Five of my favourite things from my first trip to Tuscany

(…aside from meeting my partner’s family of course!!)

Always a good thing to have a local help you plan your trips

I recently came back from my first trip to Tuscany. The eight days I spent there were jam packed with sightseeing and family time, and if I’m honest, it was such a whirlwind I think I’m still processing it! I’ll catch sight of one of my polaroid’s, skip past an Instagram photo or put on my facemask that somehow still smells of Italy (yes, I have washed it!) and I instantly get the warm and fuzzies. I’m already looking forward to going back. With so much happening it was difficult to know quite what to write about, but I’ve settled on five of my favourite things from this first trip.

Michelangelo’s David and Prisoners

Michelangelo’s David must be one of the most famous statues in the world. It seems to be one of those places that’s high on a tourist’s tick list even if the renaissance isn’t their jam. When you walk into the Accademia gallery, Michelangelo’s David stands at the end of the hall almost dominating the space. It’s easy to rush straight over to him, ignoring everything else in the room to marvel. It is really worth holding back a moment to admire Michelangelo’s Prisoners on the way though. The Prisoners are unfinished and have been named ‘The Bearded Slave’, ‘The Atlas’, ‘The Young Slave’ and ‘The Awakening Slave’ by scholars. As they’re not finished the Slaves or Prisoners appear to be trapped in the marble, trying to fight there way into existence. They are incredibly evocative and like all ‘good art’ they inspire conversation. Rather than inspiring conversation David himself is so astonishing he left me speechless. I’m often disappointed by what I see as overly popularised attractions, but David in no way disappointed. Even down to the veins in his hands he is just perfect…which is somewhat surprising considering Michelangelo created him from discarded marble. One man’s trash really is another man’s treasure!

Rapolano terme

I had a sneaky suspicion we’d be going somewhere ‘spa-like’ when we were in Italy as I’d been told about the hot spring area of Tuscany and my partner told me to bring my swimsuit with me! What I didn’t expect was two nights in a lovely spa hotel, with two treatments and breakfast and dinner included. We stayed at the 2 Mari hotel (two seas hotel) in Rapolano Terme where we had a hammam treatment and a 30-minute massage with honey infused oils. We also had two sessions in the saltwater pool and spent ample time amongst the hot tubs and saunas. I also took one quick dip in the frigidarium (cold water pool) too, but once was enough! When I say we had two sessions in the saltwater pool, I don’t just mean we floated about in saltwater for a while…2 Mari have three hydrojet massage stations within the pool that pummel you for about ten minutes each. Each station targets different areas and each station feels SO good in it’s own unique way. I cannot fully express how relaxed I was after each session. It only took 30 minutes and I was practically floating out of the pool and onto my next treatment. Both the hammam and oil massage were equally pampering. I haven’t felt my muscles loosen so much for a long time. I spent many moments whilst we were there wondering if we could find a spa back in Aberdeenshire that would fill in for us before we can return.

Gunè

After Rapolano Terme I didn’t expect anymore big treats, but my partner had plans to take me to Gunè. I’d heard this name being thrown around and his family talked about it as if it was kinda special, but we’d been to lots of nice places and eaten lots of great food already, so I didn’t really think much of it! Gunè however is not a normal restaurant, it’s fancy! When we arrived and I had my first peek inside, I had this sudden sinking feeling of ‘I have severely underestimated this’, ‘I do not belong here’. But within minutes of a warm welcome those feelings were gone and I realised that Gunè was fancy but definitely not snooty. We started our meal with a series of surprise ‘welcomes’, like little amuse bouches and an elaborate bread box. Then for the starter which was romantically called ‘the departure’ I chose nigiri maki from Podolica and my partner had tongue peposo. This was followed by the ‘first discovery’ (or primo / 1^st main) which saw us both having ravioli with a Tuscan-Lucanian soul. The ravioli had bardiccio and pezzente sausage with milk foam and Casentino ham powder. That was without doubt our favourite savoury part of the meal and when I think about it or look at the picture I took of it I can genuinely still taste it. My taste buds do not want to let go of that memory! You can also have a ‘second discovery’ but I jumped straight into dessert (my partner, Mattia, went for another cocktail). As we both work on honeybees I couldn’t resist the semifreddo pudding with honey in it. I can’t find it on the Gunè website and I can’t remember what it was called or what exactly was in it but whatever its name it entered the pudding hall of fame for me! The honey flavour was so strong, but it was balanced by the creaminess of the semifreddo. There was also some sort of light cream or milk poured on top with green tea ‘crumbles’. It just all worked so well. On top of this, we also had a ‘goodbye’ or a ‘departure’ a bit like the ‘welcome’ which was a series of tiny desserts! Each one of them was outstanding in it’s own unique way. (My mouth has been watering the whole time I’ve been writing this!) I also had a different wine with each course, which I let them choose for me and Mattia had a couple of cocktails tailor made to his tastes. I have practically zero experience of restaurants like this so I have little to compare it to, but I honestly had the best time and I think it will go down as one of my favourite memories…and meals!

