskirts.

Culzean Castle

The weather was everything Scotland is infamous for—rain, sometimes drizzle and sometimes “sheeting rain” to use the local expression.  While not very pretty, the following pictures accurately reflect the gloom we experienced most days.

 St. Giles Cathedral, where the noon service was conducted by a U.S. Presbyterian

Greyfriars Bobby, who kept vigil by his master’s grave near the Old Town church for 14 years

Old Town’s Elephant House, a tourist magnet, where J.K. Rowling created Harry Potter

New Town’s Charlotte Square with Robert Adam facades

An Old Town street piper and associate, whose hat soon bulged with coins

Our apartment was an easy drive from Leith, Edinburgh’s historic port and now a restaurant center, where we usually dined.   However, the area’s main attraction is the Britannia, the decommissioned royal yacht, which has become a major tourist attraction and a venue for high-end corporate dinner parties.  We were somewhat hesitant to tour the Britannia, suspecting a tourist trap, but we came away impressed with the high style of the ship, the royal remembrances, and the care with which it is maintained.  The whole tour, which lasted over two hours, was much like visiting a royal palace.

Restaurants on the Water of Leith, the area’s river

Interior of The Shore, where we dined one evening

Britannia

Britannia’s dining room

Georgia at Britannia’s antique binnacle

Brian Thom, our bishop in Idaho, and his wife Ardele were in Scotland to attend a reunion of several fellow prelates and their spouses.   They were able to join us Tuesday for a visit to Stirling Castle, one of our favorites.  Dating from the 16^th century, the palace reflects the effort of the Stewart monarchs of that period to prove themselves equal in taste to their continental counterparts.

Palace at Stirling Castle

With Brian and Ardele

Stewart usurpers

The National Trust of Scotland is doing a fine job in safeguarding many of the nation’s architectural treasures.  Most unusual were their efforts at Newhailes, an18^th century country house just east of Edinburgh, where Adam Smith, David Hume and other stars of the Scottish Enlightenment were entertained.   Here the Trust opted for maintenance, rather than restoration, since so much of the original decorations had survived intact.  Thus, the property has quite a different—and to us, pleasing—feel than contemporary properties in, say, Williamsburg.

Newhailes

However, our favorite site was the Royal Burgh of Culross, across the Forth and upriver from Edinburgh.  There in the late 16^th century the son of a noble family established a coal mining and salt extracting operation that brought prosperity to the town.  (A childhood friendship with James VI was certainly no hindrance to his success, which was reflected in his substantial residence, known as the “palace.”)  When the business later declined, the residence and surrounding houses fell into disrepair but were not razed.  The National Trust was able to begin buying up the houses, modernizing the interiors while keeping the exteriors intact, and renting them out.  The village now appears so authentic that an historical TV series (based on Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander bodice-rippers) is being shot there.

Culross “Palace”

Mercat (i.e, market) Square

Culross residence 

Culross residence with “owl hole,” through which owls could enter to exterminate vermin

A nationwide referendum on September 18 will determine whether Scotland breaks from the United Kingdom to become an independent country.   Recent polls give opponents a slight edge, but a significant number of respondents are undecided.  Although the formal campaign has not yet started, we observed several indications of support and opposition.

The Union Jack flies over Edinburgh Castle—but for how long?

  

 

Northern Ireland, May 20 - 21, 2014

The most surprising thing about crossing from the Republic into Northern Ireland was the absence of any indication of a border, at least that we saw.  Only when the numbers on speed limit signs mysteriously dropped, did we realize that we were in Northern Ireland, where road distances are measured in miles as God intended. Jacques’ speedometer continued to function in kilometers, however, so Todd was forced to do mental arithmetic to judge his compliance with the law.

Within a few miles of the border, we stopped in Londonderry or Derry, depending on one’s orientation toward London or Dublin.   The city has too much history, perhaps, especially regarding the 1689 siege when the Protestants successfully held out against the Catholic King James II, an incident too often recalled during “The Troubles” in the 1970’s.   The entire history of (London)Derry is fairly and expertly presented in a city museum, one of the best we have seen, in an apparent effort to keep the past from poisoning the present.

St. Columb’s Cathedral, Londonderry

The Diamond, Londonderry’s central square

From Londonderry we drove east to visit the Old Bushmills Distillery and the Giant’s Causeway.   Our tour of the first was not as glitzy as our Guinness visit in Dublin, but we could actually observe the production process, watching the “spirit” flow through meters en route to the aging casks.   At the Causeway, so named as it appeared that a giant started to sink pilings for a bridge to Scotland, we hiked down to the ocean and climbed on the mainly hexagonal basalt pillars, which were formed when a huge lava pool cooled and mixed with water.   The site is historically important, for it was the focus of scientific discussions in the 18^th century that eventually led to the development of vulcanology.

Reaching Belfast that night, we spent the next full day exploring the city and its environs.  Our first stop was Mount Stewart House, the family home of Lord Castlereagh, the British representative at the Congress of Vienna.  The gardens there are different from those at Powerscourt but equally magnificent, having been enlarged and developed with imported flora in the first half of the 20^th century. 

A large section of the Belfast waterfront is being redeveloped, anchored by a museum devoted to the “Titanic,” which was designed and built in the city.  At first blush it seemed bizarre to memorialize such a catastrophic failure, but the museum came highly recommended and we decided to go.  We were not disappointed.  The multimedia exhibits trace the history of the city during the industrial revolution, the development of shipbuilding, and finally the building of the “Titanic” itself.  At one point we were taken on a ride up and down the height of the building to show how the ship was constructed.   Later exhibits included a mock-up of John Jacob Astor’s cabin, as well as cabins of second and third class passengers.  Much space was devoted to tales of the victims and the survivors, and the exhibit ended with extensive video footage of the remains of the ship on the ocean floor.  The significant omission was a discussion of the failures of construction and seamanship that led to the disaster--not surprising, perhaps, as the firm that designed and built the "Titanic" still operates in Belfast.

Titanic Museum, Belfast

Finally, we took some walks before dinner in downtown Belfast, still naturally illuminated well into the evening at this northern latitude.

 Queen's University

 Iconic Crown Saloon near the city center

Opera House