Day 33 - Stirling, Scotland
Stirling Castle
July 24, 2023: Playing catch up again on the blog. We got up early to make our way to the Edinburgh Waverley train station for our trip to Stirling, Scotland. Stirling is renowned as the Gateway to the Highlands and historically it was a strategic position for Scotland. It is home to Stirling Castle. It is one of largest and most historically and architecturally important castles in Scotland. Before the union with England, Stirling Castle was also one of the most used of the many Scottish royal residences, very much a palace as well as a fortress. Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1542. An interesting exhibit at the castle is the Stirling Heads Gallery. King James V has carved oak roundels made for the ceiling of the castle in 1540. The Stirling Heads are one of Scotland’s great art treasures. They are meter wide 16th-century oak medallions carved with images of kings, queens, nobles, Roman emperors and characters from the Bible and Classical mythology. They decorated palace ceilings until a collapse in 1777 after which they were dispersed. There have been at least eight sieges of Stirling Castle, including several during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Infamous deeds also took place here, like the murder of the earl of Douglas by James II. There is a statue of both Robert the Bruce and William Wallace at Stirling Castle.
After our tour of the castle, we headed to a distillery nearby called Stirling Distillery where they make gin. Since I had tried gin in London, I decided to try their Red Cap Raspberry liquor which has a gin base. Part of their Folklore Collection, it gets its name from the mythological and murderous Red Cap goblin, a malevolent being who inhabits ruined castles, soaks his cap in the blood of his victims and leads unwary walkers astray. You gotta love their stories! We ended up getting some the libations to take with us to Norway to share with the family there. Our host at the distillery gave us a recommendation for a restaurant called Fletchers, so after finishing at the distillery we headed there. It was a great recommendation! Fletchers Jimm had their Fish ‘n Chips and I had a delicious ciabatta roll with chicken and bacon.
It was back to the train station after lunch to make our way back to Edinburgh and our Airbnb. We continue to find the train systems in Europe very easy to navigate. No problems on any of our trains and a comfortable way to travel. We highly recommend utilizing this way of travel when in the area.
Back at the Airbnb, we were still trying to catch up on laundry. When you are on a 57-day trip and only brought a 24” suitcase and backpack, you have to find time to wash the limited amount of clothes you have. We had to plan out when we would do laundry during our trip, something you don’t really have to worry about when traveling for two or three weeks. So we played cards, prepared for our move to our next location and relaxed for the evening.
Jimm’s rating for the day: ****