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!
Directly across the street stands a granite building where a statue of Ceres sits above the front door.
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.
I took one last shot after we exited the building.
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.
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
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?
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.
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