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10
years ago, I have been travelling across Ireland
and always heard from friends that Scotland was
even more beautiful...
I
am happy to share the pics of this Scotland trip
done in September 2003.
Arriving
in Edinburgh city, I rent a car and drove roughly
1700 km around Scotland mostly to the north-western
part of this land. Scotland is today still much
influenced by a strong scottish identity / nationalism,
by opposition to the british sovereignity over the
United Kingdom. |
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HISTORY : In the 5th century Celtic immigrants from Ireland,
called Scots, settled north of the Clyde. The Scots
were already Christians when they left Ireland.
In the next century St. Columba converted the king
of the "Picts", early local tribes to
Christianity. In the 9th century Kenneth MacAlpine,
king of the Scots, added the Pictish kingdom to
his own. In about the 10th century the land came
to be known as Scotland... The full History of Scotland
linked here. |
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Wavy
valleys shot 10 minutes before landing to Edinburgh airport.
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A
typical countryside village standing next to a lake, 200 km
north of Edinburgh.
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I
did not see too many of these cute flowered houses but this
one is quite typical... like it's coming reality out of a cartoon...
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Typical
Scotish architecture and mansions/hotel style.
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This
typical scottish landscape is found in most places in East-Southern
Scotland.
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and then becomes more and more shapy when heading north-west
of Scotland...
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till reaching the Highlands (very west-northern part of Scotland).
Wonderful landscapes !
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Pedestrial
street of a very nice village called "Fort William".
Very typical/traditional.
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...
not forgetting to mention that Scotland is the home of some world's
finest Malt Whiskies...
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In
Scotland, there are a lot of old castles and many of them
stand next to a Loch (= Lake, in Scottish dialect). The
one diaplayed above is the Urquart
Castle. (know more)
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The
Loch on which stands this castle is the most famous Loch
Ness (another view hereabove), known for its legend
about a sort of monster called Nessie who is said to having
been seen in the the 1930's and 1950's living in the lake.
(know more about the whole Nessie legend on the official web site)
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Foggy
morning view from a forest path along the Loch Ness.
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...
as several asian friends feel amazed about the fact that
Scottish men wear the traditional kilt, you have now a nice
sample pic of a traditionally dressed Scottish man playing
this typical celtic instrument called bagpipe (know more).
You
may also like listen or download several Bagpipes sound
samples. (Real Audio / Wav. / MP3 formats) |
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The
magnificient Eilean Donan Castle, considered one of the
most beautiful in Scotland. (official web
site) |
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