www.visitscotland.com Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Fireworks

5th November 20195th November 2019 funtime65

They hail from China, herald in the New Year, mark the burning of a Catholic traitor and are banned in southern Ireland.

And fireworks will be lit all over the UK tonight to commemorate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

That was when a group of disenchanted Catholic noblemen attempted to blow up Parliament and the Protestant British monarch James I.

*Swizzle: Photo by Javon Swaby on Pexels.com*

Now a bit of back story here about Jazza (as he’s never been known, probably more of a Jacques which is why Scots are called Jocks).

James had reason to be more afraid of gunpowder than the next man (and who doesn’t jump when a cannon goes off?)

Because his mum Mary, Queen of Scots (the real one, not that awful Saoirse Ronan version) blew up her Dad Henry, Lord Darnley.

That would tend to do it.

Anyhoos, fireworks.

I’ve seen a few, though few compare to home when I don’t make the bed properly or plump up the cushions.

Edinburgh

Every Hogmanay (it’s Scottish for New Year’s Eve) there is a fireworks display and a series of concerts.

You can actually set your clock by it.

Which is why a fellow journalist wrote it up in advance of the event.

In the eye of the storm

The only thing is that this would be the one year when an electric storm would lead to it being cancelled.

Embra is one of the great cities, was my home for ten years, and may yet be again.

Ryanair www.ryanair.com and Aer Lingus http://www.aerlingus.com both fly there. And Visit Scotland www.visitscotland.com will sort you out.

Disney

The Happiest Place on Earth does fireworks spectacularly.

You’d be disappointed really if it was a damp squib, which incidentally is a firework.

Mickey’s mates

I looked out on the nightly pyrotechnics on the parks from my billet at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando www.fourseasons.com. https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_GB/?CMP=OKC-wdw_themeparks_gmap_421

Here’s how it all went down with me and The Donald in Florida… Why I love The Donald.

I caught up again with the big-mouthed one in Anaheim this year…

Where I partied with Mickey and the gang.

Dresden

Fire is an elemental force that we must always handle with care

The fireworks over the River Elbe on our evening cruise were illuminating.

Dresden’s party

All the more so as this city has been burnt by fire, the Allied airmen’s firebombs in the Second World War razing the Saxon Venice to the ground.

That the Dresdeners rebuilt their city exactly how it used to be marks it down

As one of the most remarkable stories of modern urban planning… Dresden’s renaissance. And https://www.dresden.de/en/tourism/tourism.php.

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Cruiseday Tuesday – Scotland is Arctic

29th October 201929th October 2019 funtime65

It can feel positively Arctic in Scotland so it should come as little surprise that Scotland is being billed as part of an Arctic cruise… with our old friends G Adventures.

G Adventures http://www.gadventures.com will be hosting us tonight in Dublin to reveal more of their wares as part of their G Stock Live road trip.

And I will be able to speak to them about their product with more authority (no comments, please) having been their guests in Jordan earlier this year…. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/petra-jordan-jesus-and-the-sands-of-time/

Of course they cover the Seven Seas too and their Galapagos Islands and Cambodia packages from their current sale randomly jumped out at me.

As did their 16-day Cruise the Norwegian Fjords with Scottish Highlands package for May 17.

Which is reduced from €4899 to €4164.

Starting in Tromso, the gateway to the Arctic you’ll travel as far north as Nordkopp where the Atlantic and the Arctic Seas meet before hopping your way down the fjords.

And believe me they are full of myth and majesty as we found out…. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/the-call-of-the-fjords/

*Light up, light up.* Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

You’ll pop in Shetland Islands, the most northerly point in the UK, whose nearest train station is Bergen in Norway, before finishing off in Edinburgh.

Heck, the Shetland Islands used to be Norwegian before being given to Scotland in a dowry in 1472.

Every day’s a school day on Cruiseday Tuesday!

Tenerife… I’ll be back

The sharp Norwegian winter air is bracing but if you prefer a winter warmer…

Then TUI has seven nights on January 17 in an inside cabin on the Marella Explorer from €879pps.

