From Castles and Stone Circles

From August fifth to eighth, we were in Dollar. During these three days, we never cooked at home, as we had a gas stove that was very difficult to use. On the first day, we had lunch at a small café in the village. We ordered black tea, Mama and Ida had paninis, Papa had a jacket potato, and I had a bagel with cheese and pineapple. In the end, we took four scones with us to try at home.

On the second day, we ate out again at a pub. Overall, we are very enthusiastic about the food in Scotland, as it has much healthier options for vegetarians, compared to Denmark, where we mostly only had a Margherita pizza.

The next day, we had to leave again, but before that, we visited the castle in Dollar, known as Castle Campbell. The Campbell family used to live there, but now it is mostly in ruins. However, the tower is still intact, offering a beautiful view. Later, we drove about two and a half hours to Montrose to a hotel for one night. Ida and I shared a room with Mama and Papa. We rested there for a few hours and then had dinner in the hotel's restaurant. Our waitress was extremely nice and even treated my sister to ice cream for dessert!

In the morning, we continued to our next destination, Alford. An hour after departure, we visited the beautiful Dunnottar Castle as a stopover. The ruin stands on a cliff that can only be reached on foot, via a long staircase that is quite strenuous. Nevertheless, it is worth it: The ruins are very large, and the view is amazing! The sea looks completely untouched and has a lovely turquoise color. After the visit, we had a snack at a food stall. Just before we left, however, Ida was stung by a wasp! Her finger swelled up completely, but fortunately, we had the pharmacy in the car. Later, we drove on and reached our destination in no time.

Alford is near Aberdeen, north of Edinburgh. Our house is unusually two stories high, and there is no internet. We are staying here for two weeks. We have already been here for a week.

There are great places to visit. One time, we went to the stone circle Cothiemuir, which is over 5000 years old! It's incredible to imagine how many people have touched the stones and how long they have been there!

On another day, we visited Castle Fraser, which is still completely intact. First, we explored the huge estate. There were tall trees, various gardens, and large meadows that we looked at. Afterwards, we visited the castle from the inside. There are so many rooms! We were even able to climb up a tower from which we could view the expansive estate from above.

On Thursday, the Highland Games took place in Ballater! My mother had already bought tickets before the trip, and we were super excited! Highland Games only happen in Scotland - it's a big festival. People compete against each other in various categories. For example, there is hammer throwing, hill racing, or the 100-meter dash. Thunderstorms were forecast for the day, so we packed our rain jackets. Upon arriving in Ballater, the festival grounds were unfortunately so crowded that we could hardly see anything. We were actually hungry, but there were very long lines at the food stalls. Therefore, due to the looming storm, we decided to first find a nearby café. The café was really great, as it was built in such a way that we felt like we had landed on an old train station! There were even tables that looked like train compartments and a replica ticket machine. While we were there, the storm raged outside. It was very close, and the thunder was very loud. Luckily, we were in the café, as everyone else later went to the cafés for shelter. But we were there earlier and had snagged a table. When the storm calmed down, we decided to go back to the grounds. Now, all of a sudden, there was nothing going on, and many people were leaving the grounds. The Highland Games had been canceled because the storm was just too dangerous. Naturally, we were incredibly disappointed because we had already seen almost nothing before, and now we wouldn't see anything at all. In the end, we had no choice but to sadly drive home. It was really a total letdown!

On Friday, we went to Craigievar Castle. It's not just any castle, no, it's pink! The architect had it painted pink to match the granite containing pink particles. It looks like a Disney princess lives there! Although we weren't inside, we admired it from the outside. Additionally, we strolled through the castle garden and castle woods. Afterwards, we ate something in a restaurant and then drove home.

We really like it here in Alford. The house is nice and big and secluded from the outside world. Next to it is even a sheep pasture! We think it’s great that it’s two stories high, as it allows us to stay out of each other's way better. We still have a few things planned here before we continue our travels.

(From Matilda)