Time to catch you up on our Scottish travels. We've completed the last part of our 12 day bus tour of the highlands and are now back in Edinburgh.

We toured the famous castle of Eilean Donan, used in the film "Highlander ." Eilean Donan was set at the junction of 3 lochs as protection against Viking raiders. Built in the 1300's, Eilean Donan was a ruin when Lieutenant Colonel John MacRae-Gilstrap purchased it in 1911 with his wife's inheritance and restored it to its former glory. The MacRae family still live in a spacious apartment in the castle and have opened the public areas for tours. It's a beautiful example of an old castle restored with a great infusion of money.

We then traveled east taking in the stunning views over Loch Duich and the 5 Sisters of Kintail, an impressive mountain range stopping at Loch Ness for lunch, but no views of "Nessie." A long day of driving followed the Great Glen as we headed to Inverness and from there to our destination, the island of Orkney.
 
We took another ferry crossing the Pentland Firth into the Orkney Archipelago. From there it was a short drive to the famous Italian Chapel where we stopped for a visit before continuing to the Viking stronghold of Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney, where we spent 2 nights . We visited Kirkwall's magnificent Viking Cathedral but the cairns and neolithic ruins of the Orkney's predates the Vikings by thousands of years.

 Orkney is a very different landscape from the highland mountains and glens. There are very few trees on Orkney and the wind blows constantly. The wide fields are good for farming and grazing, but that's the only industry other than tourism here. Orkney's claim to fame are their neolithic archaeological sites, some uncovered and visible, others still in the excavation stages. We visited the 5000 year old village of Skara Brae (older than the Pyramids of Egypt!), the mystical prehistoric stone circle at Brodgar and the Druidic standing stones of Stenness. We walked into Mae showe, an ancient burial cairn, where in the 12th century the Vikings left one of the largest collections of Norse runic inscriptions. Finally, we visited an archaeological site currently under excavation that will predate Skara Brae. The evidence of ancient civilizations on Orkney is truly incredible and even more is waiting to be uncovered .The last two days of our tour were intensive bus-riding to get back to Edinburgh. However, we did stop for a visit to Culloden Moor, the site of The Battle of Culloden in 1746, one of the bloodiest events in British history and the last battle to have been fought on the British mainland. We walked the path all around the moor, viewed the clan gravesites and reflected on the centuries old Scottish struggle for independence. We're happy now to be in Edinburgh in our apartment and not riding in a bus each day! The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is underway and with over 50,000 acts in the month of August, we have all the entertainment we can handle. We went to the fantastic Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo last week and enjoyed the marching and military bands, the drums and bagpipes and highland dancing. Both of us have had colds this week, but we're recovering and ready to go out and see all that the Fringe has to offer. Enjoy the pics!