Trip in Scotland

This year, I will organise a trip in Scotland, a beautiful country immersed in the nature and in the traditions. The trip will take 5 days, the best period is probably in May or June, in the other months it’s too cold or rainy.

The first day I’ll take a direct low cost fly from Milano Malpensa to Edinburg’s Airport and I’ll stay at the Old Waverley Hotel, a Victorian hotel located on Princes Street, the main shopping street in Edinburg. Late in the morning, I’ll visit the city: the Edimburg Castle, the most famous of Scottish castles, that houses the Honours (Crown Jewels) of Scotland and the Stone of Destiny used for the coronation of the Scotland kings , the Royal Mile probably Edinburgh’s oldest street, that connects the Castle with Linlithgow Castle, a favoured residence of the Stewart kings and queens, where Mary Queen of Scots borned in 1542. In the afternoon I’ll do shopping in the center of the town, we can buy typical scots products as shetland pullovers, tweed jackets, single malt whisky and smoked salmon.

The second day I will leave by car for the “Granite City” of Aberdeen, Scotland’s third largest city, where I’ll stay at the Thistle Aberdeen Caledonian, a modern hotel in the city center. In the afternoon I will visit Balmoral Castle that was purchased by Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert in 1852 and remains the favourite summer residence of Royal Family and Dunnotter Castle, impressive ruins on a cliff top overlooking the North Sea where in 1650 the crown jewels of Scotland were hidden for safekeeping when Oliver Cromwell invaded.

The third day I’ll drive to Inverness, the capital of Highlands, I choose the Best Western Palace Hotel situated in a lovely spot- overlooking the River Ness and the Castle and ideal to explore the area. I will visit: Dunrobin Castle with his gardens based on Versailles; Loch Ness probably the best-known Scottish loch, thanks to its famous resident -Nessie- the elusive Loch Ness monster and Urquhart Castle, one of the largest in Scotland, built in the 1230s, was blown up in 1692 to prevent it falling into Jacobite hands, what’s left is a ruin jutting out into the loch; Cawdor a superb fairy-tale Castle, a magical name, romantically linked by Shakespeare with Macbeth.

The fourth day, soon in the morning, I will leave for Glasgow, on the road I will stop to visit Eilean Donan’s forbidding crenellated tower rises from the water’s edge, joined to the shore by a narrow stone bridge and with sheer mountains as a backdrop, one of the most iconic images of Scotland; the neo-Gothic Inveraray Castle built in 1745, that remains the family home of the Dukes of Argyl and Stirling Castle, once the residence of Scottish kings, perches atop a long-extinct volcano, here Mary Steward spent her childhood and her coronation took place in the Chapel Royal in 1543, still here Mary’s son, the future James VI, was baptized. In the evening I’ll get to Glasgow and I’ll go to the Sherbrooke Castle a baronial castle style hotel in the most prestigious of residential areas.

The fifth day it’s time to visit Glasgow, another important town in Scotland. I’ll go to the Cathedral allegedly located where the patron saint of Glasgow, Saint Mungo, built his church, it’s a superb example of Gothic architecture and one of the few Scottish medieval churches to have survived the Reformation unscathed, I’ll visit the University , founded in 1451 is the second oldest in Scotland and the fourth in the English-speaking world, it’s a ecclesiastical foundation and last the Glasgow Science Centre a major visitor attraction, located on the south bank of the river Clyde, it is a purpose built science centre comprising of three principal buildings: a science mall with general science learning exhibits, the Glasgow Tower and a IMAX cinema , late in the evening I’ ll leave for the airport where I’ll take a direct fly to Milano Linate.