I focused more on eating the food than taking good photos, but you get the idea!

Vie cave and tombs

Whilst we were staying in Rapolano Terme we had a day trip to see Tomba Ildebranda This is the main attraction of a series of tombs and Etruscan roadways which form part of the parco archeologico known as ‘Città del Tufo’. What we had failed to consider however was that we were visiting in the middle of the week during ‘off-season’, so when we got there we were greeted by big gates and a bigger closed sign! Luckily for us though, there is part of the park that is non ticketed and open all the time. Tomba della Sirena (the tomb of the siren) and the San Sebastian vie cave are on the opposite side of the site. Although they aren’t part of the ticketed park this doesn’t mean that it isn’t a spectacular area. As we went at such a quiet time it also meant that we spent several hours exploring the area completely on our own, which definitely made it more atmospheric. I didn’t take a picture of the English sign for Tomba della Sirena and I’m struggling to find basic information about it online in English (I can’t speak Italian…yet) but I have enclosed a picture. What I can tell you is that there are a series of tombs, one of which (shown below) is very ornately decorated. The others are simpler, but I’m sure no less full of significance and there’s even a tomb that you can shimmy into. There are also a series of vie cave. These are pathways which were hand carved out of the soft tufa (tuff) rock. They are around 20 metres deep, about 3 metres wide and 500 metres in length. As they lead to necropoli it is thought that the Etruscans carved these pathways to allow them access to sacred sites, or perhaps the pathways were also sacred themselves. As they form a cold subzone the pathways are also full of ferns, lichens, mosses and liverworts which is super cool. It feels like you’re stepping into another world. I guess considering the Etruscans existed between the 8^th and 3^rd century BC and started building the vie cave around the 3^rd century I guess it was another world back then!

Discovering Clet

Clet Abraham is a French street artist living and working in Florence. Among other things he takes traffic signage and playfully alters them using customised stickers. It’s really fun wandering around the city spotting Clet’s work. There’s already a lot to look at and admire around the streets of Florence but the chance of spotting another Clet had me paying even more attention to my surroundings and looking in different places. The contrast between renaissance Florence and Clet’s urban street art just did something for me. If you want to find out a little more then I really liked this short article by The Guardian.

So, I’ve called these my top 5, but honestly, I could have picked so many moments from my trip. From eating schiacciata in the Santissima Annunziata, discovering medieval walled towns like Pitigliano, Certaldo and San Gimignano or gazing out over Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo. I can’t wait to go back and make more memories.

Meat Eater to Vegan and Back Again.

How That Happened and My General Musings About Food!

This doesn’t happen to me often, but I wrote most of this already, didn’t save it and then lost it. Gutting.

Better luck this time, eh?!

Recently I wrote a blog about Vegan Aberdeen and in it, I mentioned that I was vegan but I’m not anymore. I was hoping to not just sell Aberdeen’s vegan restaurants to vegans but also encourage fellow meat eaters to give vegan food a chance. I thought that making it clear that I was a meat eater again now would help with that. Sometimes people are interested in my dietary ‘journey’ (sorry for using that word), but it’s often an awkward conversation for both parties. Conversations about diet can be divisive and inflammatory depending on who you’re talking to. I normally try to cut the conversation short because a) I don’t want to be boring and b) I don’t want to get myself in trouble. So, I’m going to try and get it all out here.

Phase 1: Teens to early 20s.

Right, so the first part’s easy. My parents eat meat, so I grew up eating meat. Simple. But, at some point during my teens I decided that eating something dead was gross and I stopped. Although, to be fair, it was probably a little more gradual than that. I just don’t remember.

