Scottish Highlands & Islands

Edinburgh, (èd´n-bûr´e) capital city (1991 pop. 421,213) of Scotland and royal burgh. The city is divided into two sections: the Old Town, on the slope of Castle Rock, dates from the 11th century; the New Town spread to the north in the late 18th cent. Edinburgh is a government, finance, and tourist center. Most industry, which includes brewing and distilling, publishing, and paper milling, is situated near the city’s port, Leith. Edinburgh grew up around its 11th-century castle and became Scotland’s capital in 1437. It blossomed as a cultural center in the 18th and 19th century, with such figures as David Hume, Robert Burns, and Sir Walter Scott. It remains a cultural and educational hub and hosts an annual international arts festival.

“Glasgow town never brought me down,” Paul McCartney sang in 1973, and Greenock, gateway to the dynamic city of Glasgow, Scotland, is sure to please you too as a jumping off point for some terrific exploration of the land of the Scotch. If you like castles and lochs (personally, we prefer bagels and lochs), you’ll love this fairy-tale kingdom.

More ancient and considerably larger than Scotland’s capital of Edinburgh, Glasgow is a multilayered and rich historical experience, easily accessible to visitors. Statue-filled George’s Square, red-brick People’s Palace, and other main buildings like the central railway station north of the river Clyde, are the obvious places to start. The ancient mass of Glasgow Cathedral sits at the city’s heart; around it, the wide streets of Buchanan Street, Argyle Street, and Sauchiehall Street have all been pedestrianized and must be savored on foot.

Known as the “West End,” the westernmost half of the city boasts the refined, handsome proportions and prosperous townhouses of the island’s finest Victorian city, along with the old and new buildings of Glasgow University. Public parks and gardens help to dignify the southern outskirts. Finally, you’ll find their tourist information office about the most helpful on the island!

The Loch Ness Monster is only one of many fairy tales you’ll be enchanted by after visiting this storybook corner of Scotland. From the castle near Inverness where Macbeth reputedly murdered King Duncan to the mesmerizing beauty of the Scottish highlands, you’ll see why so many people for so many centuries have gone out of their way to come here.