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Considering a Vacation in Scotland

by: FrankGoddard
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Word Count: 745

Great Britain is a most popular tourist destination. The "United Kingdoms" are England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and each country has it's own distinctive identity making each considerably different. The population of each country are, in the main, fiercely proud of their roots and happily declare their relevant nationalities while also calling themselves to be British. While most people in the UK are happy to remain part of the Union there are a large number, especially in Scotland, who would wish to become independent.

Think of Scotland and the vast majority of folk will bring to mind images of bagpipes, tartan, kilts and the likes, younger folk may think of the "Tartan Army" and the massive support for the national football club of Scotland, but all will have rather similar thoughts of what is truly Scottish. Sadly much of the quaint biscuit tin lid pictures of Scotland are little more than a very clever marketing campaign which started a long time ago when the likes of Sir Walter Scott (a famous poet and novelist) worked hard to promote Scotland as a vacation destination to the British Royal Family and the English upper classes. To discover the true Scottish culture we need to take a closer look at the country's history but, more importantly, we can take a look at the different regions and the most important cities which often have distinctive differences.

Sir Walter Scott took much of the culture of the Highlands of Scotland and recreated it into a presentable form to the English nobility. The tartans, kilts and bagpipes are essentially from the Highlands and if you visit the area today you will still see many wearing the traditional plaid. However the Highlands, and especially the islands, are heavily influenced by the Gaelic culture and as you move further north and west it becomes more prominent. As you move through the glens and arrive at places such as Inverness and Fort William you begin to notice the differences between the Highlands and the Lowlands. The Highlands of Scotland are extreme with huge mountains and massive expanses of glens and moorland. As you move further out to the West the islands such as those of the Outer Hebrides become even more dramatic and it is in the Hebrides that the Gaelic language is most common.

One of the most famous Scottish landmarks is Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh is Scotland's capital city and the home of the Scottish Government. While Edinburgh is a thoroughly modern city it's facade is ancient, with truly awesome architecture to be found along the Royal Mile and in the New Town. One of the reasons why the city is one of the top tourist destinations in Europe is the shear number of important multi-national festival which seem to take place continually through the year ranging from the International Book Festival to the Hogmanay celebrations

Glasgow is vastly different to Edinburgh, it is certainly larger (Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland), but the architecture is more Victorian with little any older. This is due to the fact that the city developed extremely quickly from a small village to a large town and then a city, during the industrial revolution. The Act of Union in 1707 opened up markets which had previously been closed to Scotland and the tradesmen of Glasgow took full advantage, especially the tobacco merchants who made massive fortunes in a very short space of time. Many of the merchants invested in the building of wonderful civic buildings which are still used today and can be seen throughout the city.

Edinburgh might be the capital and Glasgow the largest but there are numerous other cities in Scotland that merit investigation if you are planning a vacation in Scotland. Stirling has one of the finest castles to be found in the United Kingdom, St Andrews has some of the finest, and most historic, golf courses in the world and all other towns and cities have their own tourist attractions. One of the most unusual, but incredibly popular, is the amazing piece of engineering called the Falkirk Wheel.

Of course Scotland has much too much to offer than can be included in this short article. Amongst the most popular attractions are specially designed tours such as whisky tours and ghost tours of Edinburgh and the likes. The truth is that there is something in Scotland to please anybody and the country's diversity provides some of the most incredibly opportunities for a vacation of a lifetime.

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