SCOTLAND - Highlights from Edinburgh

We ventured into Edinburgh around 5 times in total over the month we stayed in Scotland and honestly, I think we only scratched the surface of all that there is to see. We mainly explored the shops along Prince Street, the Old Town, including Edinburgh Castle and Carlton Hill. While we were there, the christmas markets along Princes Street were in full swings and with the sun setting around 3:30pm, we were often out late enough to see the whole area lit up with the festive lights.

Below is a collection of some of my favourite photos from around Edinburgh…

Edinburgh Castle from Prince Street

Regent Bridge

View of Holyrood Palace from Carlton Hill

The view across Waverly Train Station to Carlton Hill from Edinburgh Castle

My favourite place was the Old Town; which is made up of narrow, cobbled streets, medieval tenements, and towering gothic spires that create a very spooky atmosphere. The Royal Mile is the main street that runs from Holyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle, it’s lined with endless souvenir shops, quirky retailer, pubs and a number of museums like The Museums of Childhood and Camera Obscura.

I would have liked to have spent more time exploring the areas of Old Town around Greyfriars Kirkyard and the Grassmarket Square.

Outside the National War Museum inside the Edinburgh Castle

The girls at the entrance to Edinburgh Castle

The view from the top of Camera Obscura towards Prince Street

In my option, the best places to go for a sweeping view over Edinburgh are:

• From within Edinburgh Castle looking down over Princes Street.

• From Carlton Hill - you can see 360 degree panoramic views over Edinburgh.

• From the top level of Camera Obscura - you can look over the rooftops of the Old Town and out across New Town to the water.

Climbing to the top of Arthurs Seat would have been a challenge with kids but would have provided epic views! On a clear day in Edinburgh, we could see all the way across the Firth of Fourth to Burntisland, where we were staying.

The view down the Royal Mile from the top level of Camera Obscura

Walking up the Mound towards the Royal Mile

North Bank St

Looking down the Royal Mile

Looking up the Royal Mile

On one of the evenings we were in Edinburgh, Braino took the girls to enjoy a ride at the Christmas markets while I signed up for a walking tour of the Royal Mile that focused on the history of witches in Edinburgh, prodominatly the witch trails of the 1500s - 1700s. I could spend many more evening taking the various spooky tours around the old town of Edinburgh. Most of which were based on dark historic facts rather than over the top scary experiences. (Although, there is the Edinburgh Dungeons if that is your thing) .

Old Town at Night

Old Town at Night

Old Town at Night

Old Town at Night

SCOTLAND - Burntisland, Our Neighbourhood in Scotland

This blog post is dedicated to the neighbourhood we called home in Scotland for the month of November - Burntisland (pronounced burnt - island). 

Burntisland is located in the are of Fife, directly opposite Edinburgh across the Firth of Forth ( A firth is a narrow area of sea between two areas of land in Scotland) 

Originally we planned to stay in a small apartment in the area of Musselbough, about 20 minutes by train East of Edinburgh, but in August the host cancelled our booking on AirBnB, saying that they were no longer renting the apartment as a short term rental. We were able to get a full refund but we had to look further field to find something in the same price range. There was no way our budget allowed for us to stay in Edinburgh for the whole month. 

But that was fine because Burntisland turned out to be a lovely little town; very quiet in the late autumn but it had everything we needed. We didn’t intended to hire a car while we were in Scotland, so being on a train line that went directly into Edinburgh was handy for day trips. And the town had a two convenience stores, a library, a playground, a little beach and a public pool and gym within walking distances. 

We stayed in a small two bedroom apartment on the top floor of a two story flat. Imagine a rectangular two story building with two apartments at the top and two apartments on the bottom, very basic, perhaps a council flat, the whole street was made up of flats like this, but they all had surprisingly big yards and the apartment it’s was cozy and comfortable.

We always intended November in Scotland to be a restful month, recovering from the busyness of the road trip though Europe, conserving the budget a little and preparing for December in Scandinavia. We planned to do the trip up to Loch Ness but we weren’t prioritising traveling around as much as we did in Ireland, although I’ve no doubt the scenery of the west coast of Scotland and outer Hebrides are well worth the trip Scotland has just as many castles as Ireland but to be honestly, I’ve never felt the same connection to Scotland as I do Ireland. I’d certainly come back to Scotland to see more but if it came down to a choice between Ireland or Scotland, I’d choose a trip to Ireland again in a heartbeat. 