For more on the Canarian Flavours package visit https://www.tuiholidays.ie. Call 1850 45 35 45 or visit a TUI Store / travel agent.

A toast to the Canaries

Unless you’ve been hiding under a stone you’ll know that I’ve been in Tenerife this autumn.

Where I learned a whole lot of stuff… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/tenerife-walk/

Just promise me you’ll drink some of the Shakespearean wine, the Malvasia.

And eat some of their wrinkled potatoes with mojo mojo sauce!

Now if you like your TUI cruise, and why wouldn’t you, why not try Canaria Ways’ http://www.CanariaWays.com and read all about https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/tenerife-walk/

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This Sporting Weekend – Solheim Cup

13th September 201914th September 2019 funtime65

Golfing widows were a staple of Ronnie Corbett and Tom O’Connor stories.

Female drivers too – in fact it was probably the same lame joke.

Of course women are just as able to hit a wee white ball into a wee hole, sometimes even more able.

Wednesday afternoons for my Dear Old Dad and Mum were spent on the golf course.

Where my Dad would try to hit the skin off the ball… and end up in the thistle and the gorse.

And my Mum would drive straight down the middle.

Though she did confirm to Ronnie Corbett’s stereotype on the road by swaying everywhere.

The eyes of the golfing world are on its finest women players this week.

As Europe and the USA battle it out for the Solheim Cup in Gleneagles, Scotland.

Captaining Europe is North Berwick’s Catriona Matthew.

And she is as strong a buttress as the Law, or rock, that stands proudly in the Firth of Forth.

And which I know only too well with the Outlaws living on its doorstep.

Scotland’s ‘Golf Coast’ covers 21 golf courses along 30 miles of coastline in the hinterland of Edinburgh.

While, of course Gleneagles in Perthshire further north is something of a lucky charm for Europe’s golfers.

With Paul McGinley’s men’s team winning there in 2014.

Where to find your golf

Catch these websites for more information www.golfeastlothian.com, www.gleneagles.com and www.scotlandgolf.com, http://www.northberwick.org.uk.

And www.visitscotland.com.

And if you want to see how it should be done, er, here’s me at the Paul McGinley school in Quinto da Lago in Portugal https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/06/12/sportugal/.

I’ll be looking out for you and your cup Catriona when I’m over in North Berwick seeing the Outlaws.

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Saturday night’s all right… for Ryanair

31st August 201931st August 2019 funtime65

Message to Michael O’Leary… I watch the football on TV on a Saturday.

I think you’ll understand although tonight it’s not your beloved Manchester City but that pesky Liverpool side.

Who seem the only team who can give you a game.

Just so you know though about my schedule the next time you extend your seat sale.

Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com has €25 off return flights on 150,000 seats for travel for September-December. But the deadline is midnight tonight.

Now, I’m noticing too that you’re flagging up on your first page Edinburgh, a city I love, and spent ten years in, before decamping to Ireland.

*Edinburgh Castle. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com*

It is usual to promote Edinburgh ahead of Glasgow, my home city, but both should have equal billing in my mind.

Which reminds me of the two Glaswegians who had a poke at their Edinburgh ‘friends’ when they turned up in the Scottish capital’s main street, Princes Street, in 1990.

They were wearing sandwich boards with arrows saying: ‘You are only 46 miles from the European City of Culture’.

*Iconic sight: Yes, the Duke of Wellington statue, but mostly Mum and I*

Glasgow and Edinburgh are €9.99 one-way. I guess you have to do the math for the overall package otherwise they’d be literally paying you to travel!

Here is my love letter to Glasgow https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/04/15/sportstraveltraveltravel/. Although I am not blind to its blinkered attitudes to some things https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/31/sporting-weekend-old-firm-madness/.

And the website you should go to for all things Scottish http://www.visitscotland.com.

It’s the other British destinations that are pegged at under a tenner.

Barcelona, a song in my heart

But for a bit more spare change you can get out to Barcelona… for €14.99.

