Aberdeen, Scotland

 Our packing for this cruise was planned around cool to cold days and lots of rain which seemed to be predicted as we anticipated our time in Scotland. The day in Edinburgh held true to that but we awoke to our arrival in Aberdeen to bright sunny skies. The wind however, was another thing. 

The deep port for Aberdeen which opened only a few years ago for larger ocean vessels, has a narrow entrance and the winds were rather strong as we approached. We thought it was taking a long time to get in and then came the announcement: everything would be delayed for a time until we could navigate the entrance and dock the ship.

It took three tries, several tugboats, the captain's patience and we finally made it an hour later than ezpected. When the captain announce we were good, he said he had been within ten minutes of cancelling the port. We finally made our way to the lounge to obtain our tickets for our excursion and await our call to the bus. The sun was still shining but we were toting rainjackets and umbrellas as insurance and had an extra layer of clothes on because we were expecting a windy day.

Our excursion was only delayed a half hour and we were soon well on our way out of the port and past the town of Aberdeen to Stonehaven where the Dunnator Castle was waiting to be explored. I was a little anxious about this excursion since we were warned that it was a bit strenuous with at least 180 steps down and out to the castle. Of course that meant 180 steps up on the return.

The drive was pleasant and we enjoyed the chatter of the Irish guide who now lives in Aberdeen where his previous job brought him. The countryside was all I had imagined Scotland to be, a pleasant change from the bustling and touristy city of Edinburgh.

The Blacksmith's forge

The Dunnator Castle is a ruin but you can imagine what an amazing place it was in its day. It sits on a rocky outcropping along the shore of the ocean, an amazing marvel of stone buildings that had to be difficult to put together with materials having to be hauled up and down by horses.

While the existing buildings are dated back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it is believed it was a fortress even before then dating back to the early middle ages. 

A large kitchen with a "walk-in' oven so to speak and the remains of a sink appropriately placed under a window as is called for in all kitchen design today made me smile. 

A huge area where a blacksmith would have done his forging was another ruin near the stables that were all of stone but had windows where the horses must have been able to stick their heads out. 

All in all it was quite an impressive area to explore but as I looked at my watch, I knew it was time to tackle all those steps we had come down and up to return. Huffing and puffing, I proudly made it up to the top and anticipated my knees complaining for the rest of the day.

Our next stop was the litte town of Stonehaven nearby where we were able to wander about for a bit and stop at a quaint inn for a cup of cafe mocha. Stonehaven has a pretty harbor and a boardwalk along it tht was lined with metal sculptures.

The morning passed all too quickly and thankfully not the sun. It got warm enough to shed one layer of outerwear. I hoped the good weather would hold for the afternoon where we had planned to meet with friends we had made on our 2025 world cruise and who lived in Scotland.

Our friends took us to the David Welch Winter Gardens in Aberdeen where we strolled through lush tropical greens and flowering plants and caught up on all that has passed in the year and a half since we'd been together. The cafe offered some treets and I had another cafe mocha, my secon of the day. This one was almost like hot chocolate. It was a great time together and just as it was about to end, the rain began.

Our walk from where they had to drop us off in the visitor parking to where our ship's gangway was turned out to be a bit wet but the warmth of the connection we'd made with friends made it all worthwhile.