An Enjoyable Day in Aberdeen

We awoke to a beautiful morning and made our way into Aberdeen to attend 8:00 Mass at St. Mary's Cathedral.  The weather was crisp and not too cold.  Just perfect for an early morning walk!

Then, we headed back to the hotel for breakfast, before retracing our steps to Union Street for a tour of the city of Aberdeen.  

Here is a photo of our hotel.  Our room is the upper right room in the turret, just above the bar, which actually quieted down relatively early last night.  We both had a great night's sleep!

Today, we decided to take the Granite Tour, which described many of the features of buildings in the city.

Before I begin, let me just say that you can pretty much take it for granted that nearly all buildings in Aberdeen are made of Granite.   I took this photo of some row houses on our way back from church.  

Houses pretty much look the same, with a little variance here and there.  But the tall buildings in the city, although all are made from Granite,  have different styles, adding to the interest of the walk.

Walking along Union Street, I captured these photos:

Towards the end of Union St. stands an area known as Castlegate.  Here you see a statue dedicated to the Gordan Highlanders, one of the regiments that fought in the Battle of Waterloo.

Marty figured this was the perfect opportunity for a "selfie".

In the center of Castlegate stands a Mercat Cross with the Unicorn sitting on top.

You can see carved medallions that represent likenesses of Stuarts around the Cross. 

Here's a closer look at Mary, Queen of Scots' Medallion.

 Directly across the street stands a granite building where a statue of Ceres sits above the front door.

A few blocks away, we spotted this statue of Robert the Bruce.

It stands in the plaza of Marischal College.  This building is the second largest granite building in the world.  It was difficult to actually capture an image of the entire building.

Note the beautiful and intricate detail at the top of part of the building.

We walked across a bridge that was decorated with black lion statues.  I managed to capture this picture which looks as if the lion is wearing a crown.  But, that is actually a tower on a building in the background.

As you can see,  the weather was just gorgeous today, and we took complete advantage of that opportunity. 

This is a statue of Robert Burns.

And one of William Wallace

 From here, we decided to walk to Old Aberdeen, which is well over a mile north of Union Street.

It was obvious when we entered the old city, as the roads changed to cobblestone, and the streets were relatively quiet with little road traffic.

The Old City is home to King's College, and on the outskirts stands a gate with columns topped by minarets. 

They are topped by a crescent, which is the Fraser family emblem who owned this estate.

This townhouse belonged to the McLean family and was built in 1771.

Walking along, we came to the mercat cross which was built around 1540.  Unfortunately, the unicorn is missing from the column. The townhouse behind the cross was built in 1788.

At the end of the street stands the church, St. Machar's cathedral.  Parts of this church were constructed as early as 1282.  The ancient site was founded around 580 by St. Machar who had been a companion of St. Columba.  When we first came to Scotland, I had never heard of St. Columba, but I have seen his influence in many cities since that time.  This was just one more to add to the list. 

We were able to tour the inside as it was open to the public. 

As you can see, the East windows were stunning.

It's hard to believe, but this ceiling is 500 years old!  Made of wood, it is adorned with  Royal crests lined up in 3 rows.

Pretty amazing, don't you think?

I took one last shot after we exited the building.

As we walked back into the new town,  it was obvious that there was no lack of interesting sights to see.  Some with no explanation.

We had come full circle, back to the castlegate are where our tour had begun.

By this time, I was ready to sit down and enjoy some dinner.  I had looked into the various restaurants in Aberdeen, and Marty and I decided to try a place called Bigos, which features Polish Cuisine.

I had made online reservations for 5:30, but we decided to just walk inside at 4:15, since the place was open.  

We were greeted by the owner, who was also the host, the waiter, and the server.  He was Polish, and the entrepreneur behind the restaurant.

He offered us a seat and I ordered the Bigos cocktail, which was fabulous.

He then showed us the menus, took our order, then directed us to our table which was located right next to the window that offered a lovely view of the park.

Marty ordered the Bigos special, which, as you can see, was HUGE.

I had chosen the dumplings, which I know as pirohy, but which are commonly referred to as Pierogie.

The presentation was lovely, and they were delicious!

It was then time for dessert, and the owner asked me if I wanted to see a dessert menu, or if I trusted his judgement.  I told him that I trusted him implicitly.  

Imagine my surprise when he presented this creation to me.

That is a crepe (known as a polychinki to me) filled with sweet cheese curd, served with some sort of creamy concoction that was out of this world!

It was the perfect ending to an equally perfect day.

I'll just have to see if I can match this kind of excitement tomorrow!

I'll keep you posted. 

Montrose to Aberdeen

Once again, I couldn't help but admire the beautiful sky when I awoke early this morning.

I took one last shot to remember the place by,  prior to heading out on our way to Montrose.

This village lies along the coast on the drive from Dundee to Aberdeen.  The House of Dun is located just a little west of Montrose, and it was on my list of "must see" sites.  But it did not open until noon, so we decided to visit the Montrose Museum prior to our visit there.  

This unique museum was actually established in 1841 and is one of the first purpose built museums in Scotland, built in neoclassical design.

Entrance was free, and we were greeted by two young ladies, who gave us a bit of instruction regarding the exhibits.

The museum is rather small in comparison with others that I've toured, but it held a remarkable amount of interesting information.  The cases held items ranging from prehistoric findings  of utensils and tools found nearby, to a death mask and hat belonging to Napoleon, as well as his physician's accounting of his last days.  I never realized that Napoleon died from complications of hepatitis, until I read it in the doctor's notes today.

Upon entering this museum, a Pictish stone stands near the door.