And when you’re out there you may want to pop by this restaurant, not far from La Rambla…

And see why Barcelona is cruising city (no, not that kind) but a port full of big ships https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/08/23/surfing-the-seas-in-barcelona/

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Sporting weekend – Old Firm madness

31st August 201931st August 2019 funtime65

It was one of the mainstays of my childhood, so much so that I made a career out of writing about it… the Glasgow Old Firm football match.

Between Celtic and Rangers… just for those who don’t know.

The two tribes go to war on Sunday, and unfortunately that is not a euphemism.

On average one person gets killed, actually killed, not Glasgow slang, surrounding this match every time the two teams meet.

*As a cub reporter training with Reading*

Which they have been doing since 1888.

Being of the Catholic variety I grew up supporting Celtic.

And that despite my Dear Old Dad’s efforts to guide me away from them.

Not because he had not been a supporter. How could he not?

He was born within spitting distance of Celtic Park.

And his great-uncles had helped build the original stadium.

It was just that he knew the religious problems associated with Celtic, the club created by Irish monks for the poor immigrants of the East End of Glasgow.

And the Establishment Scottish Protestant club, Rangers.

Neutral stance

And so I remember there being three football tops in the sports room of our house, Clyde, Kilmarnock and Hibernian.

Alas, going to a Catholic school (yes, only in Scotland, and Northern Ireland are kids separated by their same religion) pushed me towards Celtic.

And being raised in a Catholic bubble I never met a Rangers supporter until my life took a different turn.

When I had a disagreement with my school and ended up going to the local Protestant school.

And kudos to my Dad for doing what was best for me educationally.

I have mentioned it before but the tolerance and welcome I had there was an education… in life.

And so to this weekend’s big game.

A football disease

The Old Firm is the tag given to Celtic and Rangers on account that the bigotry was seen as being in the financial interests of both.

Things have changed, and for the better, over the years.

With Rangers’ unofficial policy of not signing Catholics now 31 years in the past.

And yet, both Rangers and Celtic fans cling to their ‘traditions’ of support for the Protestant and Catholic sides of the Northern Ireland and Scottish divide.

They manifest this with flags, symbols, songs and antagonism and violence to the opposite side.

Yet it is seen as an unpalatable truism that it can never be changed.

While there have been great efforts and successes in England against racism, it is considered impossible by some that we weed out the bigots in Scotland.

An impossible problem?

There are just too many of them, we are told.

And every time these two monsters of the Scottish game meet the morbid fascination for them is raised to fever pitch.

And the commentariat wax lyrical about it being the ‘greatest derby of them all.’

I’ve been to enough of them to say categorically that it is not, for spectacle, skill or fervour.

But there will be plenty who disagree. And I welcome that.

Just maybe not mention my religion, though, and I won’t mention yours.

*And Julie didn’t care about the football scarf*

Because there are, in fact, people who support both sides who don’t.

And many of them my very good friends.

But for a better impression of my home city https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/04/15/sportstraveltraveltravel/.

And for the best wee country in the world… all of the above aside…. http://www.visitscotland.com.

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Dog days… It’s International Dog Day

27th August 20197th September 2019 funtime65

Right, just to address a false impression, particularly on this International Dogs Day. I don’t dislike dogs.

I probably prefer cats but there are some doggies I have fallen in love with.

The first was Dinky, the Welsh corgi at Shovlin’s guesthouse in Narin-Portnoo, Co. Donegal.

A real prince of dogs, his is the breed so beloved by the Queen.

We would regularly sit on the craggs and I would throw balls to him so he could run on the wide golden sands.

My Dear Old Dad, not the biggest animal lover, even took to him.

Narin-Portnoo was a favourite family holiday, my Mum’s parents and sister Nora lived just up the road in Brockagh, near Ballybofey.

And, of course, it was the first place I took the Scary One, when she was merely a little daunting, and the Son and Heir.

Visit http://www.carnaweenhouse.com and http://www.donegalcottageholidays.com.

