Scotland, Highlands & the Isle of Skye

Scotland is going to be my final destination before I head back home from the UK. My time on this side of the world has certainly been an enriching one, filled with both pleasant experiences and riveting lessons.

I've been to Scotland before for work, but it was in an industrial area, which never gave me the chance to fully explore the more scenic sight.

I could also never forget that unique, distinct Scottish accent from the locals, which was always amusing to hear.

The plan is to fly to Edinburgh and head into the highlands, where I'm looking forward to visit several places such as the Isle of Skye and Loch Ness. Getting into and around the highlands can be a pain, so do plan in advance (self-drive, coach rides, train, etc) or consider guided tour options.

Edinburgh

Had one day to explore Edinburgh (capital of Scotland), which was a pity as the general feeling I got from people around was very positive, and wished that I had more time there.

I've managed to visit the main sites and wandered the streets a little. Based on my experience, Edinburgh is probably one of the better, modern places to see 'Harry Potter buildings'.

Edinburgh Castle

Entry to Edinburgh Castle was quite expensive - £19.50! Still, there was significant ground to cover. For anyone interested in Scottish history, this is definitely the place for you. I kinda skimmed through most of the rooms, as it's always the same song about kings, war and power. I was quite lucky as well as to coincidentally pass by a guard firing blanks from the castle's artillery close up!

Walked over to Calton Hill next,  which was quite a good stop for photos, especially with its domed shaped structure (Dugald Stewart Monument) over-arching the city's landscape.

 Calton Hill

The hill had many other significant monuments on it, such as the 'National Monument' that kind of looks like the Acropolis. It is has a contemporary art gallery there as well, if your into that kind of stuff. 

The hike up Calton Hill isn't so bad. There is a slightly more strenuous one up Arthur's Seat, which is about a 40min incline hike 2-3 miles away. 

Arthur's Seat

Arthur's Seat summit is the highest point of an extinct volcano, which looks pretty bold from afar. I clearly wasn't dressed right for the hike, but still eventually made it up.

Summit of Arthur's Seat

At the top, there was a compass-like structure, with carved words on it, showing directional angles on where key locations are from that point. Lots of people walk the trail, so don't be too afraid of getting lost.

En-route to the various destinations, I was fortunate enough to catch a traditional Scottish bagpipe player on the streets. 

Bagpipe Player

It's one of 'uniquely Scotland' things that you cannot miss out on. Be aware though that most of these street performers will probably get pissed off if you start snapping photos without giving a 'donation'.

Edinburgh is truly a beautiful, modern yet historically rich country that houses some of the coolest people I've ever met. Compare a random shopkeeper in Edinburgh to that of London and you'll see a very big difference.

Scottish Highlands

The Scottish Highlands are a mountainous region encompassing northwest Scotland, home to many vast landscapes, less touched by modern civilisation. It is also where the Isle of Skye and Loch Ness resides.

There were a couple of nice stops to make en-route to Skye. Castle Stirling would be the first major stop to make, before heading on to Trossachs National Park to see some cute highland cows. 

Further north, the roads start to enter areas that reminded me of Lord of the Rings (similar to the southern parts of New Zealand). Picture yourself driving through a majestic valley of huge mountain ranges.

Glencoe

Glencoe was a prominent place I recalled, which was an epic U-shaped valley formed by ice age glaciation.

If your interested in seeing UK's highest mountain - Ben Nevis, you can consider making a stop at Fort Williams after Glencoe, to do your stock-check on food and necessities. If your driving up from Edinburgh, I'd recommend you to make one of the towns at the entrance of the Isle of Skye (I stayed in Broadford) your 'base camp' to travel around the area.

Isle of Skye

The Isle of Skye lies on the west coast of the highlands, known for its 'land before time' scenery, just like when dinosaurs walked the earth! It also had the influence on me of looking like a place straight out of a manga/anime/fantasy world/movie.


Visiting the fairy pools brought out the true Celtic myths of Scottish culture, which embodied a sense of magic in its unbelievably blue waters - if you ask me, I'd say this is where the fairies wash themselves.

Fairy Pools

The place is really only accessible by car/mini-bus due to the incredible screwed up one lane roads (that are two way) leading up to it.

I initially thought the Fairy Pools to be just one big fancy pond, but its made out various small pools. There is a trail leading through them and a hike down the whole stretch would take approximately an hour or so.

