Good Coffee, Arthur’s Seat, The Scottish Countryside, and Turnberry
We woke up this morning ready to say goodbye to Edinburgh and move onto Turnberry. Andrew and Mickey started the day by visiting a highly-rated coffee shop called Artisan Roast. They brought me back some really good hot chocolate. We packed our things and walked to the train station to pick up our rental car. On a whim we decided to go check out Arthur’s Seat on the way out of own. Arthur’s seat is a dormant volcano and a wild piece of highland landscape in the center of Edinburgh. We decided to hike up it and we were really glad we did. The views were amazing. It really gave us a great perspective of the whole city from Edinburgh Castle and beyond to Holyrood House. I included a map below so you can kind of get an idea of the layout. Andrew took lots of pictures, but he needs to stitch them together into a panorama. Hopefully he can do that as soon as we get back so everyone can see.
After the hike we hit the road and took our time through the Scottish countryside. The scenery was diverse and breathtaking. Snowy hills, large sheep farms, groves of pine trees, and rivers dotted the landscape. We stopped for a quick lunch and took the longer, but scenic route down the coast to Turnberry. I can’t say enough about the views. They were stunning. Lighthouses, ruined castles on the beach, and sheep farms were prominent in the area. At one point we even stopped by the side of the road where a beautiful cemetery overlooked the ocean. If England is the country of comfortable high-end castles, Scotland is the country of desolate forgotten and ruined castles. It makes the feel of this place incredibly majestic. At one point along the road we even saw a pheasant. I was very excited.
Our hotel is perched atop a large hill overlooking the ocean. It is world-famous for its Alisa golf course although we won’t be doing any golfing while we are here. Just relaxing and enjoying the scenery. There are 800 acres of land to explore on the estate so we look forward to that tomorrow. For dinner we drove 30 minutes back to Ayr and ate at an Italian restaurant that was recommended to us by Yelp. The drive back to the hotel was a little hairy full of two-lane undivided highways, countless roundabouts, and the usual driving on the left. Am I forgetting something? Oh yeah…it was pitch dark too! Andrew did a great job negotiating the roads and our rental car continues to remain unscathed. We hope everyone is having a great week. Cheers, Chelsie and Andrew
UPDATE: Panorama added at bottom. (5 photo stitch)
Inside Artisan Coffee
A flat white from Artisan Coffee
A map of the layout of Edinburgh. Note Edinburgh Castle on the left and Arthur's Seat in the lower right-hand corner.
Arthur's Seat from below.
On the path to the top of Arthur's Seat
On the road overlooking the ocean near Ayr
The view from our hotel.
Check out that pheasant!
Panorama from Arthur's Seat
Full size available here
