Scotland. More Than Only Five Days
Not that long ago, while having lunch in one of the restaurants on the summit of Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain, I ended up talking for nearly an hour with an elderly Scottish woman. She had left Scotland at the age of twenty-five and spent most of her life in Australia. As often happens when two travellers meet, one topic led naturally to another. We talked about Europe, Australia, mountains and travel before the conversation turned to New Zealand. At one point she smiled and said that New Zealand reminded her of Scotland. The comment stayed with me long after we had gone our separate ways.
Back home, I began looking through photographs from both countries. The comparison was not entirely unreasonable. Both have dramatic landscapes, vast open spaces and an extraordinary amount of green. Yet what surprised me most was not the similarity between New Zealand and Scotland. It was the number of memories that Scotland immediately brought back.
My visit had taken place more than ten years earlier and lasted only a few days as part of a longer tour around Great Britain. Since then I have travelled much more extensively, visited countries on several continents and returned to many places more than once. By all logic, Scotland should have become just another destination in a long list of journeys. Instead, it remained remarkably clear in my memory. Not because I spent weeks there. Not because it was the most spectacular country I have ever visited. Simply because so many small details have stayed with me. I can still remember hotels, roads, landscapes and moments that seemed completely ordinary at the time. Looking back, I realised that I remember Scotland far better than many places where I spent much longer.
Scotland Before Scotland
Like most people, I knew Scotland long before I ever visited it.
My first impressions came from school history lessons. That was where I learned about the formation of the United Kingdom, the often complicated relationship between Scotland and England, and historical figures such as Mary Stuart. Even at that stage, Scotland never seemed to be just another part of Britain. It appeared to have its own history, traditions and a strong sense of identity.
Like many children, I also grew up hearing stories about the Loch Ness Monster. Long before I could have pointed to Loch Ness on a map, I knew its name. It was probably the first place in Scotland that entered my imagination.
Later came Braveheart. Although the film is best known for its battles and the story of William Wallace, what stayed with me most was the landscape. It was probably the first time I became aware of the Scottish Highlands. Whether historically accurate or not, the film created a lasting image of green mountains, wide valleys and a country closely connected with its past. Interestingly, I did not associate Scotland with Harry Potter before my visit. The same was true of the James Bond films. Those connections only became obvious afterwards. Seeing the Glenfinnan Viaduct on screen or recognising Scottish landscapes in later films brought back memories of places I had already seen with my own eyes. Once you have travelled through Scotland, you begin to notice it in unexpected places.
By the time I finally arrived there, I already had a fairly clear picture of what Scotland would be like. Some of those expectations proved to be right. Others disappeared almost as soon as the journey began.
First Day in Scotland
My visit to Scotland formed part of a coach tour around Great Britain. I flew in to join the group, while most of the other travellers had already been on the road for several days. Scotland was only one part of a much longer itinerary that also included England and Wales, but from the very beginning it felt different.
Our first stop was Glasgow. What I remember most is not a particular building or monument, but the atmosphere of the city. We arrived on a Saturday evening, and the streets were full of people enjoying the weekend. Young women wore elegant dresses, groups of friends were making their way into the city centre, and many of the men were dressed in kilts. That was probably the first thing that genuinely surprised me. Before travelling to Scotland, kilts belonged in my mind to history books, official ceremonies or tourist brochures. In Glasgow they were simply part of everyday life. Nobody seemed to pay any attention to them. They were not costumes worn for visitors but perfectly natural clothing for a Saturday evening.
A Scottish Evening
After leaving Glasgow, we continued to our accommodation for the night. It was located on a university campus surrounded by green hills, a peaceful setting that contrasted sharply with the lively atmosphere of the city we had just left. A formal dinner had been arranged for our group that evening. One of the small details I still remember is being introduced to pulled steak for the first time. It is hardly the most important memory from the trip, but it is one of those unexpected details that have stayed with me.
The biggest surprise came later in the evening. A wedding reception was taking place at the venue, and for a few minutes we watched the guests arriving. The elegant dresses were impressive, but it was the men in kilts who immediately caught my attention once again. This was the second time in a single day that I had seen traditional Scottish dress worn as a completely natural part of everyday life. Our group admired the scene from a distance. It felt like a private family celebration, so none of us wanted to intrude by taking photographs. Sometimes it is enough simply to observe and remember.
Into the Highlands
The following morning began with a visit to Stirling Castle. I have already described the castle itself in a separate article, so I will not repeat its history here. What matters in the context of this journey is that it marked the transition from Scotland’s historic towns to the landscapes I had been looking forward to seeing for years.
From Stirling, our route headed north into the Highlands.