Then, I booked a trip to hike along the Great Wall of China (not all of it, obviously). What has a trip to China got to do with any of this I hear you ask?! Well, this was back in 2006 and vegetarianism/veganism was less of ‘a thing’. I was worried that I wouldn’t find enough to eat alongside all the hiking, so I made a conscious decision to start eating meat again. I don’t think it was quite as easy as that, I think there was a mental barrier, but it was definitely the right decision. I remember the vegetarians in the party didn’t get the quantity or variety of food that the rest of us did. It all looked pretty difficult and depressing. Then when I got back from China I just kept going!

It’s funny because people always assume I’m veggie or vegan because, apparently I give off that vibe. Don’t ask me what that means, I don’t know! I’ve learned that a lot of prejudgements are based around what you eat. On my first day as a volunteer conservation warden on a Hebridean island I walked into the office to meet all the conservation farmers clutching my ham sandwich for lunch. I later learned that their opinion of me changed in that moment. They thought I was just another young conservationist coming along with big ideas and big opinions on how they should manage their land (I think they’d been burned before!) and just that ham sandwich made them slightly more open minded towards me. It gave me an ‘in’. I also found out that on a small island with very little new blood coming in it also made me more attractive! Who’d have thought a ham sandwich could do all that! Being vegetarian or vegan (or even assumed to be one) can lead to lots of assumptions about your character.

Phase 2: Late 20s in Aberystwyth University.

I’d just finished a year and a half working in conservation and went to do a degree in Zoology with Microbiology in Aberystwyth. At some point I started to feel a bit hypocritical. I was all about the environment and I said all the right things but I felt like I wasn’t doing anything to back those words up! The first thing I addressed was palm oil. I’m not going to go into it here but, essentially, I found out that broadly palm oil = bad! So, I cut it out. I started reading every label of every item I bought and I soon got used to what I could and couldn’t buy. Then, I read a lot of stuff about how going vegan was better for the environment and that ultimately it was more sustainable (not to mention better for animal welfare), so I went vegan. I say vegan, but I really became a plant-based eater. I still used leather because I thought that was better than using a plastic alternative, I still used natural wool because synthetic fibres are a big ocean pollutant and I was never really that bothered about bees making honey for me! I was also fairly relaxed in that if someone kindly made me a meal but had accidentally added a little butter into the mix, I would just graciously accept the food. I also distinctly remember my friend dropping a sausage on the beach and making moves to throw it away because it had sand on it. I had a quick moral conversation in my head about how I didn’t buy the sausage or ask someone to buy it for me, and how it was just going to go to waste so I brushed it off and ate it!

Anyway, I was originally meant to go vegan for a month to try it out and that turned into a year and a bit. I actually found it pretty easy. I quickly got used to it and it didn’t take me long to stop missing certain items of food, like cheese. It was probably made easier by the fact that there was a wave of people going vegan at the same time.

So that ticked along nicely until I developed a chronic illness in my final year of undergrad. To cut a long story short it just got to a point where it was more important for me to look after my body and just eat food rather than put restrictions on what that food was. I’d held some pretty classic plant-based opinions in that I thought anybody could go vegan, that everybody should and that it was pretty much a cure all (I’m face palming just admitting that). I lost count of the amount of times people told me to try going vegan or drink more water to help with my illness. I appreciate people don’t know what to say and they’re just trying to help but I now realise just how ableist those values are. Not everyone can go vegan. I was wrong and it is not that simple!

Apart from it just being easier when I was really poorly, the other reason I swung from vegan straight back to eating meat (without stopping at vegetarian first) was that, for me, the dairy/egg industry has the same, if not larger ethical question marks than the meat industry…so my opinions are fairly black and white. I either choose to use animals or I don’t. I understand that people are vegetarian for lots of complex reasons though so it’s highly personal. You do you!

Phase 3: Early 30s at the University of Chester and Aberdeen.

Anyway, my chronic illness improved to a point where I was well enough to go and do my MSc in Chester. I wasn’t vegan anymore and I felt a lot of ex-vegan guilt! I felt like I wasn’t doing enough for the environment and I felt a bit hypocritical, so I started to adopt different eco-friendly habits. Eventually, that culminated in me going ‘plastic-free’ for a month and by coincidence that meant I ate vegan most of the time anyway. If I bought cheese or meat it was local and I’d get it wrapped in my little beeswax wraps. After my ‘plastic free’, almost ‘zero-waste’ month was up I relaxed a bit but a lot of the habits I’d formed were already ingrained so I kept them up until I moved to Aberdeen to start my PhD.