Another 'fairy' like place to visit would be Fairy Glen. It's another bumpy off-the beaten path spot amidst the farmlands. Though there's no definitive folklore linking the land to the magical realm, some say faeries created the dramatic landscape and still dwell within its many crevices.

Fairy Glen

Locals believe that if you walk around the mystical rock formation and make a wish in the center, it'll come true! Don't be that dumb Instagram chick that does it though, as it that will ruin the rock formation and destroy the landscape.

If your in Skye, you've got to get your hands on some of the local Scottish whiskey. I had mine at the Talisker Distillery in Carbos and it was a very pleasant experience.

 Skye Whiskey

I ordered the 'Skye' whiskey, which came in a 25ml glass. It had an alc. percentage of over 40 percent and costed around £4 - that's a good deal!

Dunvegan Castle was also around the area, which had a pretty nice garden around it that you could explore.

Dunvegan Castle

Floral Gardens

It's quite a relaxing walk around the premises, but entry into the place will cost you £16 - other than that, there's really nothing else to do in Dunvegan.


The Quiraing is the kind of place that leaves you breathless, and not just because you have to trek uphill. The craggy landscape looks like something from a magical realm. Its ridges roll toward the sky like great green waves.

The Quiraing

Though it looks like a serene scene straight from a dream, the Quiraing was formed by terrestrial turmoil. It’s one of Scotland’s largest landslips, and was created due to strain within its underlying layers of rock. Remember to dress accordingly to fend off the strong winds!

Another set of eye-catching cliffs to see is the Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls. Both cliffs are visible from the same observation point on the Trotternish Peninsula.

Kilt Rock and Mealt Falls

The Kilt Rock is the flat-surfaced cliff at the back which looks strikingly similar to a pleated kilt, whereas the Mealt Falls is the waterfall closer to the observation point.

Tried to catch a glimpse on the Old Man of Storr on the way back, but the sight was unfortunately blocked by some intense mist/clouds. Ended up in a fishing town called Portree to re-stock on supplies.

Portree

Even with just a population of 4,500+ people, Portree is one of the largest town and the capital of the Isle of Skye. It's crazy at how scarcely populated this whole section of Scotland is.

On the way back down to Edinburgh, there's a very photogenic castle called the Eilean Donan Castle, situated on an island at the point where the three great sea lochs (lochs are lakes in Scotland) meet.

Eilean Donan Castle

The place gave off this whole Game of Thrones vibe and was probably used exetensively for movies/wedding shoots.

Loch Ness is a large deep freshwater lake in the middle of the Scottish Highlands. The loch is best known for alleged sightings of the cryptozoological Loch Ness Monster, also known affectionately as 'Nessie'. No sign of her when I was there...

Loch Ness

The Loch Ness extends approximately 37km southwest of Iverness, and can be best viewed from a town called Fort Augustus. If you're willing to fork out some extra cash, you can take a boat trip up and down the loch.

 

Journeyed on to Pitlochry, a quaint Victorian town that had a christmas shop which opens for the year! It had a christmas tree that spat out small styrofoam balls as snow, which was then caught by an umbrella which spat them out again - blew my mind.


Headed back into Edinburgh through one of the three bridges that crosses the Firth of Forth, which looked epic. Felt quite exhausted after so much travel in the short span of three days, but it was worth the effort.

Overall Thoughts 

If I were to rate the best views in Europe, those in the Isle of Skye would probably top the list. Not only so, they've got the chillest and friendliest locals, compared to some of the other places I've been in Europe. If you ever find yourself in Scotland, do consider making the trip down to the Highlands to get a taste of what a dream-like magical land would be.

This concludes my time in the UK/Europe. What an adventure it has been!


P.S. Pictures have all been uploaded to Facebook and Instagram

Hot Air Balloon Ride - Bristol, Bath - 25/8/19

When we talk about people traveling through the sky, we usually think of planes. However long before the time of commercial jets, people read the winds and moved through the skies with hot air balloon. Remember the film 'Around the world in 80 days'? It heavily popularised ballooning back then in 2004, and its been 15 years since for me to eventually give it a try.

I booked my initial flight to happen during the 2019 Bristol Balloon Fiesta event, but it was cancelled on due to unfavourable weather conditions. Had to then re-schedule to do it 2 weeks later. The provider I used was Bristol Balloons.

I had to get to the meeting point in Bristol at 6am on a Sunday, which sucked. Thankfully it was not cancelled this time round, but the group had to re-located to take-off from Bath instead, due to the wind conditions. 