For much of the day we followed the A82, one of Scotland’s best-known scenic roads. The coach stopped at several viewpoints, giving us time to walk around, take photographs and simply enjoy the scenery. Some of my favourite photographs from Scotland were taken during those short stops rather than at famous landmarks. One of the highlights was Glencoe. At the time, I knew it only as one of Scotland’s most spectacular valleys. The broad glen, steep mountain slopes and the road winding through the landscape created one of the most memorable views of the entire journey. We also stopped briefly in Fort Augustus, where I had my first opportunity to walk along the Caledonian Canal and watch boats passing through the locks.
Only years later, while researching Glencoe for a separate article on this blog, did I discover the story of the 1692 massacre of the MacDonald clan. Learning that history gave a completely different context to photographs that had originally been taken simply because the landscape was so impressive.
That evening we reached Loch Ness. For much of the journey the road ran alongside the loch, although the water was often hidden behind trees. Needless to say, we did not see the famous monster. What I do remember very clearly is the hotel where we spent the night. It was a traditional stone building with a large fireplace in the main lounge, wooden panelling, mounted deer antlers and tartan fabrics covering sofas and armchairs. Even the room has stayed in my memory, which is unusual after so many years. It was one of those places that immediately felt unmistakably Scottish.
The Journey Back South
The following morning we continued north to Inverness, the northernmost point of our journey through Scotland. Although the city itself was one of the planned stops on our itinerary, I remember it mainly as the point where we turned around and began travelling south again.
On the return journey we visited two castles that left very different impressions.
Blair Castle is easy to recognise thanks to its white exterior, which stands out among the darker stone castles of Scotland. Photography inside was not permitted, as is often the case in privately owned Scottish estates. The interior I remember best was the entrance hall, where numerous mounted deer antlers immediately caught my attention.
Glamis Castle was completely different. Once again, photography was prohibited, but I can still picture the interiors surprisingly well. Rather than gold and marble, I remember wood, rich fabrics and upholstered walls. The rooms felt elegant but also comfortable, more like a family home than a royal palace. Years later, while visiting Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, I unexpectedly found myself thinking of Glamis. The two castles belong to different periods and styles, yet the extensive use of wood and textiles created a similar atmosphere in my mind.
As we continued south, the landscape gradually changed once again. Before reaching Edinburgh, we crossed the Firth of Forth. I still remember my first sight of the enormous red Forth Bridge stretching across the estuary. After several days spent among mountains, glens and lochs, it felt like the journey was slowly returning to the Lowlands and approaching its final destination.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh was the final stop of my journey through Scotland. By the time we arrived, the weather had changed completely. It rained heavily for most of the day, making photography far more difficult than I had hoped.
Despite the rain, we walked the entire length of the Royal Mile, from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to Edinburgh Castle. The city was hosting the Edinburgh Festival the so called EdFringe, and the streets were full of performers, musicians and artists. Looking back through my photographs today, many of them show street performances rather than historic buildings. The festival became just as much a part of my memory of Edinburgh as the city itself.
Although we reached Edinburgh Castle, I never visited its interior. Instead, one particular scene has remained with me for years. Standing below the castle rock, I watched rainwater flowing down the dark volcanic cliffs while the fortress rose high above. I spent quite some time trying to photograph that view. The weather was far from ideal, yet the rain gave the landscape a dramatic character that I still remember today.
What Stayed With Me
When I look back at that journey today, I still find it difficult to explain why Scotland has remained so vivid in my memory. It was not my longest trip. It was not the most ambitious itinerary I have ever followed. Nor was it a country I returned to again and again.
Yet more than ten years later I can still remember a surprising number of details: the atmosphere of Glasgow on a Saturday evening, a wedding reception seen from a distance, the road through Glencoe, the hotel near Loch Ness, the interiors of Glamis Castle and the rain falling below Edinburgh Castle.
Perhaps that is because Scotland was never just a collection of places to visit. Throughout the journey, history, landscape and everyday life seemed to exist side by side. Castles were often still private homes. Kilts were worn to weddings rather than for tourists. Even the most famous landscapes were part of a living country rather than an open-air museum. Years after my visit, the Brexit referendum only reinforced an impression I had already formed during those few days. Scotland had always seemed to me a country with a strong sense of its own identity, even while remaining part of the United Kingdom.
Perhaps that is why a conversation on the summit of Zugspitze brought Scotland back to me so easily. Sometimes it takes only a single remark to realise that a journey made many years ago has never really disappeared from memory.
In fact, while travelling through Bavaria recently, hiking in the mountains and exploring historic towns, we found ourselves trying to persuade the friend who had organised the trip to consider Scotland for a future journey. Bavaria reminded us how enjoyable it can be to combine mountain hiking with the exploration of historic cities and castles. Scotland seems like the perfect place to do exactly that, and I have a feeling that one day I will return with a camera and a little more time than I had on my first visit.
