Category: Travel

Louvre is the largest art museum globally in terms of area (72,735 sq. mt.) and second-largest in terms of art collection (the largest art collection is in Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia).

Louvre has over 35,000 works of art, which are displayed in about 16 kilometers of galleries. Even if you spent three seconds looking at each work of art, it would take you three months to see everything in the museum.

We had put aside a full day for Louvre, having no idea that it will take us half a day to get inside. The line was a mile long from the front entrance through the glass prism in the complex compound.

Luckily Louvre has a second entrance that many people don’t know about. It is through the underground shopping center. The line was much shorter there, but it still took us an hour to get inside when we got through the security.

To our dismay, we had to line again—this time to buy the tickets. 

By the time we got in, it was one pm. 

Lucky for us, it was Friday. On Fridays, the museum is open till ten pm.

We spent seven hours inside. 

I was more impressed with the history and architect of the building than the thousands of artwork it was housing. 

The museum has one whole section devoted to the history and architecture of the Louvre. It starts with the old castle walls, which are well preserved in the underground portion of the museum.

Louvre was originally built as a fortress in the 12th century to protect Paris. Then, in the 16th century, it was reconstructed to serve as a royal palace. After that, it was built and rebuilt many times. Nearly every monarch expanded it.

I was particularly impressed by the art on the ceilings. 

In 1682, Louis XIV moved the royal residence to Versailles, and the Louvre became home to various art academies, offering regular exhibitions of its members’ works.

In 1793, after the French Revolution, the National Assembly opened Louvre as a museum with 537 paintings. But it had to be closed in 1796 due to structural problems with the building. Napoleon Bonaparte opened the museum in 1801 and expanded the collection.

It was Napoleon who created the foundations for the world-famous museum it is today. He enlarged its collection by bringing art from his military campaigns, private donations, and commissions he made.

In 1815, when Napoleon abdicated with the Treaty of Fontainebleau, almost 5,000 artworks were returned to their countries of origin. France was allowed to keep only a few hundred works. Since then, the collection had been enhanced many folds. 

We started with Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities and Islamic Art Section.

I wanted to learn more about the objects I was seeing. There was a minimal description on the plaques beside the artifacts. We had rented the audio-guides, but they were frustrating. They didn’t work logically. We stopped fiddling with them and just watched the objects without bothering to learn about them. 

In a museum bookshop, I spotted a book that had images of all the key objects on display along with their description. I wanted to buy the book, but my husband refused. 

He wanted me to buy it on the way back from the museum or online when we get back home. His rationale was that we would be carrying the book all day with us. I wanted to buy it from the museum store to learn about what I was watching and to enjoy the museum. Reluctantly I agreed.

But imagine my anger when we discovered that the book was sold only in the museum and was not available in any bookstore or online. 

But the upside of the whole experience was that I made my husband promise me that, in the future, he will never stop me from buying anything. (Not a bad outcome if you ask me.)

Visting Mona Lisa

By the time we got to paintings galleries, we were pretty tired. But we were rejuvenated when we passed through the majestic galleries with massive paintings by old masters. An hour later, we got in line to see Mona Lisa.

Without question, the Louvre’s most famous work is Leonardo da Vinci’s, Mona Lisa. 

It has a whole room to itself. 

At least five security guards were managing the crowds. The barricades were keeping the crowds at least two meters away from the painting.

The painting itself was small — only 21 by 30 inches. And it was covered with bullet-proof glass. In 1911, it got stolen. But was recovered two years later. 

Most of the people were not interested in the painting but taking their photographs with it. I have never seen such weird selfie-poses in my life.

To me, Mona Lisa was faded and lusterless. 

The famous enigmatic smile was non-existent. 

There were many more impressive paintings in the gallery than Mona Lisa, but most people just ignored them.

I particularly liked four paintings of Hercules in the large gallery just outside the Mona Lisa’s room, in which the legendary mythical character was shown fighting different demons.

