A Boat Trip on Loch Katrine, Scotland

In April this year during our Spring holidays, Alessio and I, along with my parents went for a day trip to Loch Katrine. Loch Katrine is situated in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, it is a 13km fresh water loch. The driving time is over 2 hours from Broughty Ferry.

The name Loch Katrine comes from the Gaelic cateran meaning Highland robber, on the Northern shores of this loch was born the most famous folkloric outlaw turned hero Rob Roy Macgregor. Also for Outlander fans from season 2, episode 13 some scenes was filmed here.

We took a 45min boat trip on the historic Sir Walter Scott steamship, it was very busy trip. You might want to make sure there will be tickets available. The views were outstanding. Suffice to say it was rather chilly but the sun was shining too. Afterwards we had some refreshments at the cafe.

This Christmas we will be going to Scotland and hopefully doing some day trips as well as family get togethers.

Hope you are all having a great weekend

Stromness and Kirkwall, Orkney Islands

Stromness

St. Magnus

Earl Palace

Bishop Palace

Bishop Palace

Bishop Palace

Earl Palace

View of St.Magus

Bishop Palace

While Alessio and I were in Scotland we had a mini holiday with my parents to the Orkney Islands. We got the ferry over from Scrabster to Stromness which took 1.5 hours, it was an pleasant journey on the way we got to see the Old Man of Hoy. I will post some photos at a later date.

Stromness is the second largest town in the islands, it has a long winding Main Street with lots of lovely shops and interesting buildings. We visited the Pier Arts Centre and enjoyed looking at the great works of art. There was also a lovely small bookshop which I just had to checkout.

We stayed in Stromness for two nights at the Ferry Inn, which was very nice. We then drove to Kirkwall where we stayed for three nights.

Kirkwall is the largest town in the islands, we stayed at The Shore which was also a lovely place to stay. Right next to the hotel was a bar called The Standing Room Gin Bar, sadly we did not visit it but it did look good.

We visit the magnificent St. Magnus Cathedral, known as the most northern cathedral in Britain, founded in 1137 by the Viking Earl Rogvald, in honour of his uncle St Magus. It is a very stunning building.

We also visited two Historic Scotland sights, the Bishop`s and Earl´s Palaces, both are ruins but in very good order. From the top of the tower in the Earl´s Palace you get a fantastic view of the cathedral. The also had a quick look at the Orkney Museum, there is also the Highland Park Distillery but we did not visit it.

We stopped in at the Kirkjuvagr Orkney Gin distillery, we did not go on a tour but I had a gin cocktail. In fact my father and I tasted all the different gin from the islands over the three evenings and they were all really good.

We did lots more on this trip and will be posting it over the coming months.

Hope you all having a lovely weekend

Postcards from Edinburgh

A trip to Scotland without visiting Edinburgh just doesn't seen right, hence why while I was there in April we had a day trip to the city. Along with my father and Alessio we hit the road.

One of the main reasons I wanted to go was to see Dean Village, I had seen lots of lovely pictures from there so I fancied a walk around. I already did a post about Dean Village, so you can check it out if you want to see the photos.

Afterwards we walked up to The Royal Mile and went to The Writers´ Museum, located in Lady
Stair´s Close. We also visited National Museum of Scotland, which we have been to a few times, there is so much to see and do. We went up to the rooftop terrace (when we eventually found the way) and were treated to a lovely view.

Afterwards we slowly made our way back to St.Andrews bus station to take us back to where we had parked the car. Edinburgh is not at all good for parking and when you do find it, it is expensive. My father drove us to a park and ride, which is good value.

Alessio and I will be back in Scotland in August and I will be going to the Edinburgh Fringe along with my sister and her husband. I also hope to visit another time and go to the Edinburgh Book Festival and see one or two of the many authors that come.

Happy Mid Week

A Few Days In Singapore

When I returned from New Zealand, I had booked a free two hour tour of the city, as I thought I would not be returning here ever. But as it turned out I did come back to the city at the beginning of this year.

This time I stayed for one night in an amazing hotel which I already did a post about. There was enough time to relax and walk around the city and see all the wonderful buildings. I was here with my friend Arlene and it was the tail end of our trip which had taken us to Malaysia and Indonesian.

I had booked us for afternoon tea in The Fullerton Bay Hotel which was quite stunning and the afternoon tea was also good. In the evening we walked around the area with Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the background. For me seeing Singapore at night is the best and I was in awe of the buildings in this area.

The next day we jumped on one of these tour buses just to see more parts of the city, then we returned to our hotel, I met up with the mother of one the children who had been in my class 5 or 6 years ago. It was great to see Mariette and of course her daughter Jamie. I had seen them both last when we visited Hong Kong.

We hung out at the hotel for a while longer and headed to the airport for our very late flight back to Zurich. It was a lovely end to our fab holiday.


Hope you all have a great weekend