This area is known for its strong Pictish ties as there are many museums and churches holding similar items.  The above carving is described as a celtic cross flanked by 4 panels. The top two holding interwoven beasts, while the bottom shows a beast devouring another in the lower left corner and the right shows Delilah cutting Samson's hair.

The back shows a hunter on horseback, armed with a spear, hunting a deer, with a hound by his side.

The bottom of the caring shows Sampson striking a Philistine.    It is believed that the figure in the right corner may be a pregnant woman.

Now, I don't know about you, but sometimes I wonder just how they can come up with some of these explanations.  How do they know it was Samson?  And, actually, I had a difficult time making out Delilah in the top photo.

So, I could really appreciate this clever recounting of the same stone, this time painted in bright colors to help the figures come to life.

Delilah still looks a bit scary, but more real than the stone carving.  Similarly, the opposite side's interpretation is much clearer with the colorful paints to enhance it.

This was merely a project that was done in order to make the stones a bit easier to understand.  What a clever idea!

Among the items in the Museum collection was the Montrose Door., which reflects an outstanding example of 16th century woodcarving. 

The door was found in 1878 as an attic wall partition in a building on High Street.  It is believed to come from the Old Kirk as part of the Paniter family pew.  

Upstairs in the museum, there was a natural history section devoted to Scottish wildlife.  I decided to take a picture of a puffin, since it will most likely be the only one that I actually see here. 

He kind of looks like he is smiling at me, don't you think?

After we finished in the museum, Marty and I decided to take a quick walk around the town of Montrose.

This is the library.

Kirk

On High street, stands a statue of James Graham, Marquess of Monstrose.  He is considered to be one of the most romantic figures in British History, so it only seems appropriate that Marty should get his picture taken next to him.

Unfortunately, the Marquess suffered an early demise, when he was drawn and quartered for exhibiting Highlands sympathy and supporting Charles II.  But he is continues to be revered as a hero in the Highlands.

Moving on, we headed west to the House of Dun, which is located on the Montrose tidal basin.

The house belonged to the Erskine family and was purchased by the National Trust of Scotland in 1984.

Here you see Marty standing near the archway to the side garden.

We were delighted to find that our tour guide for the house was the same woman who gave us an extremely detailed explanation of Barry Mill on Thursday.  In fact she went way past closing time that day, intent on us not missing one important detail.

And, today was not much different, as we found ourselves alone with her once again, and she spent considerable time going through room after room with us. It became obvious that she was lagging when we had to scoot up the stairs and through a door as the next tour entered the house.

The history was fascinating, and one feature that stood out in the house was that everything was set up to be symmetrical, even to the extent of putting in a fake door, just so that it would compliment the opposite wall.

The house was designed by William Adam, and the rooms were adorned with 3-D plaster motifs, all symmetrical, and absolutely outstanding.  I did not take any photos since we were on this personal tour,  but one of the large posters in the tea room featured one of the motifs, and I took a photo of that so that you could get an idea of the magnificence of this place. 

The house contained numerous family paintings, and this poster is a duplicate of Lady Erskine with her three children just after the death of her husband.

One of the unusual items on display was a set of gold-capped horse hooves.  These hooves belonged to Timekeeper, the horse who belonged to William Henry Kennedy-Erskine, 18th Laird.   He had been in the Charge of the Light Brigade during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War.  Both the beloved horse and owner survived the battle, and Timekeeper is buried on the grounds of the estate (minus two hooves, obviously!). 

Here is a copy of the original painting that hangs in the house.

When the tour was complete, we spent some time exploring the gardens and walking paths nearby.  But first, we needed a selfie in front of the house.

Here are some shots of the grounds around the House of Dun.

Notice the apples growing on the vines along the wall.

There were pears as well.

We decided to walk one of the many trails around the house, and ventured out to a spot that featured a view of Montrose.

Zooming in shows even more detail.  

Walking back, we could see the beauty of the house in the distance.

We finally made our way to the walled garden on the estate.  I spotted these beautiful Thistle plants.  The Thistle is considered the historical Symbol of Scotland.  I had never realized how large one of these thistle heads actually is until I found them today.

In the corner of the walled garden, just outside, stands an ancient Kirk. It is believed that the original tower house for the Erskine family existed somewhere nearby.

At this point, we headed back to the car park, and decided to see if we could visit Drum Castle prior to its closing.  Unfortunately, we missed the last admission by 5 minutes, but we were able to walk around the grounds and tour the famous gardens on the estate. 

This section was part of the 17th century garden, and definitely my favorite.

I loved the round fountain

as well as the colorful flowers.

I was surprised to see lettuce used decoratively around the pond.

Shucks, I had similar lettuce plants that I just pulled out last week!  Who knew that I could have used them to enhance my gardens?

As you can see, the gardens were, indeed, quite lovely, even this late in the season.

This hedge had to make me laugh.  I do believe that is a rabbit carved out of the boxwood.

There were 4 similar boxwood carvings, probably designed to taunt the rabbits, as every gate was marked as "rabbit control" with a sign stating to be sure to keep the gate shut!

Just prior to leaving, I spotted a small kirk on the property and quickly peeked through the door. 

The inside was beautiful!

As we were walking along, I spotted the 11th Lord of Forbes.

He looks familiar, don't you think?

At this point, the place was closing, so we once again hopped in the car and drove to Aberdeen, where we are staying at the Ferryhill Hotel.  Our room is quite lovely, but a wee bit noisy, as we are located directly above the bar.

Here's hoping we get some sleep!

Until tomorrow.....