What I liked the most in the whole museum was the statue of Venus de Milo, one of the most famous ancient Greek sculptures.

It was said to be discovered by a peasant named Yorgos Kentrotas in 1820, inside a buried niche within the ancient city ruins of Milos. 

Created sometime between 130 and 100 BC, the statue is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. 

It is a marble sculpture, slightly larger than life-size at 203 cm (6 ft 8 in) high. Its arms have been missing since its discovery.

The last area we visited was the two exhibition spaces that housed the 18th and 19th-century sculpture collections. 

These galleries are under the prism and receive a lot of daylight. They were built as part of the Grand Louvre project and were inaugurated in 1993 and 1994.

We spent seven hours inside. I hope you enjoyed my account of the Louvre.

The next post is about another equally impressive museum (nee palace).

Photo by redcharlie on Unsplash

We were going to spend the next four days in Paris. “Have you heard of Paris Syndrome?” my niece asked me over the phone.

“No. What is it?”

“Many people when visit Paris say that it didn’t live up to their expectations. So be mindful. Lower your expectations.”

“I shall.” I said that, but I was secretly hoping to see Paris as I had seen in ‘Devil Wears Prada.’ I wanted to see the dreamy wide boulevard where trees were lined with fairy lights, the one Anne Hathaway walked in the last scene of ‘Devil Wears Prada.’

Paris Syndrome A Reality

My husband and I took a train from London to get to Paris. When we arrived at the Paris terminal, I noticed the glass panels on the ceilings were not as clean as Paddington station in London. Okay. No big deal. They are probably due for a clean-up soon. 

We stood in line to get a taxi. The line was long and taxis were coming in very slowly. After an hour later we decided to walk to the main road where we would catch a cab quicker. We rolled our suitcases, walked to the front of a hotel and managed to hail a cab, but in the next ten minutes, it moved just ten inches and the meter clocked up ten Euros.

We got of the cab, paid ten Euros and walked back to the train station to get to the metro. The metro map mounted on a wall of the station was in French. We couldn’t figure out where we were. The big yellow arrow saying ‘You are here was missing. 

Thankfully another tourist came. He was as clueless as us but knew where we were on the map. We were at Gare du Nord, one of the big terminus metro stations. Paris mainline network has six large terminus stations and is not easy to figure out. Our hotel was just four kilometers away, but we needed to change the train twice to get to Place Charles de Gaulle.

We spotted a pub at the street corner on the way to the hotel, which was bustling with a Thursday night crowd. Great, this is where we can eat. We checked in, refreshed and came to the pub around ten pm. It didn’t have any spare seats. Many people were sitting on the wooden benches of the nearby fruit shop. The atmosphere was electric. People were drinking fancy cocktails. Some were even kissing the waiters. Great, we are at the right place. All we wanted was nice food.

We waited for a seat to become available and placed an order for the best food in the house. By the time it arrived, it was midnight and we were starving. My husband had ordered a steak and I, a chicken dish. Both meals were massive. We were happy. This is going to be the best meal so far.

It was the worst.

Was this part of Paris Syndrome?

Arc de Triomphe

The next morning, we decided to walk to Arc de Triomphe, which was not far from our hotel. We walked on the Avenue de Wagram for half an hour, but there was no sign of the Arc. 

Rain started. We took shelter and consulted our map. It turned out that we had been walking in the wrong direction.

While it was under construction, Napoleon had a wooden replica built, in 1810, so that he and his second wife, Marie Louise of Austria, could pass underneath it when they entered Paris for the first time as a married couple.

The Arc was finally inaugurated on July 29, 1836, 30 years after it was first commissioned. In 1840, Napoleon finally got to pass under the completed arch — when his body was taken to its final resting place.

It is an intricately sculpted masterpiece. Relief sculptures at the base of its four pillars depict four victories and several war scenes. 

The top of the arch lists the names of successful battles during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. 

