Andrewmac

Ibrox - the home of one of the two Glasgow football clubs who play in the Scottish Premier League. Glasgow Rangers play at Ibrox and their sworn enemy is Glasgow Celtic.

The game between the two is not for the fainthearted as tribal rivalries and religious fanaticism are very much to the fore.

Ibrox is not a very happy place this season as Rangers have just finished a massive second behind Celtic.

JamesB

This is all great (except perhaps the superlatives on Scottish men)! Thanks so much to all of you.

Now, can anyone tell me where any of these are:

- "Eat at the Three Chimneys" (Skye?)

- "Climb to the Cuillins Ridge"

- "Valvona and Crolla"

- "Spend the night at One Devonshire Gardens"

- Oban

Also, anyplace you would recommend for:

-Standing stones

-Listening to traditional celtic music.

And last but not least, have any of you been on any overnight sailing trips in/around Scotland?

nytraveler

There are toomany bests toname in Scotland and we had only 2 worsts:

The weather - not that it was that bad but we were not expecting 45 and rainy in the middle of July (it had been at leat 80 when we left London) - but if you have some layers and a light jacket you'll be OK

A "bagpipes and haggis" evening that the hotel recommended that was so inauthentic it was laughable (we did do it against our better judgement) we might as well have been in the Catskills!

Gardyloo

Three Chimneys is a restaurant on Skye.
Cuillins ridge is in the Cuillin mountains also on Skye.
Valvona's is a famous Italian grocery shop in Edinburgh.
One Devonshire Gardens is a high-end hotel in Glasgow.
Oban is a town on the west coast, served by rail, and a jumping-off port for a couple of islands.

Danna

Ditto Gardyloo's recommendation of Kirkcudbright. The Masonic Arms on a weekend night. The Logan Garden (near Port Logan)is simply amazing. Like books? Go to Wigtown. Wherever you go those Scots are likely to make your visit special. We still haven't found all that Edinburgh has to offer. One of these days we'll make it to Holyrood.

sheila

For standing stones, the "best" are probably those at Stenness in Orkney, Callanish Stone circle in Lewis, the array of stuff in Kilmartin Glen- which you could the rest of your life on and not get to the bottom of- and the recumbent stone circles in the North East of Scotland. I have a couple of web links bookmarked on teh computer at home, and I'll post them when I get back. KT is a bit of an expert in this filed (my husband is no mean hand either)

As to celtic music, the thing to do is to watch the Celtic Roots page on the BBC web site.

Also buy the List when you get here, although it only covers the central belt. If you can listen to Travelling Folk on the radio, there's a spot telling who's playing where.

There are some traditional venues, and if you tell us where you're going to be, I'll point you at them.

bigtyke

Best - The Castles - Threave (my favorite), Doune (Monty Python), Campbell, Stirling, Caerverlock

Self Catering - Leny house , Callendar

The worst - rain

twoflower

As well as Edinburgh - one of Europe's top cities - for serenity and beauty don't miss little places like Inverary and Plockton.
Haggis? I love it! But it can be hard to find. Traipsed the streets of Inverness one night in search of Scotland's national specialty, and all I found were pizza joints. Quite disillusioning. Next day, at the other end of Loch Ness in Fort William, I knew I had struck gold when I came across a cafe advertising "Haggis with tatties and neeps" (potatoes and turnips)!

USNR

Avoid Aviemore. It's a yuppified, fern bar, knock-off of what some Scot thought would appeal to the Vail crowd. Purely plastic.

bettyk

Just returned from a week in Scotland and a week in England. Haven't done my trip report yet, but here's my 2 cents worth based on our experience:

Best:
1) Driving the Sma' Glen from Crieff to Aberfeldy. You'll think you've died and gone to heaven!
2) The scenery from Aviemore to the Glenlivet Distillery across the Glenlivet Estate via Tomintoul. We also saw pheasants, rabbits, deer and Highland Cattle. The Distillery tour is very good, as is the whisky!
3) Pierhouse Hotel and Restaurant in Port Appin. The best seafood and the nicest staff.
4) Dunkeld in Perthshire. What a marvelous little town right on the River Tay! You could spend several days there or a week just exploring the town and the surrounding area as well as the lovely cathedral, part of it in ruins and part still an active church.
5) Visits to Stirling and Urquhart Castles.

I'm sure I'll think of more as I write my report. I also have to add that all of the people we met in Scotland were very friendly, from the shopkeepers and hotel staff to strangers on the street.

Not exactly "worst", but Edinburgh was noisier and dirtier than I remembered; more crowded too.

Elizabeth

I love this thread.

Does anybody have specific recommendations of places to find nice cakes? I was in bliss in the north of England last week - Yorkshire & Cumbria - to find that I could find the kind of cake I like almost everywhere.
I think the farther north you go the better the cake, right?

(What I like - traditional Anglo-Saxon baking for tea-time, any cake with frosting.)