Like people, I suppose we all have our types, and I venture for the loyal, sparky types. It helps if they’re cute too.

The best friend a man ever had was Greyfriars Bobby who I make no apologies in bringing up again and whom Disney made a film about.

Bobby slept on the grave of his maister (that’s Scottish for master) in Edinburgh’s Greyfriars Kirk (a graveyard). And their graves lie next to each other now.

There is a statue outside the kirk, and a pub, in his honour too.

Every time I’m back in Edinburgh I make a pilgrimage up to see him, and just for research have a dram (a whisky) in the pub. http://www.greyfriarskirk.com http://www.edinburgh.org http://www.visitscotland.com

Ever work with pets

They say never work with pets or children… but television and the movies always fall back on doggies and kids. They are a sure-fire earning winner.

The best dog on TV because he is, and because he’s on the best television show ever made is Eddie, Martin’s best pal, on Frasier.

*Sahara bumpety: With Sahara in Algoa Bay*, off Port Elizabeth, South Africa

And because of that I always have a soft spot for Jack Russells.

Sahara. the South African Jack Russell is the mascot of Raggy Charters whale and dolphin-watching boat firm in Port Elizabeth.

Heck, I don’t think owner Lloyd would object to me saying it’s Sahara who runs things around there.

Here he is pointing out the bottlenose blue dolphins to us in Algoa Bay… it’s the bottlenose dolphin capital of the world. http://www.raggycharters.co.za. And, of course, check out all that PE and South Africa has to offer http://www.southafrica.net http://www.meetyoursouthafrica.net and http://www.nmbt.co.za.

I know there is a certain irony in begging up dogs as my South African article What’s new pussycat? was in praise of cats

But all God’s creatures have a place in the choir… and this blog.

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Happy Monday – Greyfriars Bobby

19th August 201919th August 2019 funtime65

I’ve been a bit of a misery around the house being between jobs… hence my Moanday Mornings.

Let’s flip it then and start the week with a Happy Monday.

I spent a morning last week pulling nails out of wooden boards… well, if it was good enough for Jesus.

I was down at the Mens Shed.

Now normally I’m pedantic about these things. And in the old Moanday Morning column I’d be giving out about apostrophes.

But the guys down at the Shed (heck, it still irks me) were so friendly and accepting that I didn’t even mention it.

And besides they’re doing more with their hands than I am, or have been, with a pen between my digits, or on a laptop.

Building Bugs’ Runs for the kids and various other wonders of carpentry.

I also got to meet a fellow Scot… Oscar, a West Highland Terrier.

Now Westies are among my favourite dogs.

And my favourite dog of all time, Greyfriars Bobby.

Who every night laid on his master’s grave. Never put off by the caretaker who tried to chase him away.

He was befriended by the proprietors of the local eating houses and the schoolkids.

And eventually he was given the Freedom of Edinburgh after a campaign led by the townsfolk.

Bobby’s grave is besides that of his master in Greyfriars Kirk, while there is a statue outside the gates of him.

It is the greatest statue in the world, BAR NONE!

And all the better for the fact that his nose is shinier than the rest of his body from everyone kissing it.

Visit Greyfriars Kirk when you’re in Edinburgh. And their website. I’ll get back to telling you more about it too. http://www.greyfriarskirk.com.

Now my new wee pal at the Greystones Men’s Shed… my first job is to put in an apostrophe is called Oscar, no doubt named after Oscar Wilde.

His grave too, in Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and it too is well worth a visit with pink kiss marks on the glass in front.

Who else is there?

Edith Piaf’s grave is also there. As is Frederick Chopin and many other famous people.

It’s more of a small town than a graveyard with proper streets.

Of course, that’s just an excuse for jobsworths to do their thing which is to ring the bell and tell you to get out…

Which they did when I visited with la famille a couple of years ago.

Visit http://www.pere-lachaise.com/en/

And Kavanagh too

Now I’m on a roll with the graves let me introduce you to a couple of others I’ve met on my travels.

