I hope you are not bored yet with our travel story. It was quite a trip full of lovely places and I hope you are still enjoying this little journal of our adventures... When our plane landed in Edinburgh I was a bit scared that our 5 days there will be miserable, because it was cold and raining cats and dogs and the forecast was calling for similar weather for almost the entire week.. Alas, we have been so very lucky during the entire trip and did not get soaked even once, thought it was raining on occasion when we were driving.. Now, driving over there... that's a whole separate adventure in itself, if you are used to the right side of the road... Needless to say, I was being a chicken and did not drive at all, thus Mac had to do all the honours... And for the first couple of days I was terrified that we'd end up loosing the side mirror on the passenger side - there is almost no shoulder on the rural road, just stone walls that are about 20cm away from the very narrow road... And some people like to drive in the middle of such a road disregarding a bit their lane.. Well... We have survived thanks to Mac being a wonderful driver and a very quick learner ;D.. But enough of that! Lets move to our first day.. The haunted Castle Manzies.. Now, there is a bit of a story with that one. We have visited it in the middle of the day, though it was dark rather due to the low hanging clouds and it was the oldest building to which my kids have ever ventured (I'm not counting the Spanish castles because they were not looking very lived in, if you know what I mean) and my husband was teasing them that it was a haunted castle... My youngest got pretty scared and did not leave my side for the entire visit.. Even my older son was a bit uneasy, though not even remotely to the extend my younger was.. After the end of our visit I've chatted with the lady that looks after the property with her husband and she said that my son was the third kid that week to behave in a strange way and that one of the really young ones apparently had had a full conversation with a lady on the stairs who was not visible to any adult... Apparently the caretaker husband, cleaning part of the castle just a few days before has heard a woman's voice singing a lullaby and the place was empty... There you have it - the ghost story.. After all you can't visit Europe and not brash on those ;D
Everything is so green there!! It was quite a change from dry Spain! Not only in terms of the greenery but the sky, was covered in heavy layer of clouds making things look more sinister..
Our short tour inside the castle started on the main floor, built in 16th century, that housed kitchens and generally servant related part of the building..
I was really impressed with the size of the fireplace, where all the castle cooking was done. It was as tall as I am! The top floors were remodelled in 19th century:
There is a bit of history related to the 1745 Stuart rising and the memorabilia are displayed in one of the larger chambers:
While we continued our tour, the sky was remaining grey and heavy..
Our tour ended in the attic where, even Mac was feeling uneasy.. I guess they must have felt the ghosts of the past.. As it happens I have managed to catch my own ghosts.. A bit more modern ones but hey! You can't have everything ;)
See you next time!!
Kasia