The Scottish Highlands

 We left the city behind today and headed to the Highlands, countryside, and Inverness.  As we started getting out in the country we were literally blown away by the beauty around each curve.  Scotland is absolutely breathtaking and these pictures don’t even begin to show it.

We toured Blackness Castle this morning.  This is Fort William, headquarters of Black Jack Randall in Outlander.  It was really cool and sits right on the water.

View from the top of the castle walkway 

We had lunch in Falkland which is the town Frank and Claire honeymooned in and Claire disappeared from.  The Bruce Fountain in town is the famous place where Frank sees Jamie looking up at Claire in the window.

The Bruce Fountain 

The Coventor Hotel - where Claire and Frank stayed.

This afternoon we went to Balmoral Castle, the Scottish home of the Queen.  The Queen actually owns this property so you don’t tour inside, just the grounds.  She will be arriving here in late July and will be here for a few months.  Queen Victoria and Albert bought this property in 1855 and did major renovations.  It is a beautiful place!

The conservatory 

The Dee River runs through Balmoral grounds

The date 1855 and Victoria and Albert’s initials

Exercising the Queen’s horses

We are staying in Inverness for the next few days.  It is a lovely town.  

Dinner at a cute pub right down from our apartment 

Inverness Castle

We started staying at Air B&Bs a while back and I highly recommend it.  We have a lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment right on the river.  It is very nice and we can walk to lots of restaurants and stores.

Lovely steam shower

This picture is at 10:10 at night and it’s still light outside!