Our First Expedition!

Today we ventured out on our first expedition to explore historic Scotland. We spent a full and wonderful day with our friends the Allens (Garrick & Andrea) and the Brewers (Chris & Rachel and their boys John and Sam). It was a fantastic time: a day full of beautiful scenery, fascinating history, and good times with great people.

Getting an early start, we caught an 8:10 bus and headed down to Dunfermline, about a 1.5 hour ride away. The main sight to see there is the old (OK, let's be honest, very old - it sits on the site of an abbey first built up in the early 12th century) palace and abbey. Dunfermline was for a long time the capital of Scotland, and in the (still functioning) nearby church, King Robert the Bruce lies buried under the altar.

Dunfermline Church from the northeast, standing over the ruins of the Abbey

Liana and I in front of the main entrance

The Great East Window of the Abbey

Stained glass in the Romanesque interior of the church

After exploring the ruins of the abbey and church, we hopped back on a bus and headed off to Aberdour, a small town a little ways away, where we grabbed some lunch. This is noteworthy only for the fact that Liana and I both tried our first bites of haggis! Garrick is a big haggis fan (and not Scottish - yes, these people exist), and let us eat off his plate. My opinion? It was actually pretty friggin' delicious. Think savoury, rich sausage, with a similar consistency to... hmm... somewhere between meatloaf and oatmeal... except way more appetizing than that ended up sounding. I guess it's tough to describe. You'll have to try it for yourself.

Scotland's national dish: haggis, neeps, and tatties!

Anyway, back on topic: filled with haggis, we wandered over to nearby Aberdour Castle, where we spent a good long while exploring the ruins and surrounding site. Aberdour Castle is one of the oldest in Scotland, inhabited continuously for almost 500 years from the 12th century on by the Mortimers and Douglases, and includes beautiful terraced grounds, a lovely garden, and St. Fillian's (a small 12th century church). Very cool stuff! I am such a sucker for that thrilling feeling that comes with knowing that the tightly curving stone stairwell you're climbing or the arched window you're looking out of (or whatever) has been climbed up/looked through by people for hundreds and hundreds of years! History is just fascinating.

Aberdour Castle ruins (the tower is the oldest chunk, dating to 12th century)

Liana takes in the view

Next on the itinerary was Elie, a small town in the East Neuk where we briefly stopped to check out the beach. The East Neuk is an area of several small fishing villages along the east coast of Fife, south of St Andrews. They are all quite quaint and charming, just what you'd expect.

Liana looking cold on the beach in Elie

Elie's exemplification of East Neuk quaint-ness

Finally, after yet another bus ride (ride 5/6 on the day - each of which averaged 45 minutes!) we arrived in Anstruther, another beautiful little East Neuk town, home to what is (apparently) the UK's number one place for fish and chips. It goes without saying that this was our dinner destination. My opinion? Well first, a little back-story. Apparently the people who started the Anstruther place sold it after it got huge, were out of the biz for a while, and then opened up another place in St Andrews (called Tail End) - which some claim is, in fact, better than Anstruther. We've now had both so I feel qualified to give an opinion. My vote is that as for the chips and the tartar sauce, Tail End was better. But for fish, Anstruther took it. The fish was crispier and less greasy than what we had in St Andrews. Pretty delish. The local fave is haddock, so that's what we had.

Anstruther Sunset

The gang in front of the famous "chippie"
L-R: Garrick, Andrea, Liana, John, Sam, Chris, Rachel

Another bus ride and we were home. What a day! It really made me aware of just how surrounded by history we are here. What an opportunity Liana and I have! OK. Enough exuberance for now. I'm exhausted and need to go to bed.