Aberdeen is a much bigger city than Chester and I had to re-learn where I could buy grains etc… in bulk. It was tough and it was absolutely a lifestyle…as in I spent so much time sourcing and buying goods that were as waste-free/vegan/local as possible that it was pretty all consuming. If it was vegan it was often wrapped in plastic or contained ‘exotic’ produce, if it was local it was often meat or dairy, or it was in something non-recyclable/reusable, and similarly if it was waste-free it was often non-vegan, or least flown into the UK from some far off land. I started to find it really stressful.

It got to the point where I’d end up standing in a shop going through some sort of moral dilemma over whether to buy something. I’d be making all these hard decisions to go without stuff, or to save up to buy more eco-friendly versions of things, or buying things I didn’t really fancy eating but at least they fit into this system of rules I’d laid out for myself. Then I’d get to the till and notice folk who’d bagged their bananas in plastic or loaded the conveyer belt with meat and single use plates for a summer BBQ and I’d just feel heavy looking at it all. I’d wonder what the point was of me trying so hard and I’d feel angry about it! I distinctly remember having a little cry down the phone to my mum on a train platform once because it was so hot and I was so thirsty but neither the cafes, shops nor toilets were open so I couldn’t refill my water bottle. There was however a vending machine with bottles of water inside. I just couldn’t bring myself to use it.

For me, it was just unsustainable. I was cutting a lot of things out of my diet, being ‘eco’ dominated my thoughts and I just wasn’t happy.

It took a certain transition period but I’ve now totally chilled out. I obviously still try to make eco-conscious decisions but if I want a pepperoni pizza I have it, if I’ve forgotten my reusable cup I still get the odd takeaway coffee in a single use cup, if I buy a fast fashion t-shirt which was made in China because I love it then I try not to have an existential crisis over it. I feel so much healthier and happier and sourcing a new environmental alternative is now a joy not a chore. If you could put my diet into a triangle I’d say that now I eat mostly vegetarian, then vegan (partly because I’m really shit at cooking meat), then meals with meat. It works for me and I think that works for my body. I think the only time I feel self-conscious about my eco credentials is when I go to a vegan cafe. I have this moment where I look myself up and down and notice my leather boots and bag or my lack of reusable cup because I’m scared of pre-judgement! It’s irrational, I know!

I just think that as normal folk on the street we need to be kind to each other and do the little things that we can to make the world a better place…without beating ourselves or others up. I don’t think that being an eco-martyr like I was, was really helping anyone!

I’d just say if you’re thinking about going vegan or vegetarian or plastic free then you go for it. Good on you. If you want to stop being vegan for whatever reason, then you do you. If you want to start having vegetarian Monday or meat free lunches, whatever, it’s all good. Maybe, like me, you’ll go through a few of those things before you settle and maybe I still have a few changes in me yet!

Chester.

Chester is an ollllld settlement, founded by the Romans around AD79 as a fortress called Deva during the Roman’s expansion North. In fact, it may originally have been intended as the country’s capital. It’s also where I went to university to do my MSc in Biomedical Science and I went back recently for my graduation.

I booked my train tickets ridiculously far in advance, because Aberdeen to anywhere that far South is expensive! Because I was so unbelievably forward thinking for a change, I actually managed to get my hands on my first ever first-class tickets for only a nominal extra fee. As soon as I got on that first train of the journey I knew that was it, I am never going back to standard class! On the first train I got free coffee and a free scone with free jam and free clotted cream. Actual clotted cream! On the second train I got free coffee and free biscuits. On the third train I got free coffee, a free bacon butty and free cake. On the last train I got nothing because that was only standard class. Rude! FYI on the way back to Aberdeen after my trip ended I got all of that plus two free gin and tonics, which made up for the fact the train was busy and I had to sit next to other people!

In Chester my parents had booked a really nice Airbnb right off Bridge Street, smack in the centre of town, which was great because I had ambitious plans to eat and drink my way around all my favourite places (and some new ones). The notable ones are, of course, mentioned below.

