Tour
Scotland
with Us...
The land that inspired Outlander!
There is no better
way to experience all that is Scotland and what it is to
be Scottish! We will get to know the people, the
land and the history that makes
Scotland the fascinating
place that it is today!
Join us as we
immerse ourselves in the true spirit and charm of
Scotland
on this customized tour of Scotland's past and present!
August 10-17,
2016
Fully Escorted by
Traveling Troubadour staff to assure your best vacation!
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Outlander
fans
We will be visiting some key
Outlander
landmarks as seen on the hit TV show on Starz
and documented in the award-winning books by Diana Gabaldon!
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Your
Land Tour of Scotland Includes:
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Private Blue Badged Guide & Coach Driver
in Scotland from Day 1 until Arrival at Edinburgh Airport on
Day 8
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Accommodations for 7
Nights - 1 night in Glasgow, 1 night in Fort William, 2 nights in Inverness,
1 night in Stirling, 2 nights in Edinburgh
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Breakfast Daily; 2
included dinners plus a special 3 course dinner with coffee at a local restaurant
in Edinburgh prior to Tattoo
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Admissions as follows:
St. Mungo Cathedral and Museum, Pollok House, Loch Lomond Cruise, Nevis Range Gondola Trip,
Ferry between Mallaig-Armadale, Armadale Castle & Gardens-Skye, Eilean Donan
Castle, Culloden
Battlefield, Clava Cairns, Highland Distillery tour, Highland Folk Museum, Entry
to Scone Palace with coffee & shortbread, Entry to Doune Castle,
Entrance to Stirling Castle, Entrance to Linlithgow Palace, Entrance to
Culross Palace,
Mid-priced tickets to Edinburgh Tattoo
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Fully escorted
sightseeing as per itinerary
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Porterage of one suitcase per person
(in addition, you can bring one carry-on bag you porter yourself )
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Hotel tips and taxes
(Except
tips to
Driver/Guide)
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Note: Air
arrangements are on your own because many people today wish to use miles
from credit cards, etc. or stay extra days. Air rates can be found many
places on the internet.
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Itinerary
Day One – 8/10/16 - Wednesday
Edinburgh - Tour begins - On to Glasgow
Upon your arrival at Edinburgh Airport you will meet our group and our Driver
and Tour Guide. After greetings and introductions we board
our comfortable coach and make our way to Glasgow. Keep your eyes open!
You may spot an Outlander actor or two roaming the streets of Glasgow!
Glasgow’s George Square features in the scene where Frank spontaneously
proposes to Claire.
After arriving in Glasgow we make a stop at St. Mungo Cathedral and Museum.
This award-winning museum, named after Glasgow's patron saint, is home to
inspiring displays of artifacts and stunning works of art exploring the
importance of religion in peoples’ lives across the world and across time.
Also in Glasgow we will have time to visit Pollok House, which is located
in Pollok Country Park. The park is the field where Claire
searches for medicines and herbs to treat the sick and also doubles as the
grounds surrounding the fictional Castle Leoch. The ancestral home of the
Maxwell and Jardine families was built in 1752 and designed by William Adam. It was
given to the City of Glasgow in 1966 by The Honorable Anne Maxwell-Jardine,
whose family had owned the estate for almost 700 years. It is now managed by the
National Trust for Scotland and displays a large, private collection of
Spanish paintings as well as glass, silverware, porcelain and antique furniture.
The house also has an extensive garden, boasting a collection of over 1,000
species of rhododendrons. The gardens behind the main house contain the Pollok
Park Beech tree which is thought to be 250 years old. This tree has an unusual
form with a swollen trunk (7 m girth at grade and 10 m girth at 10 m height) and
a gnarled mass of branches.
Tonight we relax in this beautiful Scottish city and enjoy an included dinner
with the group.
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Day Two – 8/11/16 - Thursday
Glasgow-Fort William
After breakfast we begin our journey to Fort
William. As we depart Glasgow we almost immediately
start to witness Scotland’s wonderful scenery as we run along the “Bonnie Banks
of Loch Lomond”. Next on our schedule is a relaxing Boat Cruise on
Loch Lomond, a freshwater Scottish loch (lake) which crosses the Highland Boundary
Fault. It is the largest inland stretch of water in Great Britain by surface
area. The loch contains many islands, including Inchmurrin, the largest
fresh-water
island in the British Isles. As we near
Fort William we will detour to take a spectacular ride on a ski gondola to view Britain’s
highest mountain, Ben Nevis (weather permitting).