Less significant battles are inscribed on the inside walls, along with the names of 558 generals. The soldiers who died in battle, their names were underlined. 

On November 10, 1920, an unknown soldier who died in the First World War was buried under the arch. An eternal flame was lit to honor those who died in this conflict. 

Since then, the flame is lit each evening to honor the fallen. 

A few weeks after World War II, aviator Charles Godefroy flew a Nieuport fighter plane through the arch to honor the airmen who lost their lives in World War II.

Boat tour of the river Seine

We took a boat tour of the river Seine which was turned out to be an excellent way to see the main buildings between the Eiffel Tower and Saint-Louis Island.

The tour started from the Vedettes du Pont Neuf on City Island. You can walk to that point from the Louvre Museum.

The first building we spotted was Louvre, the famous museum. Louvre was first built as a fortress in the 12th century to protect the city of Paris. When it was no longer useful as a fortress, Louvre was turned into a royal palace. Then in the 18th century, when Louis XIV moved to Versailles, Louvre became the museum.

The river Seine has 37 bridges. We crossed under many of those. The first one was The Royal Bridge. It is one of the oldest bridges in the city. It was a gift from King Louis XIV to the people of Paris to make up for the expensive building work of Versailles.

Next was the Concord Bridge which is a symbolic bridge. It was built with the stones from the Bastille prison after it was destroyed during the French Revolution in1789.

Pont Alexander III is considered the most beautiful bridge in Paris. It was built for World Fair in 1900. It celebrates Franco-Russian friendship. 

It has a gilded coat of arms of St Petersburg on one side and the Coat of arms of Paris on the other side.

The Invalides Bridge is the lowest bridge on the Seine and it was built to celebrate the victories and battles of Napoleon.

Next was the Modern Alma Bridge, which was rebuilt in the 1970s. That is why it is called the modern bridge. It still has the old famous sculpture called the Zouave. Parisians used to measure the level of the river by this statue. During the great flood of 1910, the water reached Zouave’s neck, while in June 2016, it came up to its belt only.

Finally, the Eiffel Tower, the most famous monument of Paris,became visible. It was built to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution. When it was presented at the world fair in 1889, Parisian hated it. They thought it was ugly and would collapse one day. Now they are very proud of it. It has become the symbol of France. 

Initially, it was built for 20 years only. In 1906 it was about to be demolition. But by that time they the radio and TV antennas mounted on it. There was no other place as high as Eiffel Tower to put them. So the authorities decided to keep the tower.

One thousand high and ten thousand tons heavy, Eiffel Tower was the highest monument in the world for a long time. Today it is considered as a work of art. by Gustave Eiffel, by whose name it is still known as.

Our boat took a ‘U’ turn from the Effiel Tower and we went back in the direction we came from. 

On the way, we spotted the Gilded Flame. Itis an exact copy of flame from the Statue of Liberty in New York. It was a return gift from the United States to France for the Statue of Liberty.

Gilded Flame is very close to the tunnel where Princess Diana died. Most people think it’s a memorial dedicated to her.

On the way back, from the boat, we could see the roof of The Grand Palace, which was built for the World Fair in 1900. Its impressive glass roof weighs 8,500 tons, almost as much as Eiffel Tower. 

It is so big that there used to be car and horse races organized inside. Now it is used to hosts exhibitions and fashion shows.

Now we had started moving in the other direction towards Notre Dame Cathedral and Saint-Louise Island.

We went underneath a bridge called the New Bridge. The New Bridge is in fact, the oldest bridge in Paris. It was built in the 17th century. It was called the New Bridge because it was the first bridge to walk and enjoy the view over the Seine. In those days, houses used to be built all along the bridges because they thought it was better for the foundations. A pedestrian bridge was something new hence the name the New Bridge.

It has funny and ugly faces all along with it, which are known as mascarons. They represent the friends and ministers of King Henry IV who didn’t believe the bridge was solid enough to stand. The king decided to mock them by installing their scornful faces on the bridge permanently.