The first place I wanted to go to was Porta, an authentic little tapas restaurant which sits underneath the Roman Northgate. I can’t rave about Porta enough! It’s warm, cosy, full of atmosphere and has hands down the best patatas bravas and the best pastel de nata I have ever tasted. Apart from the specials, which obviously change, I’ve had everything on the menu and have never been disappointed. There are a couple of things worth bearing in mind though. You can’t book a table at Porta, I’ve normally tried to get there early or just accepted that I might have to go away for a glass of wine before trying again. Which is definitely not a problem when you have the likes of Covino just around the corner. Porta’s also normally quite a bustling and noisy place. This adds something for me, I enjoy the activity and being able to watch the chefs in the corner of the restaurant do their thing, but, it can be tough to hold a conversation sometimes. Again, not a problem for me but something worth thinking about if you’re taking your hard of hearing pal or wanting to have a serious in depth chat with someone. Could be a good excuse to get a little closer to someone though!

After a long day on the train (about 8 hours) for me and a long day at work for my parents, Porta was our only stop for the evening. Bed was beckoning!

It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that I can be a bit of a coffee snob! I’ll only drink instant out of desperation or out of politeness. I can be overly British about accepting personal discomfort over possibly offending someone or appearing awkward…until I get to know someone! My parents are not coffee snobs so with only instant in the Airbnb it was an absolute priority for me to get myself to a coffee shop ASAP! Chester is full of ‘hipster’ coffee places and even more have sprung up since I was doing my masters. If I’m honest I feel like most of them are style over substance. (One fine exception to that is Bean & Cole which is both style and substance). I’m a sucker for good branding though and I love to people watch in these places so paying over the odds for a small coffee that tastes a little burnt sometimes is something I have done more often than I care to admit! What was I saying about being a coffee snob again? Maybe I should take that back and just leave it at snob!

So, my choice for morning coffee was the Bridge Street Roastery which was a new one for me. Honestly? It’s been a couple of weeks between me going and me writing this and I don’t remember much about it which probably says all you need to know. It was fine, I know I had a nice cookie because I have a photo of it, and I’m assuming that the coffee wasn’t bad otherwise I would remember that. But it obviously didn’t blow me away either!

After I was suitably caffeinated, me and my parents went for a walk around the walls. The Chester walls circuit is about 2 miles and takes in most of the ‘must see’ Chester sites; Eastgate clock, River Dee, Chester Canal, the Roodee (Chester racecourse) and the Roman amphitheatre. The walls were built by the Romans to defend Deva (Chester) and strengthened before the English civil war in the mid-1600s. They’ve also had multiple repairs over the thousands of years they’ve been standing. I imagine there’s quite a lot of ‘wear and tear’.

The walls also hold a couple of my favourite stories and ‘facts’ about the city. For a start the Roodee was once covered by water and acted as a harbour but after the river silted and a few hundred years went by, the site of the Roodee became home to the Goteddsday football match. This was such a bloody and brutal match that football was banned and replaced by horse racing in the early 1500s. The first horse race on the Roodee was actually the first horse race of its kind in the country and was allowed by Mayor Gee, hence the ‘gee-gees’. Further along from the racecourse is the home of a set of steps by the River Dee that women would run up and down holding their breath. If they could make it all the way they would be lucky in love! No idea if it’s true but I like to think it could be.

It’s not anywhere near the walls but it’s one of my favourite stories so I’m going to tell it. There’s a clock tower in the city with only three clock faces on it. Chester is right on the border of Wales and when there were fewer buildings to block the view into the city you could see over the border from Wales into England. Not wanting to give the Welsh anything for free the people of Chester chose not to put a clock face on the side of the tower facing Wales. Apparently, that’s where the saying ‘won’t even give you the time of day’ comes from! As above, I have no idea if that’s true but I so want it to be. It’s the height of pettiness!

Walking around the city whilst reminiscing (mum also went to university in Chester) is thirsty work and I knew exactly where I wanted to go. I’d been thinking about it for weeks!

There’s a ‘secret’ cocktail bar in Chester along Watergate Street called Prohibition. I love that shit. You have to walk up to, and knock on, a none descript door that’s tucked out of the way and wait for someone to let you in. Inside, the bar is dark and cosy and the menus are hidden in books. The drinks are inventive and tasty and the staff are lovely. I actually spent the 2017/18 new year there. I can’t remember what me and mum had but dad had a cocktail that involved pickle juice and it was weirdly great!

