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| Christmas decorations in Edinburgh |
This is my fourth and final recap from our November Scotland holiday (previous posts covered
south-west Scotland,
Glasgow, and the
Scottish Highlands). Edinburgh was our last overnight stop, but we drove to it via a large loop from the Highlands across to Aberdeen and down the east coast. This is far from the most direct route, but I was keen to see Aberdeen as my family nearly moved there when I was 8. My father's company wanted to relocate him (and thus us) to the area, and it took some negotiation to avoid the move. As a result, I've always been curious about Aberdeen and the possible parallel life I could have lived there.
Suffice to say, Aberdeen was not the highlight of our time in Scotland. Until we got there, I'd been increasingly convinced we should have moved when I was 8. Aberdeen, however, is rather different to the rest of Scotland. The sprawling outer suburbs held little appeal, and the city centre was as grey as its reputation (Aberdeen is often know as the granite city due to the use of granite in most of the central buildings). The city council building, pictured below, was impressive but I didn't find much else to warm to.
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| Aberdeen's most attractive (grey) building |
I was still glad to see Aberdeen and lay my could-have-been parallel life to rest. Driving down the east coast also allowed us to stop at
Dunnottar Castle, an impressive semi-ruined castle perched right on the coast.
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| Dunnottar Castle |
