A Taste of Spain: Castles & Cows

Hello! I know you've all been anxiously awaiting my entry about Scotland (ok, maybe not...), but before I start that, I'm going to tell you a joke that I learned from one of our tour guides in Ireland. I meant to put it in my last post but forgot!!

Ok, so there's a beer convention in town, and all of the CEOS/presidents of the beer companies decide to go out for a drink after a long day of meetings. They walk into the bar and go to order a beer. The Budweiser CEO says, "I'd love to have a 'King of Beers'...so I'll have a Budweiser, please". Next, the Coors representative goes up to the bar and says, "I love that Rocky Mountain taste...I'll take a Coors, please". The Miller guy goes up to the bar next and says, "It's Miller Time! I'll have a Miller Lite, please". Lastly, the Guinness man goes up to the bar and says, "I guess I'll just drink a soda.' Confused, the other beer employees ask him, "Aren't you going to have a beer?" The Guinness man looks back at them and says, "Well since you aren't, I won't."

Hope that made yall chuckle a little! Now, onto our journey in Scotland! We left Dublin very early (like, 4 AM early) on Tuesday to catch our 6:30 flight to Edinburgh. Everything went very smoothly (we were so lucky with transportation this week!), and we arrived at our hostel around 9 AM. We checked in, dropped off our luggage, and grabbed some breakfast. We picked out a day trip for the following day and booked it. We went on an amazing walking tour around Edinburgh, given by a guy named Mark who was from Manchester but studying in Edinburgh. During our walking tour, we saw lots of interesting things like the cathedral, Edinburgh Castle, and the former location of the tax office (where the people of Edinburgh still spit on the ground to show their spite...gross!). Edinburgh is really beautiful and has a lot of history. After our tour was over, we walked up to the Edinburgh Castle, which is located on top of a bunch of lava rock. We walked around the castle, which contains the Crown Jewels that were worn by Mary Queen of Scots. After we had gotten our fill of royalty, we moved on to the Princes Street Gardens. These gardens, situated in the valley of the castle, were absolutely beautiful! The flowers were colorful and brought an instant smile to my face. It was a little warm, so we all bought ice cream and sat by the beautiful flowers. We finally convinced ourselves to leave and walked across the city to a park that offered a beautiful panoramic view of downtown Edinburgh. We went to a pub close to the water for dinner, where I had an amazing chicken pot pie-type dish. The food in Ireland and Scotland was SO good!!

Wednesday, we went on a day trip with a company called Heart of Scotland Tours. This trip took us throughout the countryside of Scotland. Our first stop was in Stirling, a town about an hour away from Edinburgh that is known for its castle. Stirling Castle is beautiful and huge, much like Edinburgh Castle. We hung out on the castle grounds for a while and then continued on to our second stop, where I met my 3 favorite animals. Hamish, Heather, and their baby are Highland bullock cows, which are native to Scotland. They are absolutely precious! I even bought a little stuffed one because I never want to forget how adorable they were. Once we were finished with the cows, we made a quick stop for lunch and shopping (they make so much stuff with sheep wool, it is impossible to resist!). My favorite stop along the trip was at Loch Lomond. We were able to take a boat tour around the lake. The scenery was absolutely beautiful--mountains everywhere! We made one more stop where I ate the best chocolate cake of my life, and then headed back to Edinburgh. We arrived in time for dinner, and we decided to go to a nearby bar and get some sandwiches before returning to our hostel to pack up our bags.

Our flight wasn't until 4:30 on Thursday, so we spent the morning shopping and walking around Edinburgh. I loved going to all the shops and seeing the scarves, sweaters, and everything else they make with the sheep wool! I may or may not have bought some as presents! We grabbed some lunch and our luggage and headed to the airport. I was so sad to leave Scotland. I honestly wasn't prepared for how much I was going to love it! I knew I would love Ireland, but the beauty and charm of Scotland overwhelmed me as well. I really hope to return some day :)

That's all for now! It has been a rainy and chilly weekend in Granada, which has spoiled much of the Holy Week festivities...but more on that later!
Happy Easter everybody!!
Besos,
Shannon