On the way home from Prohibition we weaved our way to Urbano 32, my favourite pizza place in Chester. When I first moved to Chester I was still vegan and Urbano 32 do great vegan pizzas, now I’m not vegan I can tell you they do great non-vegan pizzas too. The restaurant has a really cool vibe but we got our pizzas to take away so we could greedily eat pizza on the sofa. Winner! Whilst we were waiting we had a beer, obviously, and they sold cans of Dead Pony Club, an Aberdeenshire favourite of mine. Also a winner.

The following day was my graduation day and I started it right with a coffee from Jaunty Goat. This has to be the most stylish of the stylish coffee places in Chester and I am in love with their logo.

There’s not too much to say about graduation. Gyles Brandreth from The One Show is the Chancellor of the University of Chester and did all the handshaking and Joanna Lumley was there receiving an honorary doctorate. Other than that, it was a pretty standard affair. I made dad take me on a photo shoot around Chester, which is about the only time I’ll suffer having my photo taken over and over again! I’m not going to lie, I love prancing around in that gown and the fact the graduation was in Chester with it’s cobbled streets, medieval rows and fancy clock it all felt very ‘Harry Potter’ and I am absolutely down with that. We, my parents and I, had dinner in Hickory’s on the River Dee to celebrate. The food there is so good and I went to town, had a fair few of their frozen margaritas too.

Biomedical Science graduate.

Dad was pretty invested in the rugby on our last day in Chester so me and mum left him to it in the Airbnb and went shopping. The shopping bit isn’t so interesting and I actually don’t think we bought anything. We got bored pretty quickly and retreated to another new coffee place called Chalk coffee on Watergate Street. They had doughnuts there and we all know that I fancy myself as a doughnut connoisseur. I’d give them a solid 6/10 on the scale; bit sweet and the dough could have been softer but I’d eat it again! For 10/10 doughnuts you need to go to the doughnut stand under the Eastgate, but unfortunately they were never open when we walked passed. It was tragic!

Pretty quickly after Chalk Coffee I was ready for a beer and I was pretty keen to go to Beer Heroes, also on Watergate Street. My supervisor, my colleague and me have a beer swap every Christmas and I wanted to pick something up from Chester for it. My theme this year is to buy a beer from everywhere I travel. I think I’m a little spoiled by the bars in Aberdeen because they’re on another level, but Beer Heroes was definitely creeping up my list of favourite bars towards CASC, 6° North or Brewdog (all in Aberdeen). Essentially, anywhere that has a good saison and is unafraid to sell sours has a vote from me.

…and that was pretty much it. My visit back to Chester and my graduation was done and after an incredibly brief trip back to Hereford I travelled back up North to Scotland. First class, obviously. That’s the only way I travel now!! (I wish)!

Inverness

As much as I love Aberdeen, I decided I needed to get out of it for a weekend. There’s a tonne of places I want to see but it seemed like Inverness would give me loads of options, plus, it’s on my ‘bucket list for the year’ to see Loch Ness. Bit of a cliché I know!

Day One

It’s only one train and 2 hours up to Inverness from Aberdeen so it’s super easy, and armed with my new student railcard, pretty cheap. As soon as I got to Inverness I hunted down the tourist information place, which is in a different place to what the tourist signs suggest and not where google maps say it is! But, I found it and the lady working in there was super helpful in helping me figure out how to do what I wanted to.

I still had a few hours until I could check in to my hotel and I didn’t have a lot of stuff so I jumped straight on a bus to Culloden visitor centre. I didn’t keep my timetable but I seem to remember it was the number 5 from Queensgate, possibly to Croy. I think they’re pretty used to tourists because there was a little sign on the bus stop telling you exactly which bus to get on and as soon as I walked onto the bus the driver knew where I was going. Apparently, I looked like ‘the type’! The bus drops you off right outside the visitor centre though, which is super handy. I’m making a massive assumption here that people know what I’m talking about when I say Culloden! Depending on your definition of ‘battle’, it could easily be considered the site of the last battle fought on British soil and was where the Jacobite uprising came to a very bloody end in 1746. In short, bonnie prince Charlie (who’d never actually been to the UK before) popped over to Scotland to raise an army and reclaim the British throne for his father. It was pretty clever timing because most of the British army were tied up fighting in Europe. Obviously, the British government weren’t super thrilled about this and they put the Duke of Cumberland in charge to put an end to the nonsense! Bonnie prince Charlie did fairly damn well and got as far as Derby before having to turn back around. But he also made a fair few poor decisions which ended with Culloden. After losing, bonnie prince Charlie got to skip off back to Europe where he was hailed as a hero, which is bonkers when you think he left Scotland and the men that fought for him deep in the shit. The government killed as many of his supporters as they could get their hands on, banned things like tartan and really tried to crush the highland life. Apparently he died as a bitter drunk with a wife that hated him which sounds somewhat like karma to me.