We visited Paris when Notre Dame Cathedral was burnt just a couple of months ago. We were disappointed that we couldn’t see it from inside. We could see the scaffolding at the back but thankfully the front was undamaged

Notre Dame Cathedral is the gothic jewel of Paris. It was built between the 12th and 14th centuries and took almost two centuries to complete. It is famous for its statues, gargoyles, stained glass windows, and large rose glass window. It measures thirteen meters across and is made of 32,000 pieces of glass which makes the entire cathedral lit up from inside when the sun hits from the north.

The next bridge to cross was Tournelle Bridge which has the great statue of Sainte Genevieve, saint patroness of Paris. She is carrying a child in her arms which represents the people of Paris.

We sailed past Saint-Louise Island. Saint-Louise Island is the most expensive area in Paris. It has several beautiful mansions dating from the 17th century.

Next, we witnessed The Mary Bridge (the romantic bridge in Paris), the City Hall (where executions used to take place) and the Clock Tower (that houses the oldest public clock in Paris dating from the 14th century).

Then came in view the majestic building of the Conciergerie. It was initially a Royal Palace and was turned into a jail in the 14th century. 

Queen Marie Antoinette spent the last two months of her life here before she was beheaded.

By this time I had forgotten all about The Paris Syndrome. I was happy in the city of dreams. I will write more about Paris in my next few posts.

London has more than its fair share of museums and art galleries thanks to the British ruling half of the world. The most noteworthy are:

• The British Museum
• The National Gallery
• National Portrait Gallery
• Victoria and Albert Museum
• National History Museum
  Science Museum
• Tate Museum
• Tate Modern
• Museum of London
• Imperial War Museum
• V&A Museum of Childhood

Out of these, we managed to see four in this visit leaving others for future visits (hopefully!).

The best thing about British museums and galleries is that they are free for everyone. Perhaps the only right thing the British have done, after looting the colonial countries, is not to charge visitors to see their own heritage.

The British Museum

The British Museum has some of the most amazing collections in the world. With seventy galleries and about eight million artifacts, it is one of the largest museums in the world. We decided to keep one full day to visit the British Museum. It is one place where I can spend my whole life without getting bored.

We reached the South entrance of the museum quite early when there was no queue. The first thing that struck me, as soon as I entered the magnificent Greek temple-like entrance with colonnade and pediment was a great open area with lots of natural light.

It was unexpected. With that kind of entrance, I was expecting was an old building and narrow rooms. Instead, The Great Court, as it’s known, had the sun pouring in. The ceiling was exceptionally high and had a glass roof.

I learned later that although the museum is housed in the same building since it was first opened in 1759, it has gone through a number of enhancements particularly in the years leading up to 2000. The Great Court and the South entrance were new additions. The monumental look of the South entrance was designed to reflect the purpose of the building and prepare the visitors for the wondrous objects housed inside.

One Man’s Cabinet of Curiosities Became a Nation’s Museum

The British Museum was established in 1753, from the collection of a single person, an Irish physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane.

During the course of his lifetime, Sloane gathered a large collection of curiosities. Not wishing to see his collection broken up after death, he bequeathed it to King George II, for the nation, for a sum of £20,000.

At that time, Sloane’s collection consisted of around 71,000 objects of all kinds including some 40,000 printed books, 7,000 manuscripts, extensive natural history specimens including 337 volumes of dried plants, prints, drawings and antiquities from Sudan, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Ancient Near and the Far East and the Americas.

Its expansion over the following 250 years was largely a result of expanding British colonization. Later on, it resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the Natural History Museum in 1881.

It was the first public national museum in the world. It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. It was also the first public building to be electrically lit.

The Rosetta Stone

The most precious object in the museum is the Rosetta Stone. It was the key to unlocking the mysteries of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The Rosetta Stone has inscribed on it a decree passed by Egyptian priests on the first anniversary of the coronation of the Pharoah, Ptolemy V.

