Of Lochs and Highlands

During our second week in Alford, one day we took a miniature train to a nearby park. There was a great playground and camping area there. We walked back on foot. At the very end, we passed a nice little ice cream shop, and the seller thought Gina was so cute that she gave her a free dog ice cream!

On a subsequent day, we took a walk at Muir of Dinnet, a national park with its own lake. The landscape was beautiful!

My biggest highlight of our stay in Alford was the trip to Aberdeen, the third largest city in Scotland! First, we explored the city on foot and did some shopping. Later, we took a sightseeing tour around the city on a hop-on hop-off bus. We received headphones, and a female voice shared interesting facts about various buildings, sculptures, and streets. After the tour, we had something to eat at Brew Dog, a well-known beer manufacturer that is also a restaurant chain in the UK. Overall, it was a cool experience, and the city is beautiful. It is also known as the Silver City because the buildings are made of a special granite that gives them a light gray and silvery appearance.

On Thursday, we went to eat at a pub. That evening, coincidentally, there was a pub quiz. We participated and came in second place, even though the quiz master did his best Scottish accent. It was entertaining and fun!

The next day, we left Alford and set off towards Elgin, a small town on the coast that we particularly wanted to visit.

On the way, we stopped at the Loanhead of Daviot stone circle in Inverurie, which is well-preserved and quite large, which impressed us quite a bit.

In Elgin, we admired the huge church ruin surrounded by many gravestones. The church was beautiful, and the overall appearance of the place was quite dramatic. Unfortunately, we could not enter anymore as it had already closed, but we explored the town of Elgin instead. We had lunch at a great pizzeria. It was unbelievably delicious! Afterwards, we went to our hotel and checked into our two rooms.

The next morning, on our way to Fort Augustus, we visited the Culloden Visitor Center. There is a large moor where on April 16, 1746, the Jacobites lost against the English in the