Inveraray Castle
Door: Samantha de Bruijn
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Samantha
13 Oktober 2010 | Verenigd Koninkrijk, Glasgow
Like I wrote in my previous weblog entry, we have already scheduled a few of the trips we want to make. One of them was Inveraray Castle, which we visited Saturday (September 25). While trying to plan this trip using our very bad internet connection, we found out that getting to Inveraray wasn't that difficult. Although it would take us about two hours to get there, there is a direct connection between Buchanan bus station and Inveraray. The 'funny' thing is: it's not a very regular bus. We could arrive at either 10:15 or 13:50 and leave at 14:00 or 19:30 and the Castle being open from 10:00-17:45. See our problem? We decided we would take the 12:00 bus from Buchanan bus station, so we would be in Inveraray at 13:50, be able to spend 3.5 hours or so within the castle and the gardens, have dinner in Inveraray and have the 19:30 bus back.
Since we would be in the coach for quite a long time, I brought my new book with me. Just an 'old school' one with paper pages (instead of my e-reader) I bought Friday. It is a novel about Mary Queen of Scots during the reign of her cousin Elizabeth Queen of England (The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory). I really enjoyed the Tudors series at television and I want to know a little bit more about Mary without having to read those boring informative books. I find it quite funny how Philippa mentions some castle or houses we have seen or will see within the next three months.
When not reading my book, I looked outside the window to see the magnificent views. It was a beautiful ride and I can definitely see myself living in Scotland when I'll be big and old and wise (and green and ugly as my parents would say, referring to the Hulk). It was hard to make any photos in the coach (especially with the speed the coach driver kept driving at those turns), but we made it up by taking a lot of pictures of Inverary (Castle). Although it was a bit cold (5-13°C), it was a lovely day for taking pictures: sun, blue sky. You will see the result at Photobucket as soon as possible (need a proper internet connection for that).
After taking pictures, we walked to Inveraray Castle. The entrance to the park happened to be almost next to the bus stop and from there it was only a 10 minute walk. When we arrived at the castle, there would be no more guided tours, but in every room in the castle there was a box with information sheets about that particular room. In most castles or houses open to the public, there are few people walking around and keeping an eye on the property and its visitors. The lady that opened the door to the castle for us, asked us where we came from and continued talking in Dutch. You don't expect that in the in the Middle-of-Nowhere ehh... I mean Inveraray.
Some parts of the castle were closed to public, because the Duke of Argyll and his wife and children still live in there during summer holidays and Christmas. Unfortunately (for me), there was no library, but maybe my expectations are too high after seeing the library in Alnwick Castle two years ago. It was a nice castle, although I was more impressed by the Culzean Castle. But then again, that castle has been build to show off. Inveraray Castle did have a similar display of their collection of guns and swords, though.
As by tradition, we visited the castle shop although we did not really buy anything (this time). There was also a little tea room where we had some nice cheese scones (with salted butter!) and tea (don't forget to take out the tea bags as soon as you get your pot of tea, before it turns black). Since we bought tickets to the castle as well as the gardens and we had plenty of time left, we also had a look in the garden. It was not that big, but it gave you some nice views of the castle and the mountains/hills behind it.
By half past 5 we were really done seeing the castle and the garden, but there were still two more hours before our coach would depart, so we decided to eat something in Inveraray itself. We walked into East Main Street and we kind of suspected that is all there is to Inverary, so we soon found a cottage where we had our dinner.
The ride back was even more scary than the ride to Inveraray. When we took our seats in the coach, we heard the coach driver telling someone that he is a horrible driver. Well, that's a good start. He drove really fast and as I saw the steep slopes of the valleys passing by, I hoped this was not my last trip (ok, it wasn't that bad, but I think I made my point). As if that wasn't bad enough, a guy started smoking in the toilet of the bus, making a lady starting to cry hysterically because of the smell of smoke.
I was glad we all arrived safely and in good health at Buchanan bus station, where we took a cab back to Firhill Court.
Love, Samantha
-----------------------------
Inveraray Castle: http://www.inveraray-castle.com/
Weapons in Inveraray Castle: http://www.inveraray-castle.com/pages/content.asp?PageID=106
Library in Alnwick Castle: http://www.alnwickcastle.com/visiting-us/state-rooms
Since we would be in the coach for quite a long time, I brought my new book with me. Just an 'old school' one with paper pages (instead of my e-reader) I bought Friday. It is a novel about Mary Queen of Scots during the reign of her cousin Elizabeth Queen of England (The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory). I really enjoyed the Tudors series at television and I want to know a little bit more about Mary without having to read those boring informative books. I find it quite funny how Philippa mentions some castle or houses we have seen or will see within the next three months.
When not reading my book, I looked outside the window to see the magnificent views. It was a beautiful ride and I can definitely see myself living in Scotland when I'll be big and old and wise (and green and ugly as my parents would say, referring to the Hulk). It was hard to make any photos in the coach (especially with the speed the coach driver kept driving at those turns), but we made it up by taking a lot of pictures of Inverary (Castle). Although it was a bit cold (5-13°C), it was a lovely day for taking pictures: sun, blue sky. You will see the result at Photobucket as soon as possible (need a proper internet connection for that).
After taking pictures, we walked to Inveraray Castle. The entrance to the park happened to be almost next to the bus stop and from there it was only a 10 minute walk. When we arrived at the castle, there would be no more guided tours, but in every room in the castle there was a box with information sheets about that particular room. In most castles or houses open to the public, there are few people walking around and keeping an eye on the property and its visitors. The lady that opened the door to the castle for us, asked us where we came from and continued talking in Dutch. You don't expect that in the in the Middle-of-Nowhere ehh... I mean Inveraray.
Some parts of the castle were closed to public, because the Duke of Argyll and his wife and children still live in there during summer holidays and Christmas. Unfortunately (for me), there was no library, but maybe my expectations are too high after seeing the library in Alnwick Castle two years ago. It was a nice castle, although I was more impressed by the Culzean Castle. But then again, that castle has been build to show off. Inveraray Castle did have a similar display of their collection of guns and swords, though.
As by tradition, we visited the castle shop although we did not really buy anything (this time). There was also a little tea room where we had some nice cheese scones (with salted butter!) and tea (don't forget to take out the tea bags as soon as you get your pot of tea, before it turns black). Since we bought tickets to the castle as well as the gardens and we had plenty of time left, we also had a look in the garden. It was not that big, but it gave you some nice views of the castle and the mountains/hills behind it.
By half past 5 we were really done seeing the castle and the garden, but there were still two more hours before our coach would depart, so we decided to eat something in Inveraray itself. We walked into East Main Street and we kind of suspected that is all there is to Inverary, so we soon found a cottage where we had our dinner.
The ride back was even more scary than the ride to Inveraray. When we took our seats in the coach, we heard the coach driver telling someone that he is a horrible driver. Well, that's a good start. He drove really fast and as I saw the steep slopes of the valleys passing by, I hoped this was not my last trip (ok, it wasn't that bad, but I think I made my point). As if that wasn't bad enough, a guy started smoking in the toilet of the bus, making a lady starting to cry hysterically because of the smell of smoke.
I was glad we all arrived safely and in good health at Buchanan bus station, where we took a cab back to Firhill Court.
Love, Samantha
-----------------------------
Inveraray Castle: http://www.inveraray-castle.com/
Weapons in Inveraray Castle: http://www.inveraray-castle.com/pages/content.asp?PageID=106
Library in Alnwick Castle: http://www.alnwickcastle.com/visiting-us/state-rooms
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