We had plenty of days ‘at home’ were we followed a fairly consistent routine: schoolwork in the mornings, gym session for Braino, lunch then a walk to the playground and then I would do an extra long walk, I was aiming to do 10,000 steps each day. Braino and the girls would stop in at the shop or the library on their way home  from the playground. The sun set around 3:30pm - 4pm, Most of the photos in this post were taken on my walks, on the days were we had clear skies and lovely afternoon sunshine.

I would aim to be home by 4pm and we’d then play an hour or so of Monopoly. We bought an Edinburgh version of Monopoly at the start of the month and it was a brilliant decision. It was a great way for the girls to get familiar with the sites and landmarks of Edinburgh and it made our trips into Edinburgh even more interesting as we’d point out who owned which location in our Monopoly game. (Edinburgh Castle was the equivalent of Mayfair and the Scot Monument was the equivalent of Park Lane to give you an example) 

Monopoly is really good for basic mental maths equations so it’s a great learning tool, even Rooney did a great job at being the banker or one of the players. We continued the games across multiple days so there was enough time to accumulate a whole property sets and even put houses and hotels on them. This is when the game got the most exciting - Hallie was the ultimate winner of one round while Farley won the other round. 

It may sound a bit dull but having the time to play the Edinburgh version of Monopoly as a whole family most afternoons will always be one of the highlights of our time in Scotland. I just wish we took some photos of our Monopoly games.

Before I wrap this up, we were very surprised to realise how cheap is was to hire a car in Scotland, drastically cheaper than hire cars in Ireland. So we hired one for last few days of our time and did a few more day trips to Glasgow. We were flying out very early in the morning on our last day and we realised that hiring a car for a few days and returning it to the airport was cheaper and easy than trying to catch the train or call a taxi to get the airport. 

SCOTLAND - Best Museums and Art Gallery in Glasgow For Kids

Glasgow has an amazing variety of family friendly museums, we found enough to to do across two days of visiting. Glasgow is Scotland's largest city, and blends its industrial heritage as a powerhouse of shipbuilding and engineering with a vibrant art and music scene making it a modern cultural hub. 

Glasgow Science Centre

I’ve taken the girls to many science centres over the years but this one would have to be the best! Spanning four levels, we easily spent a full day exploring the Glasgow Science Centre, including a 3D IMAX movie about humpback whale migration on the East Australian Current and a science presentation called Our Amazing Air. There is an endless variety of hands on, interactive experiences where we were able to learn about the human body; physics, power, electricity and energy; perception and light and some fun memory and coordination games. Some of the illusions were similar to what we saw at Camera Obscura but overall, it is up there as one of the best Science Centres we have visited. Questacon in Canberra Australia would be one of the other amazing science museums. Osaka Kids Plaza in Japan was very similar too.

Riverside Museum (FREE) 

Riverside Museum is Glasgow's award-winning transport and technology museum. Inside the museum, visitors can explore a vast collection of exhibits and vehicles, including cars, bicycles, motorcycles, trams, buses, and even a steam locomotive. It may be the best museum of this kind that we’ve visited! Especially because it’s completely free! The Kyoto Rail Museum would be very close in comparison and the Ipswich Rail Museum back home in Brisbane is similar but the Riverside Museum has such a wide range of trains, buses and trams that you could go inside and explore. I really loved the recreated old street complete with a horse drawn hearse, creep! Outside is a tall ship that you can explore at an additional cost (we gave this a miss as it was getting late and dark ) 

The Gallery of Modern Art (FREE) 

The Gallery of Modern Art is located in the centre of the city and houses a wide range of contemporary artist from Scotland and around the world. We visited on a Saturday, with the intention of attended the free kids art studio on the top level. This particular morning, some wool, plastic kids sewing needles and cardboard was set up to inspire kids to make an abstract artwork with sewing techniques on cardboard. The girls loved it so much we ended buying some wool and plastic kids needle so they can continue their ideas at home. We spent some time afterwards exploring the galleries, where we found a lot of inspiring artworks. Farley is the big art lover and I think she prefers modern art to the renaissance artworks we saw in Florence and Paris. But in staying that I preferred the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art to the Tate Modern in London. It was smaller but the collections of artwork were more captivating. 

