Monday, July 16, 2012

From Edinburgh to Aberdeen

Along the Eastern coast the land is fertile and has been fought over for centuries. This is the desirable bit of Scotland. Tomorrow we will head toward the highlands but today we are still in fertile farmland.

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Our first stop was at Saint Andrews. Originally home to the Catholic Church in Scotland it was razed when the Catholic Church fell out of favor in favor of Protestantism. We saw the ruins of the Bishop’s castle and of the Saint Andrews Cathedral.

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Our next stop was at Glamis Castle. Birthplace of the Queen Mother or, as she is known in Scotland, the Queen Mum. Queen Elizabeth spent some summers here when she was a girl. There are family photos in the castle. Our visit included a tour through part of the castle but no photography is allowed within the castle.

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Glamis Castle

When the Romans came to Britain in the 4th century the Northern portion of England was held by the Picts. The land wasn’t very desirable and the Picts were good fighters so rather than attempting to defeat them the Romans walled them out of the South. As the Picts had no written language that we know of there is little evidence of their culture. In the churchyard at Aberlemno is a stone bearing Pictish runes.

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We ended the day in Aberdeen.

Tom

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