Charming Culross and St. Andrews

We left Edinburgh this morning via coach in the capable hands of our driver, Colin. Although there are only 26 of us, the coach has seats for 50, so we can spread out. A mention about traffic in Edinburgh, and the villages we've visited so far: because many of the roads in the city and villages predate cars, they are narrow and winding. Nevertheless, cars tool right along. Colin has done an amazing job navigating our large motorcoach in tight spaces. Dennis is quite impressed! Also, pedestrians do NOT have right-of-way, so crossing the road on foot can be a risky adventure!

We crossed the Firth of Forth, with views of the three bridges, then on to our first stop in the tiny village of Culross. The "palace" there is an interesting example of a 17th century home (for the wealthy, at least). A number of scenes from the Outlander series were filmed here.

Next was a stop in St. Andrews, famous as the home of golf. The Auld Course is beautiful, but we spent our time after lunch wandering the medieval streets up to the ruins of the thousand year old cathedral, once the largest church in Scotland.

We arrived at our home for the next two nights, the Kenmore Inn, dating to 1572 and billed as the oldest hotel in Scotland, in time to relax with our tour companions before dinner. The weather was pleasant enough to sit outside. Following an excellent dinner of Scottish salmon, we had a lovely walk to the Kenmore castle before dark (which comes later since we are far north).Read more