Paddy Kavanagh in Co. Monaghan where a family row erupted over it. Read my review of the Monaghan heartland. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/monaghans-country-roads/

And Buffalo Bill

I visited Buffalo Bill’s graveyard in Colorado last year… or did I?

The good folk of Wyoming believe he resides for eternity there and it is only a vagrant here.

Unless he’s exhumed we’ll never know and then there will be a conspiracy theory after that. Here’s my review of all things Wild West. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/go-west-denver-buffalo-bill/

Now I dare say I’ll get back round to talking about graves I’ve visited… it’s a bit of an interest I’ve inherited from my Dad.

Which reminds me I must pay him a visit up in Donegal.

And Uncle Willie

While here’s another story of how I found my Great Uncle, and was the first from my family to do so, in Flanders. https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/firstworldwar-in-flanders-fields/.

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Flyday Friday – Flying the flag

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When an airline pulls out of a route it merely opens up the market for another, and who can blame Aer Lingus for putting their hands up?

While recognising the challenges for everyone in the aviation industry, our national airline carrier was quick to flag up its product in the wake of the Norwegian news.

Aer Lingus, as we all know, has 16 direct routes to North America.

With Mineapolis-St Paul the latest to arrive on the rank.

And while it is something of sport to diss them probably because they represent the institution.

But I’ve been more than a happy flyer with them, particularly when they moved me when a poor lady was sick next to me half an hour into our flight to LAX.

And they arranged a wheelchair for her on her arrival in Los Angeles.

Aer Lingus flies Dublin to LA from €209, a one-way fare based on a return trip. Valid for travel between October and November.

And at the other end of the scale is Dublin to Philadelphia from €139 and Dublin and Shannon to New York from €149.

Book at http://www.aerlingus.com. And remember that you’ll get pre-clearance. Happy days!

I could choose from many of their great destinations and hope to see a few more.

But I’ll flag up Philadelphia here and https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/philadelphia-freedom/.

An epic Saga

Saga conjures up a different image for me. Of a time when I worked looking after oldies (of whom I am now one).

But in connection with Iceland, of course, it is something epic.

What Icelandair refers to as business equivalent comes in at a competitive €250 one way to Reykjavik.

The economy class is €68 one way.

The Autumn and Winter Special Offers end on August 27 at 23.59.

It is for the travel period of October 1 to March 28.

And it is based on one-way fares on a return ticket. https://www.icelandair.com/en-ie/flights/special-offer/

Fly belong to Glasgow

Being one of God’s chosen people, a Glaswegian, I keep an eye on happenings in the Dear Green Place from across here in Ireland.

And by Dear Green Place I refer to the orgins of the name of the city, the Scottish Gaelic phrase for it..

Now you may be thinking that this is just an excuse to put one of my oul puns on the Glasgow Music Hall songs.

And you would be half right.

But it is also worth flagging up that easyJet has a new route from Glasgow to Birmingham.

Not that I’ll be needing it any time soon but you might.

I’m told that easyJet http://www.easyjet.com is the largest airline in Glasgow and operates up to 294 flights a week across 19 routes.

And that it was also the first airline the carry one million passengers in a year from Glasgow.

It also has up to three flights a day to Belfast which means the Son and Heir can fly over to see his grannie.

Everyone’s a winner.

And to find out more about Glasgow see http://www.peoplemakeglasgow.com and http://www.visitscotland.com.

And if you want to see what carnage myself and my mum caused when I took her to the World Bagpipes Championships in Glasgow then read on… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/04/15/sportstraveltraveltravel/

MEET YOU IN THE SKIES

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The Hebridean

12th August 201913th August 2019 funtime65

Finlay, my Hebridean pal smiled as we recalled how the religious girls in the flat upstairs would stamp on the floor when we’d hold one of our late-night parties.

‘Ah, Jim, they never stood a chance.’

His giant frame was more stooped, his melodic voice more of a whisper now, but it was the same old Finlay.

It was the last I saw of Finlay but I remember him today, and other days, and when I do I smile too.