The museum is pretty extensive and really well laid out. I learned loads and some of the films and media displays really helped to give an idea of just how desolate the situation was. Going through the museum before visiting the battlefield itself gave an idea of perspective and helped to give life to what could be mistaken as any other field. From the Culloden battlefield you can walk to the Clava cairn which is a bronze age chamber tomb…unfortunately I didn’t have time…but I wished that I had. Maybe next time! Because there will be a next time.

*Culloden battlefield, with something pretty in the background. Is it the Black Isle? Is it the Cairngorms? Is it something else? Does it really matter?!*

When I got back to Inverness it was time for me to check in to my hotel. Now, the Mercure in Inverness looks absolutely tragic from the outside! I steeled myself with assurances that as long as it was clean it’d be fine, I wasn’t going to spending a tonne of time in it anyway. BUT…as soon as I walked into the foyer I knew I’d been completely wrong. It was really nice! It was super cosy and inviting and the staff were really friendly. I still had some marking to do so I sat in the restaurant and did it there over dinner. I didn’t need to book and I felt really comfortable to just get on with my work.

Day Two

My first priority on day two was to pick up some doughnuts from Perk for my day trip. A chap had recommended them to me on the first day and boy, was it a good recommendation. I got the two types of vegan doughnuts they had available; the lime glaze and the regular jam filled, sugared doughnut. Best.doughnuts.ever. And trust me, I’m a seasoned doughnut connoisseur! I really hoped that they were a Scottish chain with a shop hidden away in Aberdeen, but alas, no. If you’re in Inverness, even just passing through, get a doughnut!

*Seriously, get yourself here. It’s almost definitely worth the 4 hour round train trip from Aberdeen to pick up a load of doughnuts!*

The doughnuts were for my day trip to Urquhart. If I’m honest I was more interested in seeing Loch Ness and the castle was just a happy additional extra which I didn’t know about before I started googling the area. Like Culloden, there’s a bus that drops you off right outside the attraction from Inverness. In fact, there are a couple. I just rocked up at the bus station and jumped on one. So, Urquhart castle is beautiful and definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area…here’s the ‘but’…! I got there as soon as it opened so there were only about 10-15 people about when I looked around. This meant that I could take in the atmosphere, read the signs easily and take pictures without people in. I hear that in summer thousands of people visit and the site gets packed. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, I think it’s great that people want to engage with history and even more so, that they choose Scotland/UK for their summer holiday but I think it’s something worth preparing yourself for. You’re not going to get that Instagram ready, picturesque shot in mid-summer at Urquhart castle. This is one of the many reasons I like travelling in winter!

In terms of history, I think it was originally a Pictish site before St Columba wafted in and turned everyone Christian back around 560 AD. I’m never quite sure how that worked! Anyway, I think the earliest part of the castle remaining on the site now is from the 13^th century when it was all tied up in the Scottish war for independence. It’s now a ruin and it became a ruin way back in 1690 when soldiers blew up the gatehouse after a fight with the Jacobites. Once it was partially blown up and left unprotected it wasn’t long before locals started to pilfer the stone for their own homes.

As an aside, I think it’s also worth mentioning for both Urquhart and Culloden that they’re not cheap places to eat, although to be fair they’re not unreasonable when compared to any other major tourist site. I had lunch in both of them and it was again about what you expect, just fine! Had it been spring or summer I would definitely have taken a picnic.