Tonight will be spent in Fort William as we look forward
to traveling to the Isle of Skye tomorrow. Dinner with the group is
included. |
Day Three – 8/12/16
- Friday Fort William - Isle of
Skye - Inverness
After breakfast we begin our journey towards
Scotland's famous Isle of Skye. After a 30 minute ferry crossing to Skye we
arrive at Armadale on the Sleat peninsula. Here the stark rise of the
jagged Cuillin ridge drops to the gentle white of a soft sand beach. This is a
place where time means nothing, and beneath every footstep lies 500 million
years of history. We have arranged a special visit on Skye at Armadale
Castle & Gardens, a 20,000-acre highland estate in south Skye. Once
part of the traditional lands of Clan Donald, the Estate was purchased by the
Clan Donald Lands Trust in 1971. Part of the Castle has been restored and
the striking ruined remains sensitively re-designed, to create an attractive
landscape within the gardens. The Estate offers some stunning walks
for all levels of fitness, with views eastwards across the Sound of Sleat to
Knoydart, or on the west of the peninsula across to the Cuillin mountain range.
It is home to iconic wildlife species including red deer, golden eagles and sea
eagles.
As we drive back into the Scottish highlands from Skye, we will come to
Eilean Donan Castle, (check out this live webcam!
http://www.eileandonancastle.com/webcam/ ) one of the most recognized castles in Scotland.
Strategically located on its own little island, overlooking the Isle of Skye, at
the point where three great sea-lochs meet, and surrounded by the majestic
splendor of the forested mountains of Kintail, Eilean Donan’s setting is
truly breath-taking. The castle was founded in the thirteenth century, and
became a stronghold of the Clan Mackenzie and their allies the Clan
Macrae. In the early eighteenth century the Mackenzies' involvement in the
Jacobite rebellions led in 1719 to the castle's destruction by government ships.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap's twentieth-century reconstruction of
the ruins produced the present buildings. The castle is today entered from the
south, via a modern portal complete with a portcullis. Above the door is a
Gaelic inscription which in translation reads: "As long as there is a Macrae
inside, there will never be a Fraser outside", referring to a bond of
kinship between the two clans, and a similar inscription which once adorned the
Fraser's home at Beaufort Castle.
Before arriving at our centrally located hotel in Inverness, we will have an
opportunity to search for the famous Nessie as we travel along the banks
of Loch Ness!
Tonight we will spend the first of 2 nights in Inverness, where you will have
the opportunity to experience the local offerings on your own for
dinner.
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Day Four
– 8/13/16 - Saturday
Inverness
After
breakfast we depart our hotel and visit Culloden Battlefield and Visitor
Center. Besides being an important landmark for the fans of the
popular Outlander novels and TV series, this is important because it is
where the highland Scots tried to beat the British and bring back Bonnie Prince
Charlie. The defeat completely changed Scottish history forever.
After the Scots lost the battle, the English completely destroyed the Highland
Culture. The people starved and died in great numbers. Many also
left and came to America.
Also nearby, we will visit Clava Cairns,
the site of an exceptionally well preserved group of prehistoric burial cairns
that were built about 4000 years ago. The Bronze Age cemetery complex is
comprised of passage graves, ring cairns, kerb cairn, standing stones in a
beautiful setting and the remains of a chapel of unknown date.
We will have time,
before returning to our hotel, to enjoy a tour of a famous highland Scotch
Whisky Distillery. Whisky distilleries were founded in this environment
because it is rich in the highest quality ingredients: pure, clear spring water
and abundant supplies of fragrant golden barley.
Dinner on your own
tonight to allow you to explore the local offerings.
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Day Five
- 8/14/16 - Sunday
Inverness - Stirling
Our
Scottish circle resumes as we prepare to leave the Highlands, stopping along the
way at The Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore. The Museum,
recognized as Britain’s first mainland open-air museum, offers replicas of 18th
century turf-roofed crofts and made the ideal choice for period scenes in
Outlander, including in and around the Mackenzie village It also
provided the background for the scene where Claire, Jamie and his
clansmen shelter in the first episode, and later when Dougal collects the
rent. In this living history Museum you can learn how the Scottish
Highland ancestors lived, how they built their homes, how they tilled the soil
and how they dressed, in a friendly and welcoming environment. Set in a one mile
long, 80 acre site, live actors and restored buildings help bring Highland
history to life. The museum not only encapsulates human endeavor and development
in Highland life from the 1700s to the present day, but offers an opportunity to
explore a beautiful natural setting, home to red squirrels and tree creepers.
Our
journey today will also include a stop at the Scone Palace, “crowning place to the Kings of Scots”
where coffee and shortbread will be served. We then continue through mid-Scotland’s
lovely scenery toward the ancient city of Stirling.
