So I was going to wait until I’d finished Scotland to post again, but I am stuck on a bus with something like ten Mexican travelers talking so loudly I expect I could hear them all the way in England. This means I have no chance of sinking far enough into a book to read without getting sick, nor of sleeping, nor of doing anything that requires an actual thought process. As such, here I am, ready to dump a list of what I’ve been up to these past two days.
Last we parted ways, I was on the road to Glasgow where the lovely Katy picked me up from the bus station and escorted me my hostel. It wasn’t quite the kind of hostel to which I was used: a big house where none of the guests seemed to talk to each other. It was nice though. Fancy almost. And it was the only place I could get because BBC’s Radio 1 was hosting a music festival in Glasgow with headliners like Katy Perry and One Direction, meaning literally everywhere else was booked solid. I couldn’t even get a bed at the weird stepford hostel for Saturday night, but that was okay, because out back up plan was even better. More on that later.
Anyway, once I was all checked in, Katy took me up to her village for dinner and a drink at the new fancy bar in town - mostly because it wouldn’t be overflowing with drunk and disorderlies I think. I got to meet one of her bartender friends, as well as her dog Benson, who I am absolutely in love with. He’s a bit of a dope, but I swear I have never met a sweeter dog in my life.
After an uneventful night in the hostel, Katy also picked me up the next day to set out exploring Glasgow. My must see was St. Mungo’s Cathedral and necropolis. Little known Harry Potter fact: St. Mungo of St. Mungo’s Hospital is the patron saint of healing as well as Glasgow. He has a cathedral, museum, and yes, hospital in the city, so naturally I had to see. The Cathedral was lovely, and perhaps the friendliest volunteer I have ever met at a tourist sight greeted us as we came in and proceeded to explain more about the history and stories of Glasgow Cathedral than I ever could have expected. Over the course of the rest of my visit, Katy and I would routinely turn to each other and remark how much we had liked him. Kind old men who are super into history are the best.
Following the Cathedral, we hiked up the great hill behind it to wander through the gravestones of the necropolis. For those of you who don’t know, I’ve always found graveyards rather pleasant and calming, and one containing a bunch of spectacular Victorian monuments and mausoleums with a view of the city was no exception.
Just those two sights actually took a good deal of time. (Probably because we kept getting lost in conversation and taking wrong turns, but who’s complaining?) Katy had suggested a pretty spectacular art museum, but it was a bit of a ways away and we weren’t sure we’d have enough time to get there, see it, and get back in time to make our evening bus, so instead we went to St. Enoch’s Square for a cup of coffee at a chain cafe in a classic old clocktower-esque building. All of this before heading to the bus statoin to catch the service to…
*drum roll*
St. Andrews!
This was our solution to my inability to find a place to stay in Glasgow Saturday night. Don’t stay in Glasgow! St. Andrews is one of Katy’s favorite places in the world, and for those of you who aren’t familar with it, well worth the visit. In addition to being a beautiful little coastal town on the North Sea, it is also famous as the ancient seat of Christiatinty in Scotland, the birthplace of golf, and the home of St. Andrews University where William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambrdige, met. We got in late Saturday evening, checked into a hostel, and went for Indian food, because that’s what one eats in Scotland. We also stopped by the beach, just so I could see the sea, before heading back to the hostel and calling it an early night.
When we woke up, we struck out to see the sights properly. The first stop was St. Andrews Cathedral, the oldest and grandest cathedral in Europe at the time of its construction. Following the reformation, it was ransacked and left to ruin, but the massive remnants interspersed throughout what has become a graveyard were absolutely stunning, and full of fascinatin history to book. We ever got to climb a St. Regulus/Rule’s Tower!
After the Cathedral came the castle, and we all know how much I love castles. St. Andrews Castle is also a ruin, but the entrance includes a museum that gives a detailed history of St. Andrews and its importance in the Reformation. Cardinal Beaton, who ruled from the castle in 1546, executed Protestant preacher George Wishart in front of the castle, so a bunch of Wishart’s friends raided the castle and killed the Cardinal in retaliation, taking over and successfully defending the castle against the Scottish Regent’s forces by building a counter mine to defend against their attempt to tunnel into the castle. The Protestants were eventually defeated and taken prisoner by French reinforcements the following year, but it was still their leader, John Knox, who eventually returned to bring the reformation to St. Andrews for good.
We were on our way to ice cream after the castle when we came across a sign we’d seen the night before for a St. Andrews Ghost Tour leaving in five minutes, and seeing as Katy and I are both a bit into stories and the like, we decided we couldn’t pass it up. A local writer showed up to walk us around town pointing out haunted buildings and telling us stories of ghosts and ruins. I don’t think either of us bought many of the supernatural reports, but the stories themselves were fascinating, and there was a lot of good history in them too. For instance, the oldest currently inhabited building in St. Andrews is the old Knights Templar building where Mary Queen of Scots used to play archery. Also, the bones that sometimes wash up on the shores are not those of witches thrown into the sea hundreds of years ago as rumor would have you believe, but rather the bones of plague victims whose graves in the cliffs are being slowly eroded by the waves.
