We said goodbye to the Newton Hotel in Nairn and hit the Highlands road again. Our first stop wasn't too far away, Culloden Battlefield. This battlefield is where the infamous Battle at Colloden took place between the Jacobites and the Red Coats. The National Trust Foundation of Scotland built a beautiful museum and visitor's center to commemorate this 50 minute battle. The museum hosted replica weapons, interviews, and videos. We toured the museum at our own pace and our CIE guide, Rosie, made sure we didn't miss the Immersion Room.
The Immersion Room had video screens on each wall which showed a reenactment of the battle as if you were standing in the middle of the opposing sides. I think I would have been ok missing this room...it was a bit gruesome! It was a really cool experience until the cannons were fired and one of the Jacobites were hit in the face with a cannonball. When I saw an eye pop out on the screen, I headed for the exit! Culloden Battlefield used a GPS system to provide guests a self guided tour experience around the actual battlefield. I opted to take a panoramic view the battlefield from the rooftop of the museum.
We departed Culloden Battlefield and drove south toward the town of Pitlochry. I bet you have never heard of Pitlochry, have you? Me neither. We learned on our coach ride to the town that Pitlochry is famous for Heathergems. The plant, Heather, grows rampant in Scotland and since the people of Scotland have resolved not to waste anything - and I mean anything! - they decided to compress the plant, add some dye, and create beautiful jewelry! The Heathergems factory and outlet are still located in Pitlochry. We toured the factory and did our part in boosting the Scottish economy. Our main goal in Pitlochry was to find Fish & Chips for lunch! After hiking up and down the main street, we finally found our lunch spot, The Auld Smiddy Inn. I ordered a traditional plate of fish and chips and a half pint of Tennents, a local Scottish beer. It was all delicious! The chips were a little different from what I expected...they were very thick square french fries. Different but yummy!
What, may you ask, is the most popular drink in Scotland? Why whisky, of course! Finally, we headed to a distillery! Blair Athol distillery gave us a wonderful walking tour of their working distillery. The smells were so strong that I was a little anxious to actually consume the whisky. As would any good tour, we finished with a tasting of the Blair Athol single malt whisky. Our tour guide taught us how to appropriately drink the whisky. We had to smell it, then swirl the whisky in the glass to release the flavors, then take a small sip and swish the whisky in our mouth. I'll admit the first sip made my mouth burn! The guide instructed us to try again and we would taste different flavors and, surprisingly, she was right! The whisky had a completely different taste the second sip!
All that whisky drinking and I still don't like it! We finally headed toward Edinburgh! I knew that this was going to be my favorite city! Our hotel, the Marriott Dalmahoy, was located just outside the city center. The Marriott Dalmahoy was a castle! We finally stayed in a real castle! Every girl dreams of staying in a castle! Of course, the Marriott Dalmahoy was renovated on the inside and the country club was added on later. It was still beautiful!