There were several other ballooning providers in the area, which gave off a nice mini mass ascent feel that I obviously missed at the fiesta event.

Other ballooning providers in the area

 

Other ballooning providers

We all helped to prep our balloon by laying out the 'envelope' for the pilot. It was quite a big canvas and took some effort!

After the safety briefings on how to get on and off the balloon and things to not touch, the pilot brought us up into the air by maneuvering four different burners under the balloon.

 Hot air!

In case your wondering how it all works, the air (nitrogen, carbon dioxide, oxygetn,etc) in the balloon is heated up and starts expanding. This reduces the pressure allowing the hot air balloon to fly up. I could feel the heat from the basket and the flame roaring loudly whilst all this was going on.

Ascending happens very quickly, but the pilots are usually skilled and I didn't feel a thing at all! In fact, we were all rewarded with an amazing view of bath and the green lands surrounding it.

View of Bath

 Very interesting lay-out

 Group photo

Balloon selfie

In the air, it was very quiet and serene. Looking down, you could definitely feel like you were at a height that could kill you if anything happened. Otherwise, I barely even felt the balloon moving at all.

I'm not too sure how the balloon is piloted, but I believe that its more wind dependent and the pilot has to read that a lot better and make adjustments to the ground pick-up crew accordingly. As for keeping the balloon in the air, what I believe happens is that the balloon eventually descends a little as hot air escapes, and the pilot heats it up again to bring it back up to a suitable height.

We even had some champagne mid way, which was quite nice!

Descending was also not too bad, with it just being a slight bump on the ground a few times, into an open grass field.

Helped packed the balloon after into the attached vehicle and headed back soon after. Overall, it was a positive experience - highly recommended for families and couples! (Unlike me)

Greece, land of mythology & Mt. Olympus climb

Greece has always intrigued me due to it's major influence on famous stories, games and movies. More often than not, you'd see references to greek legends here and there, making it seem like a fantasy land from the outside world.

Of course, it has many eye-catching sights, not just in its landmarks, but having very beautiful people too. My trip here had me visiting Santorini, Athens and a climb up Mt Olympus. The trip was made in the summer which was a peak season for tourists as well.

Santorini

Santorini is one of the cyclade islands (group of greek islands) of Greece, which is home to a fairy-tale like area of white buildings facing the aegean sea. I've only been able to make it to Oia and Fira, as I only had one full day there. Nevertheless, it was a worthwhile experience.

It's probably common knowledge that this is a very good place to take photos, which has caused the rise of poor dads/white knight bfs/whipped husbands taking throngs of pictures for their 16 y.o. daughters/gold diggin' sorority gfs/wives. I kid, lol.

Oia (silent 'O' and is pronounced as 'ee-ya'), is exactly how it looks like in postcards and on travel magazines. Lots of people taking marriage photos, and definitely lots of couples as well.

Oia - night view

Oia - day view

(Touched up pic, as there was way too much shadow)

Oia - sea view

Iconic blue bell tower

It was blisteringly hot at the time of the year (summer). Things were also rather pricey - but fret not, there are supermarkets away from the main Oia streets that have affordable things to eat, just don't be too picky. However, if like many, your here with a 'partner' on one of your 'dream dates' and have to eat well to impress, then your shit out of luck.

I've covered the main parts of Oia within half a day and had to take the local bus (€1.80 for one-way) to Fira in the afternoon to grab my ferry tickets to Athens.

Fira was quite decent, with its streets being similar to Oia, only with a lot more ground to cover.

Fira

 Dog chillin'

Donkeys

You can take these donkeys up and down the 588 steps of Fira to and from the old port, but I didn't do so as the handlers were quite rude. It was also discouraged by the locals as these donkeys are being abused and exploited by the handlers behind closed doors.

Ended up walking the whole way down and back up, which was quite the workout and had to avoid a lot of donkey shit both ways.

 Old port of Fira

Grilled squid

Seafood was absolutely amazing. It cost me €14 (okay-ish I guess), not for just the meal, but also the crazy sick view of the sea right beside me, which was literally sparkling in the glow of the sun.

Headed on to Athinios Port Santorini the next day to take a 8 hour ferry ride to Athens.

Ferry from Santorini to Athens

It's was quite a solemn feeling to be sitting on the open decks, glaring into the sea all zoned out, trying to follow the waves into the horizon. It does help fight the boredom of waiting.

Athens

The capital of Greece, Athens has quite a dense population of locals and tourists. This area was also the heart of ancient Greece, featuring various historic landmarks and buildings - some of which are still standing today for the public to see.