The decree is written in hieroglyphics, in demotic or everyday Egyptian of the period, and in Greek. By comparing the three languages on the tablet, scholars were finally able to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics.

How it came to British possession is another story.

The stone was discovered in 1799, during the Napoleonic Wars, by French soldiers digging the foundation of a fortress in El-Rashid. The British acquired it, along with other Egyptian antiquities, under the terms of the Treaty of Alexandria when Napoleon was defeated.

It has been displayed at the British Museum since 1802 except during WWII when it was hidden in a deep tunnel under London.

Easter Island statue

Hoa Hakananai’a – is an original Easter Island ancestor statue, made of basalt.

The name Hoa Hakanania’a means “Stolen or Hidden Friend”. It was probably carved around A.D. 1200.

It was acquired from a ceremonial center in Orongo, Rapa Nui, in 1869 and was presented to Queen Victoria who then gave it to the British Museum.

One of my favorite artifacts is the first library in the world. The last great Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal (reigned 668 – about 630 BC) created the world’s first library (below) to contain all knowledge in his palace Nineveh.

The tablets provide an unparalleled glimpse into the world of Assyria and Babylonia and what came before. Among thousands of tablets were kept some of the greatest works written in Mesopotamia, including the Epic of Gilgamesh.

The king’s library also contained extensive writing on divination, astrology, medicine, and mathematics.

Victoria and Albert Museum

I liked the Victoria and Albert Museum the most. It is massive, has the most varied collection and a lot of information about each exhibit.

It is the world’s largest museum of applied and decorative arts and design, as well as sculptures.

It houses a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects.

It was founded in 1852 by Prince Albert and his like-minded friends.

The museum was the result of the great foresightedness of Prince Albert whose vision was to educate designers, manufacturers and the public in art and design.

Its origins lie in the Great Exhibition of 1851 – the world’s first international display of design and manufacturing.

Following the Exhibition, its creator and champion, Prince Albert, saw the need to maintain and improve the standards of the British industry to compete in the international marketplace.

The most spectacular area in the museum is the Cast Courts. The Cast Courts were purpose-built in 1873 for the museum’s collection of copies of art and architecture.

At a time when most people could not afford to travel abroad to see important works, it was common for museums to supplement their collections with replicas in plaster. This made the museums a more effective educational resource.

The Cast Courts of the Victoria and Albert Museum have remained relatively unchanged since they were built. The iconic collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum is the biggest collection in the world which includes a copy of Trajan’s Column (shown in two parts because it is too high for the building) and Michelangelo’s David.

National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was the first portrait gallery in the world when it opened in 1856. It is situated at St Martin’s Place, off Trafalgar Square adjoining the National Gallery.

We spend almost three hours there. Not all the portraits are of exceptional quality but almost all of them are of historical significance. I particularly liked the following three portraits of Queen Elizabeth 1, Mary the Queen of Scott’s and Malala Yousafzai (an activist for female education).

I already wrote about The National Gallery in my post Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery.

Did you like the post? Did anything the post surprise you?  Would you like me to write more about the museum and galleries I visited? 

Let me know through the comments section.

On Saturday morning, we left Glencoe for Edinburgh. It had been raining all day on Friday, ending our lucky spell of eight days of perfect sunshine. Rain just stopped long enough in the morning for us to put our luggage in the car and take a few photos of the surrounding hills.

The drive to Edinburgh was beautiful. As soon as we left Glencoe, we were greeted by lush green valleys, hills with countless waterfalls, and green-carpeted pastures dotted with white sheep. At one place, water was gushing out from the earth, a natural spring. At other places, lakes would appear out of nowhere.

There were several stops to admire the view, but we resisted at most of them. The car we hired was due for return at mid-day, and if we stopped frequently, we wouldn’t have made it in time.

