Visiting Scotland
If you’re visiting Scotland, you should find this interesting.
This video is for those of you who prefer the video format:
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Also, if you liked this video, you might be interested in other videos in this series.
Preamble
Scotland and I have what we might call ‘history’.
When I was at school there, we were repeatedly told that the best inventors were Scottish, (John Logie Baird – television, Alexander Graham Bell – telephone), the best poet ever was Burns and the only historical event worth mentioning was the Battle of Bannockburn.
As only one of two English kids in the whole school, guess how much fun I had when some idiot decided to re-enact the Battle of Bannockburn during break.
However, this is NOT a payback situation so if you’re looking for a poisonous article about how visiting Scotland is a bad idea, you’ve come to the wrong place. It’s a lovely part of the world.
People and Places
If you’ve seen other videos or posts in this series, you will notice a similar structure, where some noteworthy people and places are mentioned.
Even though Scotland is a relatively small country, there are simply too many famous engineers, scientists, musicians, actors, comedians, authors, sportsman etc. etc. etc. to mention.
There is so much astoundingly beautiful scenery and countryside to see and so many interesting things to do and see in Scotland that this post would run on for ever if I tried to fit everyone and everything in.
In a sense, there could be a whole series just about Scotland. This post will give a rough overview for the new visitor.
Scotland is separated from England by Hadrian’s wall, which was built in the Roman times. Not a lot remains and most of it is about knee high. Doesn’t seem like much of a deterrant, unless people were a lot shorter than they are today.
Scottish Accent
Most foreigners find the Scottish accent very difficult to understand but there isn’t just one Scottish accent – there are many.
The accents vary a lot, even for places that are relatively close. For example, Edinburgh is very soft and quite slow and Glasgow is a lot faster and harder to understand.
You can drive from Edinburgh to Glasgow in an hour – they’re under 50 miles apart.
Food and Drink
If you’re visiting Scotland, make sure to try the local food.
In cold weather, a bowl of hot porridge will really set you up for the day.
Try some haggis – you might enjoy it and if not, well, at least you gave it a go.
Also, try a deep-fried mars bar or snickers – it’s much better than you think.
If you’re looking for fresh fruit, you may have to go south of the border for that though 🙂
And of course, no post about Scotland would be complete without mentioning whisky. Go to a distillery and get a guided tour, preferably with tasting session at the end.
Scotland and England
Scotland and England often refer to each other as “the old enemy” and a lot of the prejudices that you hear about Scotland come from the English.
They have a reputation for being tight-fisted and mean, as shown by the old joke about copper wire.
However, the Scottish are very warm, generous and friendly to visitors – it’s just the English they don’t like so much.
Visiting Scotland – summary
I know I missed out a lot of specific things to do when visiting Scotland. Was there something that you felt deserved special mention?
Have you been to that part of the world and agree (or disagree) with anything here?
If so, please let me know in the comments below.