Sunblock is definitely recommended during summer times, as the heat wave is even worse than that of Santorini. I've literally burnt to a crisp.

The first place of interest for me was the Panathenaic stadium, which was home to the very first modern olympic games in 1896. Another neat fact was that spectator areas are all made out of white marble.

Panathenaic Stadium

Greece hosted the first modern Olympics in 1896

Next was the Temple of Olympian, Zeus which had majestic pillar columns that formed the foundations for a place to worship him in the past. It was also considered to be one of the largest temples ever built in the ancient world.

Temple of Olympian, Zeus

Close up view of Zeus's temple

It was theorised that the original temple had 104 columns, but only 15 remain standing today.


The largest attraction in Athen's would have to be the Acropolis, which is an ancient citadel located high up the hills of Athens. The area contains several ancient buildings round the slopes, all of which hold great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon.

Parthenon

Parthenon back view

Temple of Athena Nike

Bird's-eye view of Athens

I'd strongly recommend you pre-book your tickets online and physically show up at 8am (opening time). Coming 1-2hours later makes a HELL LOT of difference as thousands of people from tour groups start pouring in, creating an insane queue to the top.

The slopes is also home to a few notable sites:

 Theatre of Dionysus

 Hadrian library

Temple of Hephaestus

In my opinion, most of these temples look similar to each other. Then again, there's probably a lot of back-story I'm missing out on. Perhaps doing some reading on the sites beforehand may make the visits more meaningful for you, if you can appreciate it. Alternatively, you can stand-around the numerous guides (stealthily) and start freeloading on their explanations.

Lots of very good food in Athens as well. It's best to get recommendations from locals as they'd know where's cheap and good (in my case, places were recommended to me by the owner of the boutique hotel I was staying at).

Kingfish on mashed potatoes @ Fish Point

Veal chop @ Mavro Provato

All the meals were of very high quality, at only the cost of ~€15 all-in. If you ever find yourself around the Plastira Sq. in Athens, do check em' out.

Met with some greek friends that lived in Athens as well who showed me a really nice time. It's always a pleasant experience to catch-up with old buddies again.

3 Malakas

Glad to hear that everyone's doing well! Thanks again for showing me around and letting me sample some traditional greek food. It's pretty funny to keep calling each other 'malakas', even though it's vulgarish - ignorance is always bliss. :D

Meteora

A little poor planning on my end, taking the day trip to Meteora from Athens, instead of going to Litochoro first. Took the train from Athens station to Kalambaka, where I met the tour group to bring us around Meteora.

Meteora is a UNESCO world heritage site, with monasteries built atop rock formations. It translates to 'suspended in the air' in Greek, which was quite apt. It's also the name of Linkin Park's second studio album!

Meteora

Learnt a lot about the history of the monks & nuns in Meteora and how they're able to go about their daily lives climbing up and down these rocks (with ladders and steps of course). Could've probably been more attentive to the guide, but it felt a little too informative then,  which was made worse by all the 'enthusiastic' families on holiday. Just really needed the transport around Meteora, and joining a tour group seemed to be the easiest option then. Argh.

Mt Olympus 

Had to take the train down from to the quiet town of Litochoro, which was the closest town to Mt Olympus. Went to my hotel and was blessed to meet the sweetest and most helpful owner ever, Stella - bless her soul.

Got supplies from the local supermarket and started to prep for the two day climb which I had to embark on the next day.

Mt Olympus is likely the most iconic mountain of Greece, with its highest elevation being 2918m at Mytikas peak, which also happens to be the highest point in Greece.

Our guide for the trip was with Giannis, a local greek guy who was super fit and showed us the way up the mountain. The ascent was quite painful on the legs, but it was just one of those suffer fest moments that you had go through.

View from Kakalos refuge

I felt that the paths were a little too exposed for my liking. I was literally on narrow trails at the edge of various other mountains, where one bad slip could become very fatal. The climb up to Mytikas peak had some 'simple-ish' rock-climbing elements, but the speed at which we had to go up, and the presence of so much loose rock made it feel a quite sketchy as well. Nevertheless, I made it to the top.

Summit of Mytikas (2,918m)

View from the summit

The amazing sights on the way and the experience of putting your life out there with the sole goal of conquering the mountain, made the whole trip an eventful experience to remember for sure.

Will definitely miss Greece and its jovial environment where people are just so happy and enjoying life to its fullest - hopefully I'm able to genuinely do that someday.