At Edinburgh, we deposited our luggage at the bus stop locker and went on to find a petrol station to fill the car. The Google map took us around the whole city but couldn’t get us to a petrol station. Finally, half an hour later, we spotted one.

After returning the car we made out way to a café close to our accommodation and had coffee and the best salad on the whole trip.

The accommodation we were staying at was our first ever Airbnb. It turned out to be a great choice. Walking distance from the city center, Calton Hill and many good restaurants it had sunny rooms and a good selection of books.

After resting for a little while, we went on to explore the city. It seemed like the tourists had invaded the city. Where ever we went, there were crowds.

We walked up the Royal Mile, which had Holyrood palace on one end and the fortress of Edinburgh Castle on the other. 

Totally a touristy place, the Royal Mile had bagpipers playing and street artists performing all the way to the Edinburgh castle. The platform was being prepared in front of the castle for a military parade of some kind.

Signboards told us that it was the site of execution for hundreds of women charged for practicing witchcraft.

I was not too much off the mark in thinking that Edinburgh architecture is both enchanting and striking at the same time. The Little Book of Edinburgh, which I found in the bookshelf of our accommodation, had the following account on the very first page.

It is spectacularly beautiful, combining a dramatic natural landscape of hills, valleys and the cone of an extinct volcano with an architectural heritage so glorious that it has more listed buildings than anywhere in the UK outside London.

At the same time, there is grimness to the place, a secret, gritty history of dark deeds and squalor. It is this combination – beauty and the beast, if you like – that makes Edinburgh so utterly fascinating, so beguiling.

One of Edinburgh’s most famous sons, Robert Louis Stevenson, knew this better than anyone. His novel Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, about two conflicting personalities inhabiting the same body, is a virtual metaphor for his native city. Edinburgh is a ‘tale of two cities or rather many different tales. – Geoff Holder, The Little Book of Edinburgh

In the evening, we went up the Calton Hill. Calton Hill, together with Arthur’s Seat and Castle Rock, was formed by volcanic activity about 340 million years ago. Around two and a half million years ago the first of many Ice Ages began in Scotland and Edinburgh was buried under a massive ice sheet, hundreds of meters thick. Throughout each Ice Age when the glaciers were at their heaviest, the weight of ice carved and gouged out many of the hills we see today. 

Calton Hill has a very interesting history. In 1724, the Town Council of Edinburgh purchased Calton Hill making it one of Britain’s first public parks. It has monuments and buildings dating back from 1760 to 1820 relating to the period known as ‘Scottish Enlightenment,’ a time of great artistic, literary and scientific advances. 

One of the leading figures of the Enlightenment was the philosopher David Hume. In fact, he was responsible for lobbying the Town Council to build public walks or roads for the health and amusement of the inhabitants on Calton Hill.

Calton Hill houses a number of buildings including the Scottish National Monument, Nelson Monument, and an Observatory.

Scottish National Monument

Scottish National Monument was intended to be another Parthenon and to commemorate Scottish Soldiers killed in the Napoleonic wars. Its construction started in 1826 but was stopped in 1829 when the building was only partially built due to lack of money. It has never been completed. 

For many years this failure to complete led to its being nicknamed “Scotland’s Disgrace” but this name has waned given the time elapsed since the Napoleonic Wars and it is now accepted for what it is.

Nelson Monument

Nelson monument is the most interesting building I have ever seen. Build to commemorate the victory of Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, over the French and Spanish fleets at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the tower has a time ball on it.

A wooden mechanized ball was added at the top of the telescope-like building to give a time signal to ships in Leith harbor. It was a great idea until they realized that the ball is not visible on a foggy day.

This led to starting another time signal tradition — firing an 18-pound loaded canon known as ‘one o’clock gun.’

The time ball is synchronized with the One O’Clocks firing from Edinburgh Castle.

Neither the gun nor the time ball is needed by the ships today but both still sound every day telling the Edinburgh people it is lunchtime.

Observatory House

Calton Hill Observatory is considered the birthplace of astronomy and timekeeping.