Kelvin Grove Art Gallery and Museum (FREE) 

The Kelvin Grove Museum is an electric mix of art and artefacts housed in a beautiful  red brick Baroque Building. It’s free to enter and appeared to have kids friends activities however we didn’t make it there to explore for ourselves. 

Flip Out Glasgow

We came out to Glasgow on a third day, specifically to go to FLIP OUT an indoor trampolining and adventure park. Whilst it’s not a museum, it was so much fun and definitely deserves a mention. We were there on a weekday so it was very quiet, the huge facilities were practically empty but I’ve no doubt they would be filled with kids on the weekends. We all enjoyed doing a number of laps in the mini go karts. Hallie is a natural at driving, she loves it and she figured out how to use the pedals and brake and steering wheel as soon as she jumped in. Rooney gave it a great shot, only getting stuck a few times and Farley overcame her nerves to at least give it a try, doing a few laps before opting out.

SCOTLAND - Best Museums of Edinburgh For Kids

Edinburgh and Glasgow have so many top quality, family friendly museums, many of which are free! We’ve had a wonderful time over the last month exploring both cities and have been really impressed by all the museums available. 

Below is a little recap of our visits to the museums in Edinburgh: 

Edinburgh Castle

While it is a historic site, a visit to Edinburgh Castle does include entry into the National War Museum that is housed inside the castle walls. The other highlight of our visit was seeing the Honours of Scotland - the priceless crown, sceptre and sword. We also enjoyed doing the kids activity sheet, where we had to find the answer to questions around the castle. It’s a really fun way to keep the kids engaged.

Camera Obscura and the World of Illusions

Camera Obscura is located next to Edinburgh Castle at the top of the Royal Mile and was one of our most favourite experience; we all had such a fun time. 

The Camera Obscura is on the top floor and uses daylight and reflections to project a live image internally onto a table within a dark chamber. The guide took us on a live tour, showing off some of the city’s best landmarks via the reflected image. The terrace on the top level also offers amazing views across to Princes Street and down the Royal Mile. 

The five floors below are filled with interactive illusions. Our favourite was the mirror maze and the spinning vortex tunnel. We all had so much fun, there is so many things to experiment with and optical illusions to marvel at. 

Our Dynamic Earth 

Located the end of the Royal Mile, next to the Scottish Parliament House, Our Dynamic Earth is a science centre specialising in geology and the physical evolution of planet Earth,.I took the girls here on the day that Braino went to see the Scotland vs Australia Rugby game. There is a planetarium dome with fascinating presentations and the other highlights for us were the earthquake simulation room and the real iceberg that you can touch and feel melting. 

The Museum of Childhood (FREE) 

This is a fun little museum that takes a look at childhood in Scotland throughout the last two centuries. It has a collection of (somewhat creep) dolls and toys from previous decades (it was a little strange to see toys that I played with as a kids in a museum) but there was enough interactive displays to keep the girls interested and engaged. For a free museums its very good for kids, we spent about an hour having a look around - it’s located on the Royal Mile. 

The National Museum of Scotland (FREE) 

This was another fanatic free museum that had some interesting displays for kids. We spent around an hour and a half inside and didn’t see everything, we could have spent much longer. The Natural World gallery with skeletons and stuffed animals is always a hit with the girls. And the World Cultures galleries have some fantasying displays about diverse people and cultures from around the world. I was sufficiently creeped out by Dolly the Sheep - the first ever cloned mammal.

Museum of Edinburgh 

Also located on the Royal Mile, the Museum of Edinburgh is another free museum. We didn’t make it into this one, but it does looks family friendly. 

More from Glasgow in the next blog post!

