Isle of Skye, Scotland

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Old Man of Storr Sunrise

For some unknown reason we only scheduled four days in the beautiful Isle of Skye, yet an entire week was spent in Edinburgh and a week in York.  This planning was a bit backwards in hindsight.  Much more time could have been spent in this stunning island countryside.  The one day available to hike to the beautiful and unique Old Man of Storr provided only very dumpy light (photography speak), so I turned around and explored other parts of the island rather than devote an entire day to a single spot.  The Old Man of Storr is the monolith in the distant background of the lead photo above.
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Oban, Scotland or ‘Is This a Vacation?’

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Oban Moon

Oban Harbor, On Vacation

 

Continuing our practice of alternating between large cities and small towns on our European tour, from Glasgow we next headed for the small town of Oban, Scotland.  While some scotch drinkers will recognize this a a brand name, most have likely never heard of this fishing village/tourist town on the west coast of Scotland.  The scotch distillery is right in the middle of town.  Along with my goal of tasting the local cuisine of where we visit, I went for my first scotch tasting here.  I am no expert and that may be a good thing, both physically and financially.
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Glasgow, Scotland

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Red Flowers

When traveling we try to alternate between visiting a rural location and a big city, so Glasgow followed our stay in Ballintoy, Northern Ireland.  Our condo was right downtown near then main shopping and business areas.  Not much in the way of great photography, but of course Doug, the visiting photographer, got me out to make the most of it.  The photo above shows a typical color of the buildings in Glasgow, contrasted with some very bright red flowers.

When you click on “Continue Reading” a slide show of six photos will play at the TOP of this article.

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Experiencing Scottish Cuisine

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HaggisBlood Sasage-IMG_1470Continuing with my feeling that eating the foods the locals eat helps one experience the region, I have tried, on more than one occasion, both blood sausage and Scottish haggis.  Is there any other kind?  The haggis is traditionally made by the butcher in town who closely guards all his special ingredients and cooking methods.  What is common in all haggis is it mostly consists of a sheep’s innards, the heart, liver, lungs, esophagus and other various parts.  You are supposed to put a bowl under the esophagus while cooking to catch the drippings as it usually hangs out of the cooking pot, not completely fitting inside.  This mixture is boiled for numerous hours whilst you are soaking the cleaned and rinsed sheep’s stomach in cold water for up to ten hours.  The boiled innards are then sewn inside the stomach with some oatmeal added to absorb the liquid.  All this is then cooked for three more hours.  Don’t forget to poke a few holes in the stomach to let air out when cooking.  Traditionally it is served with neaps and tatties, or blended turnips and mashed potatoes.

The blood sausage contains four cups of pig’s blood per normal recipe size recipe.  It is generally a breakfast item, served with eggs.  Cheers!

Dark Hedges in Northern Ireland

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Dark Hedges

Dark Hedges

 

The most northern tip of Northern Ireland is one of the more scenic places we have visited from a photographic viewpoint.  Part of that can be attributed to a visit from a photographer friend who made me get ‘out and about’ more than I normally would have, so thanks, Doug!  This is also the place where the well-known Dark Hedges and the Giant’s Causeway are located.  We visited each multiple times in different lighting conditions.

When you click on “Continue Reading” a slide show of ten photos will play at the TOP of this article.
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Carrick-A-Rede Bridge crossing

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Carric a Rede Bridge

What is now a fun tourist attraction in Northern Ireland near the town of Ballentoy used to be the means of getting to a very important salmon fishery for a hundred fishermen.  When first erected the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge was simply a thick rope spanning the 60 feet between ridges and 1,000 feet in the air.  The fishermen would carry their equipment over in the morning and the fish they caught back in the evening, going hand over hand.  The distant island serves as a breakwater for the ocean waves from the Atlantic.  We could see large waves crashing the rocks on one side of the island, but calm waters for the fishermen to string their nets on the other.  This point is no longer used by the fishermen as the Atlantic Salmon is on the endangered species list.  A salmon fisherman’s house still on the island is shown in the picture below, click the ‘continue reading’ button below to see it.
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Characters Along the Way…

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Painter

Previously I went on a rant stating I did not like guided tours, tourist trap experiences and many museums, preferring instead meeting the local people as best I could.  (August 23 post)  Here is one such fun encounter with a local.  When I first saw this old man in his 90’s, he was painting his ocean front cottage on a rare, warm sunny day in Northern Ireland.  It seemed as if he was getting more paint on himself and the window panes than on the sashes and frames.  Does he plan to later use a razor blade to scrape the paint off of the window or is this good enough?

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Westport, Ireland

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coffee-shop(Click to Enlarge)

This is one of those lay-over locations or stops we scheduled.  We had traveled five hours from the last stop in Dingle, and had another five to go to get to Bushmills and the Giant’s Causeway at the northern tip of Ireland.  So we stopped for two nights in Westport, a city of about 5,500 people.  Finally in a bigger city, we opted for Indian food, and took my photographer friend along for his first ever dish of Indian cuisine.  With no real sights to see, we walked around the town, photographing the buildings and city life.
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Seaweed Swirls

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I do not claim to be a cinematographer but occasionally I see ‘movie shorts’ that cannot be captured on a single image and am intrigued by their movement, not a single image.  A movie that highlighted these short clips was “American Beauty” where the next door neighbor guy filmed some leaves blowin’ in the wind.  Here is some seaweed flapping in the currents….the background noise is the wind.  To me it is interesting to think that wherever you are now, whatever you are doing, this action undoubtedly continues, on and on as it has done for thousands and thousands of years.

The Cliffs of Moher… and More and More People….

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Cliffs-of-MoherCliffs-of-Moher-20140823-_ALL3866No matter how interesting the local attraction, I dislike being herded into areas with 22 large motor coaches and tour groups of all nationalities, holding group tour flags to keep everyone together.  Tourists take endless selfies, posing in front of yet another scene with arms stretched out and trying for an impossible glamour shot.  Generally these places are closed before the good evening light and are not yet open for the nice morning light.  Herd the tourists in, collect their entrance fee and off they go to the next tourist trap, likely never really experiencing the location.  The nearby town of Liscannor is a complete traffic jam of people buying and hocking touristy items, searching for a restaurant, or just trying to find a spot to park.
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