*Who dressed me up in that? Finlay and pals*

Finlay was a Hebridean, a Western Islander from the last Scottish rocks before North America.

Many other crofting families ended up there and one woman even begot a son who is running the world now.

Finlay wouldn’t have approved of him.

Finlay, a native Gaelic speaker, also ‘emigrated’ too, to the Scottish mainland.

Hence his sonorous voice and the way he pronounced everything perfectly.

It was there at Aberdeen University that we became firm friends and flatmates.

And there that he looked after me, and us.

Like the time he stopped me getting a beating from Aberdeen football fans – I deserved the beating.

I’d hoped he’d come along with me to the Beerfest in Munich but those parties up in our flat, and others, drained his savings.

We did rave it up together in Skye at the annual Folk Festival when we emptied Broadford’s supermarket of booze.

And again when I showed off my new girlfriend around the Western Islands.

I didn’t expect to see him strolling down the main street on Skye.

Homeward bound

But he was looking to get back to his home island of North Uist.

I wouldn’t have been much of a friend if I hadn’t helped him.

And he in turn gave us an unforgettable night on North Uist.

Finlay is my youth, and that of my friends, but of course he is most missed by his wife Jaqui, his brother Archie and sister-in-law Elsie.

*Over the sea to Skye: Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com*

An chuid eile den tsíocháin mo chara.

The Hebrides, or Western Islands, is Gaelic Scotland.

It is unspoilt with beautiful beaches, ancient stone circles, fresh farm to fork food and is the home of whisky.

And people who are just like Finlay.

Isle be there

See www.outerhebrides.co.uk, www.isleofskye.com and www.visitscotland.com

You can get to the Islands by plane from Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Manchester Visit which of www.flybe.com and www.loganair.co.uk serves you best.

The destinations are Stornoway on the biggest island Lewis, the Isle of Barra where you land on the beach, and Benbecula between North and South Uist.

There has been a bridge over to Skye for years now but you can take the bonny boat too.

Caledonian MacBrayne was traditionally the Islanders’ umbilical cord to the Mainland and is still the best way to arrive. www.calmac.co.uk.

And when they got there, to Glasgow, their meeting place was under the Central Station railway bridge ‘The Heelanmam’s Umbrella’.

Read my review of my home city https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/04/15/sportstraveltraveltravel/

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King of the castle: Edinburgh

31st July 201931st July 2019 funtime65

They’re on many a holiday itinerary and group activity and I’ve probably racked up more castles in my 53 years than Richard the Lionheart, and a fair few racks too! I’ll kick of this series where Robert the Bruce’s nephew Thomas Randolph kicked out the English.

Edinburgh Castle

*A couple of Scottish laddies: Early Bandanaman and his pal Peter*

It’s the castle I know best… we’d take every visitor through there from Glasgow when I was a child and as an adult I worked on the same street, the Royal Mile.

Hewn from volcanic rock , it has been inhabited since the Iron Age and was a royal residence of Scottish monarchs from the 12th to the 17th Century.

*A couple of Scottish soldiers: We’re actually well hard*

At the heart of many of the pivotal moments in Scottish history it was besieged 26 times in its 1100-year history, making it one of the most attacked garrisons in the world although today it’s mainly Americans and Asians wielding cameras.

Just in case there’s another siege, although it’s really for ceremonial reasons, at 1pm every day they fire a gun ‘The One O’Clock Gun’ from a cannon (don’t worry, it’s not live ammo).

Also home to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. No, the battalions don’t show off their conquests on their arms, that’s what they call a massed display of miltary bands. If you like kilties and the swirl of the pipes this is for you. Starting Friday, it runs to August 24.

Visit http://www.edinburghcastle.scot. http://www.edintattoo.co.uk. http://www.visitscotland.com. Aer Lingus http://www.aerlingus.com and Ryanair http://www.ryanair.com both fly to Edinburgh.

MEET YOU ON THE RAMPARTS

Next week: Lourdes Castle.