Before continuing to our hotel in Stirling we
will make a stop at the stunning Doune
Castle, which is important to both Outlander and Monty Python and
the Holy Grail fans. Doune Castle plays a leading role in the Outlander show
substituting for the fictional Castle Leoch - home to Column MacKenzie
and his clan in the 18th century episodes. It also features in the 20th
century episode where Claire and Frank visit the castle in ruins on a day
trip. Once a royal residence, Doune Castle - although now in a ruined
state - is still full of charm. Find out how grand banquets would have
once been prepared in the kitchen and servery as well as admire its striking 100
ft high gatehouse and beautifully preserved great hall. It was also Swamp Castle, Castle Anthrax and Camelot
in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and more recently a location in the pilot for
Game of Thrones. Doune Castle was the home of Robert Stewart, the 1st
Duke of Albany. He was ruler of Scotland, in all but name, from 1388 until
his death in 1420.
Tonight we will stay in Stirling, with many
options for local cuisine within walking distance of our hotel.
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Day
Six - 8/15/16 - Monday
Stirling- Edinburgh
(Check out this live webcam of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh!
http://www.scotvista.com/webcam/live-streaming-royal-mile-high-street-edinburgh-webcam/10029.html
)
Today we visit Stirling Castle,
dominating the local landscape. This castle, located in Stirling, is
one
of the largest and most important castles, both historically and
architecturally, in Scotland. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive
crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is
surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive
position. Its strategic location, guarding what was, until the 1890s, the
farthest downstream crossing of the River Forth, has made it an important
fortification from the earliest times. Most of the principal buildings of the
castle date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A few structures of the
fourteenth century remain, while the outer defenses fronting the town date from
the early eighteenth century. Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been
crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1542. There have been at
least eight sieges of Stirling Castle, including several during the Wars of
Scottish Independence, with the last being in 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie
unsuccessfully tried to take the castle.
We will also make a stop at Linlithgow
Palace. These majestic ruins, once a favored royal residence of the
Stewart kings and queens and the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots, stands in
for the prison entrance and corridors (remember the Coos running down the
corridor?) in the scene where Jamie is imprisoned. This wonderful
15th century ruin still brings a sense of awe when entering through its gates
into its elegant cobbled courtyard. It also offers a great insight into
what life in such a vast palace must have been like.
(Note: We will
try to go to Midhope Castle, (Lallybroch) subject to availability!)
Tonight we will spend the first of 2 nights in
Edinburgh, Scotland's capital city. Our hotel is centrally located,
allowing you free time to explore this vibrant city!
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Day Seven - 8/16/16 - Tuesday Edinburgh-Culross-Edinburgh
Today we
will make a visit to nearby Culross. The rustic town of Culross in
Fife is a unique example of what a town in Scotland would have looked like
during the 17th and 18th centuries. It saw its Mercat area transformed
into the fictional village of Cranesmuir -- the home of Geillis Duncan
and her husband Arthur and has also been used for filming scenes in episode 2. A stroll along the town's charming cobbled
alleyways is about as close to stepping back in time to the 18th century as you
can get. Behind the impressive historic Culross Palace is where you can
find the gorgeous herb garden that Claire works in in the grounds of the
fictional Castle Leoch. It is planted with lawns, herbs and vegetables of
the period.
This afternoon you will have some free time to
enjoy Edinburgh! You might want to take in the Fringe Festival, which will
be in full force on the Royal Mile in downtown Edinburgh!
Tonight we enjoy some final Scottish hospitality
and a Farewell Dinner before a spectacular finale to our stay, a visit to the
famous Edinburgh Military Tattoo which takes place in the Castle perched on top
of the hill overlooking the city!
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Day Eight - 8/17/16 - Wednesday
Edinburgh-USA
Sadly, today our Scottish vacation has come to its final day.
We will transfer to the Edinburgh Airport in good time to check in for our
flight. We will arrive home the same day
with many fond memories and new friends!
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Our exclusive tour
includes tickets to the famous
Edinburgh Military
Tattoo,
an annual series of
Military tattoos performed by
British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and International military bands
and display teams on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in the
Scottish capital, Edinburgh.
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You don't
want to go to Scotland and miss this! |
Everybody knows the cliché of the piper
on the shortbread tin.
But have you experienced the
breath-taking reality of a hundred pipers skirling in uplifting unison?
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We have a
few spaces left due to some cancellations. Call for availability!
Click Here for Price and Reservations!
Questions?
E-mail
Lynette at
lynette@travelingtroubadour.com
Or Call: (540)
887-8491
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