The Observatory houses a refractor in its dome and a 6.4-inch transit telescope for astronomical and naval observatories to measure star positions in order to compile nautical almanacs for use by mariners for celestial navigation. 

The telescope is used to observe star transits to set extremely accurate clocks (astronomical regulators) which were used to set marine chronometers carried on ships to determine longitude, and as primary time standards before atomic clocks. (Source: Wikipedia).

Arthur’s Seat

The next morning we started the day by climbing Arthur’s Seat. As the main peak of a group of hills made from an ancient volcano Arthur’s Seat has panoramic views of the city. 

It was relatively easy to climb except for the top part which was slippery, rocky, and spiky. Needing a bit of challenge for the day, I decided to go to the top and have my photo taken. 

Holyrood Palace

Just next to Arthur Hill is Holyrood Palace which the official residence of the Queen when she visits Scotland. It has been the principal royal residence of the Scottish monarch since the 16th century and used for state occasions and official entertaining.

The Queen spends one week at Holyroodhouse at the beginning of each summer and throws a lot of parties in the lovely gardens. 

The inside of the palace is open to the public throughout the year and is very interesting. We watched the 16th-century historic apartments of Mary, the Queen of Scotts including the chamber where her private secretary David Rizzio ware murdered.

Also worth mentioning are the ruins of the Augustinian Holyrood Abbey, which was founded in 1128 at the order of King David I of Scotland. It is a burial site of many kings.

We spent the last day in Edinburgh roaming the streets, visiting the Edinburgh museum and art gallery, and having a wonderful breakfast at a local cafe. 

For dinner, one night we went to a Turkish restaurant which had the most sumptuous kabab platter I have ever had.  

This is part 7 of the 13 part series. If you want to read the previous article of this series, here are the links:

Inverness And The Monster Of The Loch Ness

Windsor Castle, Bath, and the Stonehenge

Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery

The London Eye, Palace of Westminster, and Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery

Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral

London — The First Impression

No visit to the UK is complete without visiting the Highlands and Inverness. Inverness is the capital of the Highlands.

Most people start their trip to the Highlands from Edinburgh and work their way up towards Inverness, but we did it the other way around. We caught a flight from London to Inverness and worked our way down towards Edinburgh. Yesterday I wrote about Edinburgh, today I am going to write about two nights we spent in Inverness.

We caught 9:45 flight from London to Inverness and got there around 10:45. We had booked a car which turned out to be the best decision since most of the must see places are at considerable distances.

Inverness

As soon as we drove out of Inverness airport, we were greeted by the beauty of the Highlands. We drove past the tree-lined road for half a mile which opened up to perfectly carpeted valleys and hills in the freshest of green. Taking out a camera to capture the view in the picture would be insulting to the scenery so beautiful, so I just watched and took it all in.

Thanks to Google maps, we found our way to our Bed and Breakfast place without any problem. We deposited our luggage with the friendly landlady, who also guided us on where to eat and what to see on an exceptionally sunny day.

Tourism seems to be the main source of income for the town as almost every second house in Inverness was a Bed and Breakfast. No wonder we had to pay premium rates for our room as every place had a No Vacancy sign-on.

It was a perfect day; sunny, mild, and without any wind, so we had a quick bite to eat and went on to see Loch Ness.

Loch Ness and its monster

Loch Ness is a large, deep freshwater lake on the southwest of Inverness. It is the second-largest Scottish loch, but due to its great depth, it is the largest by volume. It is said to be able to drown the whole population of the world three times over. Its deepest point is 230 m which is little more than the tallest building in London (The Shard).

Loch Ness is best known for alleged sightings of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster.

The Loch Ness Exhibition Centre has a dramatic exhibition to tell the monster’s story, which has been around for hundreds of years and was first brought to the world’s attention in 1933.

The Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie as it is called, is said to be a large creature with a long neck and one or more humps. Although evidence of its existence is anecdotal, millions of dollars have been spent to find proof for its existence but the finding are still inconclusive.

Whether the monster exists or not, the legend is good for local business. Thousands of tourists flock to the Exhibition Centre (built in 1980 and now a winner as a 5-star visitor attraction by the Scottish Tourist Board), including wide-eyed children and their equally amazed parents and grandparents who probably want to keep the legend alive.

The town of Drumnadrochit

Drumnadrochit is a small but lovely village on the western shore of Loch Ness. We stopped there to have a little walk to stretch our legs and then have a coffee from Fiddlers Highland Restaurant, a must for the visitors to the town.

Divach Falls

We took a small detour to see Divach falls which were just 2 miles up a single track, and then a short walk through the densely populated forest. The falls were small, but the walk through the tress was beautiful.

Urquhart Castle

On the way back to Inverness, we stopped by Urquhart Castle. It sits beside Loch Ness, just 2 kilometers east of the village of Drumnadrochit. It is just a ruin now and is said to date from the 13th to the 16th centuries, though built on an early medieval fortification site.

It was almost half-past five when we arrived there. Entry to the castle was closed. We took some pictures and left for Inverness. Before dinner, we took a short stroll beside River Ness while it was still light.

Inverness Castle

If yesterday was the perfect day to see the Loch Ness and Divach Falls, today was the perfect day to see the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery as it had been raining all morning. The Inverness Museum and Art Gallery have an impressive collection divided into geological, cultural, historical, and art sections. We spent a good two hours there reading about the formation of Highlands 135 million years ago. We learned about the proud traditions of Highlanders, how they lived, the instruments they played, and the clothes they wore.

I always prefer visiting small museums and art galleries as I tend to spend more time absorbing a limited number of exhibits. I come out feeling less overwhelmed and more informed than after visiting large museums and galleries with endless displays.

Next to the Inverness museum is Inverness Castle which sits on a cliff overlooking River Ness. It is a red sandstone structure, built in 1836 by architect William Burn as an 11th-century defensive structure. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go inside it as it houses the Inverness Sheriff Court.

Culloden Battlefields

Twenty miles to the north of Inverness, towards the direction of the airport, is the Culloden battlefields where the final battle of Jacobite Rising was fought (16 April 1746) to restore the Stuart monarchy to the British thrones. It was the last battle, and in less than an hour, around 1,500 men were slain — more than 1,000 of them Jacobites.

An interactive visitor center is built on the site to tell the story of these brave men. It was a real eerie experience to walk in the vast ground listening to the wind and imagining what would have happened there more than three hundred years ago.

There is a small memorial tower in the middle of the battlefield and a hut on the side that has been there since the battle.

A visit to a distillery

It was still raining when we left the Culloden Battlefields. So rather than going back to the B&B, we decided to visit the nearby Tomatin distillery detour of twenty miles.

Those twenty miles became forty miles as we missed the turn, and Google Maps took us to through windy country roads. Rather than regretting it, we thoroughly enjoyed the drive as it was the most beautiful drive so far. We spotted a Viaduct bridge which was perhaps bigger than the Glenfinnan bridge made famous by the Harry Potter movies.

It started pouring when we reached the Tomatin distillery. We made our way to the reception desk only to find that the distillery tours were fully booked. We needed to book many days in advance due to the busy season.

The friendly but extremely busy staff offered us a free whisky tasting and turned on the movie for just the two of us.

We had dinner at the Caledonia pub and called it a night. The next day we were to drive to Glencoe, indisputably most beautiful place in the Highlands, as the friendly landlady told me.

Do you have any stories to share about the Highlands? I would love to hear them. Share them with me through the comments section, please.

This is part 6 of the 13 part series. If you want to read the previous article of this series, here are the links:

Windsor Castle, Bath, and the Stonehenge

Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery

The London Eye, Palace of Westminster, and Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, and the National Gallery

Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral

London — The First Impression