The tour ended just outside a well known fish and chips restaurant, so we ate there, went for that ice cream we’d been wanting, and headed back to the bus station. Katy got her bus back to Glasgow, I mine on to Edinburgh, and so here we are with another post! Many thanks to Katy for her warm hospitality and unparalleled city guiding skills. For those of you at all familiar with my college friends, I will be meeting up with Laura next - my one time roommate from the Arabic House. She has spent the past year working on her Master’s at the University of Edinburgh, and honestly I can’t wait to see her again. We’ve just passed the picturesque Fife Railway Bridge (at sunset, and me without my camera at the ready), so we should be to Edinburgh shortly. I will try to be in touch soon!
Anyway, once I was all checked in, Katy took me up to her village for dinner and a drink at the new fancy bar in town - mostly because it wouldn’t be overflowing with drunk and disorderlies I think. I got to meet one of her bartender friends, as well as her dog Benson, who I am absolutely in love with. He’s a bit of a dope, but I swear I have never met a sweeter dog in my life.
After an uneventful night in the hostel, Katy also picked me up the next day to set out exploring Glasgow. My must see was St. Mungo’s Cathedral and necropolis. Little known Harry Potter fact: St. Mungo of St. Mungo’s Hospital is the patron saint of healing as well as Glasgow. He has a cathedral, museum, and yes, hospital in the city, so naturally I had to see. The Cathedral was lovely, and perhaps the friendliest volunteer I have ever met at a tourist sight greeted us as we came in and proceeded to explain more about the history and stories of Glasgow Cathedral than I ever could have expected. Over the course of the rest of my visit, Katy and I would routinely turn to each other and remark how much we had liked him. Kind old men who are super into history are the best.
*drum roll*
St. Andrews!
This was our solution to my inability to find a place to stay in Glasgow Saturday night. Don’t stay in Glasgow! St. Andrews is one of Katy’s favorite places in the world, and for those of you who aren’t familar with it, well worth the visit. In addition to being a beautiful little coastal town on the North Sea, it is also famous as the ancient seat of Christiatinty in Scotland, the birthplace of golf, and the home of St. Andrews University where William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambrdige, met. We got in late Saturday evening, checked into a hostel, and went for Indian food, because that’s what one eats in Scotland. We also stopped by the beach, just so I could see the sea, before heading back to the hostel and calling it an early night.
When we woke up, we struck out to see the sights properly. The first stop was St. Andrews Cathedral, the oldest and grandest cathedral in Europe at the time of its construction. Following the reformation, it was ransacked and left to ruin, but the massive remnants interspersed throughout what has become a graveyard were absolutely stunning, and full of fascinatin history to book. We ever got to climb a St. Regulus/Rule’s Tower!
After the Cathedral came the castle, and we all know how much I love castles. St. Andrews Castle is also a ruin, but the entrance includes a museum that gives a detailed history of St. Andrews and its importance in the Reformation. Cardinal Beaton, who ruled from the castle in 1546, executed Protestant preacher George Wishart in front of the castle, so a bunch of Wishart’s friends raided the castle and killed the Cardinal in retaliation, taking over and successfully defending the castle against the Scottish Regent’s forces by building a counter mine to defend against their attempt to tunnel into the castle. The Protestants were eventually defeated and taken prisoner by French reinforcements the following year, but it was still their leader, John Knox, who eventually returned to bring the reformation to St. Andrews for good.
We were on our way to ice cream after the castle when we came across a sign we’d seen the night before for a St. Andrews Ghost Tour leaving in five minutes, and seeing as Katy and I are both a bit into stories and the like, we decided we couldn’t pass it up. A local writer showed up to walk us around town pointing out haunted buildings and telling us stories of ghosts and ruins. I don’t think either of us bought many of the supernatural reports, but the stories themselves were fascinating, and there was a lot of good history in them too. For instance, the oldest currently inhabited building in St. Andrews is the old Knights Templar building where Mary Queen of Scots used to play archery. Also, the bones that sometimes wash up on the shores are not those of witches thrown into the sea hundreds of years ago as rumor would have you believe, but rather the bones of plague victims whose graves in the cliffs are being slowly eroded by the waves.
The tour ended just outside a well known fish and chips restaurant, so we ate there, went for that ice cream we’d been wanting, and headed back to the bus station. Katy got her bus back to Glasgow, I mine on to Edinburgh, and so here we are with another post! Many thanks to Katy for her warm hospitality and unparalleled city guiding skills. For those of you at all familiar with my college friends, I will be meeting up with Laura next - my one time roommate from the Arabic House. She has spent the past year working on her Master’s at the University of Edinburgh, and honestly I can’t wait to see her again. We’ve just passed the picturesque Fife Railway Bridge (at sunset, and me without my camera at the ready), so we should be to Edinburgh shortly. I will try to be in touch soon!
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