Urquhart castle was actually quite a lot smaller than I expected so I had quite a bit of time in the afternoon to play with. The first thing I did was walk into Drumnadrochit, which is about a 40 minute easy walk from the castle, to visit the Loch Ness Centre and Exhibition. I have mixed feelings about this place! It wasn’t a museum like I expected but a system of several rooms which you’d go into to watch a video about the geology, myths, explorations surrounding the Loch and it’s supposed monster. It was good and I learnt some stuff, but I think in the height of summer you’d easily feel like you were being herded. It felt like any typical UK attraction that is totally magical when you’re a child and then as an adult you feel slightly disappointed by the lack of substance and tired exhibits. I say that with fondness though, these places give me a feeling of familiarity and homeliness that I’m not mad about. They make me think of my parents and family holidays. As a lone adult however, those fuzzy feelings were pretty much the only thing that stopped me feeling sick that I’d spent £8 to get in there. One last thing before I move on and stop moaning, the last rooms you need to pass through are shops. If you had kids, you’d have to run a gauntlet through loch ness monster plushies and cute Scottish themed t-shirts. It’s clever marketing and I don’t blame them but it’s also a pretty disappointing display of commercialism. Nearby there’s an associated café, more associated shops selling tartan paraphernalia and kilts and a place to trace your Scottish history. This is cheesy tourism central!

All your Scottish/Loch Ness dreams come true!

After being bombarded with overt “Scottish” tourism I decided to take a walk in the Drumnadrochit woods up to a viewpoint I saw on the map. It was a nice little walk and there are much longer ones for next time. I was hoping for a red squirrel, but no luck, maybe that’s for next time too. I did see the Loch and a tonne of hooded crows though, I always get excited crossing the crow line! I’d definitely say it’s worth going for a wander if you’ve got time.

*Views over the Loch Ness from Drumnadrochit woods, unnecessarily excited to be there!*

Back in Inverness my first priority was getting to The Malt Room, an independent bar, for a couple of whiskies. It’s a really dark, cosy, sexy little bar with a million whiskies and cocktails and the staff really know their stuff. I had one of my favourites, a Laphroaig quarter cask (I’m definitely an island girl at heart) and then I tried one of the local whiskies, a 12 year old Tomatin. It was nice, an easy drinker but it was no smokey, peaty Islay! After recollecting my spirit blurred thoughts back in the hotel I went for dinner at Scotch and Rye, another Inverness independent.

The staff in there were super kind and managed to find a place for me. That’s one thing to be said for the people in Inverness, they are really friendly. The atmosphere was really relaxed in there with a real mix of people, I can’t remember exactly what was playing but I do remember enjoying the music in there too. I went armed with my book and my horrendously cheesy postcards (Nessie, a Scottie dog and a ‘true Scotsman’ caught out by the wind) and sat in there for quite a while. I had a chicken and haggis burger… I genuinely like haggis, I promise I wasn’t trying to be authentic! Then, for dessert, I had two variations on white Russians, and they were so, so yummy. They had quite an expansive cocktail list and if I wasn’t so full and if I earned more money then I think I definitely would have kept going.

Day Three

I had my train back to Aberdeen booked for the afternoon so I had all day to do something fun. I decided to walk out along the Caledonian way and see how far I got. I wandered up along the river Ness and over the Ness islands which are incredibly pretty. It reminded me a little of areas along the River Don in Aberdeen, especially near Seaton park. For both places it really doesn’t feel like you’re still inside the city.

After Ness islands, I was ready for a little brunch and luckily Inverness botanical gardens and their little café was open. I had a pot of tea and a toasted sandwich that was way better than the more expensive fair that I’d had at Culloden or Urquhart. I didn’t plan to spend long at the gardens because I wanted to be on my way along the Caledonian path but I did whip around. It was bigger than I expected and beautifully laid out, it also had one of the prettiest cactus and succulent houses I think I’ve ever seen.

Cactus house at the Inverness botanical gardens.

Back on the Caledonian way there was a rowing event taking place on the canal. Despite being mid-February, it was unseasonably warm and there were loads of people out walking, cycling and watching the race. The whole path up to Dochgarroch locks was easy to follow, felt safe and was really quite pretty. It didn’t feel particularly wild or remote, but it was definitely the perfect way to get out of the city. I wanted to keep going and see what lay beyond the locks but I needed to get back for my train and I wanted to try the Black Isle bar before I left.

The Black Isle bar was another place I wish I’d been able to stay a little longer. They sell a great range of craft ales, most of which are made by Black Isle brewery…obviously! They look like they do incredible pizzas too but I was in the mood for Cullen skink. The super warm and sunny day turned around pretty quickly on my way back and started raining as soon as I got back into town, so a warm and hearty soup was perfect. It was just what I needed and alongside the Black Isle ‘23 Trees’, citrus saison, it was a perfect end to a weekend in Inverness. I will definitely be back…and I’ll definitely be getting my hands on more Black Isle beers when I can.