July 25, 2012
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(written on 11 March 2013)
Feeling remarkably fine (most definitely given the alcoholic onslaught from yesterday) we had a lazy breakfast in the morning, with Colin also being off work today, before making our way to Queen Street station where a train took us up to Stirling, a city of about 35,000, north-east of Glasgow.
The weather was really nice and we had sunshine for the entire day. Our main goal was a visit to Stirling Castle, which dominates the city's skyline and can be seen from far away, but we also wanted to see a bit of the town itself. We started off with buying our lunches in a Greggs and eating them outside in a little garden somewhere halfway between the station and the castle.
After a visit to the Church of the Holy Rude (no, that's it's real name) which was a very impressive church building where a centuries old split of the building into two congregations was still quite visible, we continued to the Castle. It was a truly wonderful visit, that's all I can say really of Stirling Castle. OK, a bit more then; it's Scotland's oldest building and the place where several Scottish Kings and Queens were crowned, among them Mary Queen of Scots. The buildings are very well preserved and the different parts of the castle gave a very good overview of the building's (and by implication Scotland's) history. What never ceases to amaze me is how bloody that history often is. One king killing the other in order to take over the throne seems to be more rule than exception. And Stirling Castle saw more than its fair share of bloodshed. We spent most of the afternoon in the castle and its grounds and never got bored. A real recommendation to anyone visiting Scotland.
On the way back to the station we walked past a pub just outside the grounds of the castle and we ordered some real ales, which we enjoyed sitting outside in the last of the day's sun (at least in the walled garden where we were sitting) and we also decided to have dinner in the pub inside. The meal was very, very nice. With all tables taken it was clearly a popular place, and not without reason! A second pub we went to, after a bit of a walk through the city centre, was less appealing. The beer was nice, but the pub lacked the atmosphere of the first one. Nevertheless, it was good to be there, and it was with a very satisfied feeling that we headed towards the railway station afterwards. A sterling day in Stirling (sorry - couldn't resist that one)!
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