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Eight Days from Edinburgh Part 5
Imagine walking along your oceanfront property shortly after a storm to discover that the wind has blown away enough sand that some sort of stone structures are peering out from beneath. This is exactly what happened around 1850 in the Orkney Islands, where I will take you in this post. So for those who love history as much as I do, hang on to your hats, because at 5,000 years old, these are the oldest places I have visited! To give you an idea, they predate the pyramids of Egypt, and had been vacated for several hundred years by the time Stonehenge was built! Let’s first talk about getting to…
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Eight Days from Edinburgh Part 4
When I was a little kid, I shared one of my nicknames with a famous monster, Nessie! I always wanted to someday visit Loch Ness in Scotland to look for Nessie. So, here’s to making childhood dreams come true on this leg of our trip! Day 4 for us started out in Uig on the Isle of Skye, and we had a very scenic drive across the island and over the sea back to the mainland. We would be driving across the middle of Scotland about 130 miles (about 3 hours drive) to Inverness, however, three big stops were on the itinerary, so we got an early start. To get…
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Eight Days From Edinburgh Part 3
This post will be shorter than most, but don’t let that fool you! This leg of our trip was one of my most favorite days! I knew it would be because of the three historic stops, but I had no idea how breathtakingly beautiful the beaches were as well! Today you will join us on the Isles of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland! It takes some time and effort to get there, but it is TOTALLY worth it!! To get to Lewis & Harris requires one to either take the ferry, or fly into Stornoway on the northern end of Lewis. To fly in is pretty…
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Eight Days From Edinburgh Part 2
Welcome back! So, if you missed Part 1 you can go back and read it here. Part 2 begins in Edinburgh where we left off and takes us all the way “over the sea to Skye.” And we only got lost twice! Remember, we stayed at the Holiday Inn which was right across the street from Enterprise where we rented our car. We just walked across the street to get the car, which was great! We did get the excess coverage and roadside assistance just in case we needed it as we had to quickly adjust to driving on the other side of the road. Our first challenge was getting…
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Eight Days From Edinburgh Part 1
My husband and I took this trip in 2019 for our anniversary. It. Was. Amazing. In my typical style, I crammed as much into eight days as I possibly could focusing on ancient to medieval history and then also a few stops at filming locations for my two favorite TV shows, Outlander and Game of Thrones. Our trip was actually 15 days: 2 travel days “across the pond” and back, 8 days in Scotland, and 5 days in Ireland (both Northern & Republic – you can read about the Dingle Peninsula in the Republic of Ireland here). We drove ourselves for most of this trip, and put over 900 miles…
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Surprising Stonehenge
Where are you traveling or have you traveled this summer? If you are like me, archaeological sites and other historical locations are high on your bucket list of top destinations. One place that has always intrigued me is Stonehenge. Now I obviously could not travel to Stonehenge in the UK, as Europe has closed its doors to Americans for now, and I can’t say that I blame them. BUT I DID visit America’s Stonehenge this summer! What? You’ve never heard of it? Well, I had never heard of it before either until I ran across a brief description in my DK New England guidebook! As a history teacher, the name…
