Traveling back to Ireland this summer. Can anyone give any must see's for the Dublin & Galway area's. <BR> <BR>Same thing for Scotland. Would like to stay in the Edinburgh area, what are must see's w/in driving distance. <BR> <BR>Thanks for any ideas !!

There are dozens. It would be easier if you could limit the choice a little. <BR> <BR>edinburgh itself is a mixture of a wonderful late mediaeval city with a plannen Georgian New Town. The Castle is a must, but a brisk hike up Arthur's seat (a hill in the centre of the town above Holyrood Palace) will give you magnificent views out over the whole of east central Scotland. the Forth Rail bridge is worth drving past. The estuary of the Forth widens to superb beaches (with wonderful links golf courses behind them ) and in Fife you have St Andrew's, home of golf (the beach where they filmed the opening sequences of Chariots of Fire?). To get there you go past Loch Leven where Mary Queen of Scots was kept imprisoned on one of the islands. <BR> <BR>The Royla yacht Britannia is berthed at leith, edinburgh's port, and can be visited by the public, and the new Museaum of Scotland in the centre of the City is pretty good, for the architecture as well as the exhibits. <BR> <BR>It's also a great shopping city. <BR> <BR>T the south you are about an hour's drive from the Borders; lovely rolling hills and some lovely stately mansions including abbotsford which was owned by Sir Walter Scott- whose memorial is in the middle of Edinburgh's main shopping street, and which can be climbed for the view over the grdens and up to th Castle. <BR> <BR>Further north there are Parth and Stirling, and the foothills of the big hills (big by British standards, that is) <BR>Narrow down the query and I'll post again.

Sheila, thanks for the info. <BR> <BR>Looking for day trip stuff. Must see castles or gardens. I love waterfalls and saw 2 beautiful ones while in Ireland the last time. Keep in mind I will have my 80 yr old grandmother with me, so nothing too strenuous. <BR> <BR>Hope I was more specific for, and again thanks !

Carrie, <BR> <BR>Where did you see the great waterfalls in Scotland? <BR> <BR>

I didn't, the ones I saw were in Ireland. This will be our first time to Scotland, and since they were so beautiful in Ireland, wondered if Scotland had any.

I can't think of any waterfalls within day trip distance. Ther are some but probably you would need to be the best part of 80 miles out of Edinburgh to get there. OK Castles... <BR> <BR>Edinburgh, obviously <BR>Loch Leven castle, previously mentioned. Traquair, where they don't open the gates, Stirling is very good. <BR>Huningtower at Perth where they locked up James IV when he was a boy; <BR> <BR>Gardens:- We have a thing called Scotland's Gardens Schemes which has gardens open all year round; some famous big one, but some are just nice little private gardens. You will get the leaflets in a tourist office when you get here. In Edinburgh, there are the gardens at Holyrood, the queen's Palace, and the Botanic gardens, In Fife there a super gardens at Flakland Palace (another daytrip castle;- two in one!) perth has Branklyn Gardens and the Norrie Miller gardens along the river bank. Some of the big Border mansions- like Abbotsford -are in lovely landscaped gardens. Hope that helps. Have you got a good guide book?

Believe it or not, I have the Fodor's Scotland book, but haven't even begun to read it yet. But since we've pretty much decided that we were staying in Edinburgh the whole time, figured I would post a mssge to get started. <BR> <BR>Again Sheila, thanks so much for you info, very much appreciated. If you think of anything else, please add. <BR>

Carrie (and/or anyone that knows) <BR>Where in Ireland can I find waterfalls?I will be going in June and would love to see them. Thanks

<BR>Just outside Killarney in County Kerry, visit Muckross House. Tour the grounds and you will see Torc Falls in a lovely setting. In fact the whole area is beautiful.

The 2 we saw were the Torc Waterfall, as previously mentioned. Just beautiful, you have to walk a bit up an incline, but beautiful. (FYI, we stayed @ The Muckross and it was very nice. We were in the newer bldg, with a small suite. The restaurant was very good, and there is also a Molly's pub, also good. Again very nice if someone is looking for accomadations in this area.) The other waterfall was at Powerscourt Gardens, just outside of Dublin. The waterfall is gorgeous, there is like a small park there, folks having lunch, kids playing...again gorgeous. It started to rain as we got back into our cars, so we missed the gardens but will revisit this year.