SCOTLAND - Monsters, Myths and Legends at Loch Ness

Our month in Scotland was always intended to be a quieter month.  staying in the one location, without a hire car, taking it easy and resting after a busy couple of months in Europe. But we couldn’t miss the chance to explore Loch Ness, considering how much the girls, Farley in particular, love myths, legends and mysterious creatures. 

In fact, when we were planning the overall trip, Farley asked if we could go to the Himalayas so she could search for a Yeti. I said ‘Best I can do is the Loch Ness Monster’. But hopefully one day we do go to Nepal or Bhutan, I would absolutely love to explore those areas too. 

We hired a car for few days and drove up into the highlands, basing ourselves out of Inverness for two nights. What made the trip extra special was the fact that it coincided with an unseasonal cold snap, meaning we are able the experience the Loch Ness as a winter wonderland, covered in fresh snow. Thankfully, we had already purchased some ski jackets and snowboos in preparation for December.

Here’s our two day Nessie Hunting itinerary. 

Day 1: 

We first visited The Loch Ness Centre in Drumnadrochit which tells the myths, legends and scientific exploration of the Loch Ness Monster through a series of really well made interactive videos and displays. The centre is housed in the original Drumnadrochit Hotel, which became the epicentre of monster sightings in the 1930s. 

About 200m down the road is Nessieland, another tourist attraction dedicated to The Loch Ness monster. It was closed for the winter, so didn’t visit but it does appear to have more of a kitschy collection of information and models of Nessie. Probably a lot of fun for kids, if a little worn out looking. 

We then went to the ruins Urquhart Castle which only a short drive from Drumnadrochit. Located by Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle is an impressive ruin that reflects Scotland's rich history. Its views of the loch and surrounding landscape provide a fascinating look into the Highlands' past and is the perfect vantage point for a bit of Nessie spotting. It would have to be one of my favourite castle ruins, based on the location a lone, maybe coming in a close second to Dunluce Castle in Northern Ireland. 

We had amazing weather on the first day, with a little bit of frost in the morning but beautiful clear skies throughout the day. But on the second day, the weather was extreme, we woke up to fresh snow! 

The Loch Ness Centre

Statues of Nessie in front of Nessieland

Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle

Day 2: 

We started by visiting Dores Beach on the northern end of Loch Ness. Farley said she’d really like to spend more time on the edge of the Loch, so I found out that Dores Beach was the best place to stroll along the shoreline. When we got down to the beach we realised we had stumbled across the home of Steve Feltham, Independent Nessie Hunter who has lived in his van on the edge of Loch Ness since, 1991, on a mission to capture evidence of the Loch Ness monster. He appeared in one of the videos we watched at The Loch Ness Centre and we recognised his van. We didn’t meet him though, he was probably rugged up inside his van, but you can read more about him here. The wind and temperature on the beach was extremely cold so we didn’t hang around long, but it was a great view. 

We then headed to the Clansman Hotel Harbour for a boat cruise with the company Loch Ness by Jacobite. But just before we boarded the boat it started snowing! The dark clouds blew in from over the mountains and snow started falling. The girls absolutely loved running around in the snow. The cruise had hot beverages on board and a really informative audio guide throughout the duration of the cruise. Initially, visibility was very low but by the time we reached Urquhart Castle, the skies had cleared. It was amazing to see the castle from the water, covered in a blanket of snow and closed to visitors. 

Dores Beach

Dores Beach - the NessieHunter HQ

Loch Ness from Dores Beach

Snow at Clansman Harbour

The unexpected snow

The statue of Nessie at the Clansman Hotel with fresh snow

Unfortunately, we can’t report any sightings of the Loch Ness Monster. But the waters of the Loch definitely have a mysterious feel to it, you do get the sense that anything could be lurking below. It’s great that the whole area has embraced the legend and keeps the magic alive.

If we had a little more time, I would have done the complete drive around the Loch, all the way down to Fort Augustus and then back up on the southern side. However, with the snowy conditions and the limited winter daylight hours, we decided to depart for home early enough so we weren’t driving the dark.

Our adventure to Loch Ness is one of my favourite mini trips we have done within this trip. Knowing how much Farley has been looking forward to investigating Loch Ness herself, it will always be a cherish family memory,