All Aboard The
Hogwarts Express
Scotland’s
latest tourist attraction is the Harry Potter train, but that is not the only
thing magical about the country
The
country’s history dates back to the Middle Ages... And Edinburgh is known as
the Athens of the North!
We went to Scotland
because of the kids; because the kids were looking for magic – specifically the
Harry Potter train ride, given that Scotland is JK Rowling’s land.
This was our annual
vacation abroad. Jay, my husband, is a member of the Young Presidents’
Organisation and also the International Forum group. Every summer, the members’
families travel together for a holiday.
Initially, when the group
was new, we visited each other’s countries, but this year, it was Scotland –
so, exciting for the kids!
QUEEN
OF ALL CITIES
Our trip to Scotland was
for five days, of which one was spent in Edinburgh, where we visited all the
tourist haunts: the castles, the museums and the lovely restaurants. For
vegetarians like us, the menus were limited, but the food was still wonderful.
In Edinburgh, we stayed
at the Caledonian, a Waldorf Astoria property right in the heart of town.
Apparently, in the old days, this used to be a railway hotel. The railway ended
right there and passengers who wanted to stop overnight would just book
themselves in. So the hotel has an interesting history, just like Edinburgh
itself.
Edinburgh is sometimes
known as the Athens of the North. One of the most beautiful cities in Europe,
it has two distinct areas, the old town and the new town. But the two, somehow,
are seamlessly connected. No wonder the city has been awarded UNESCO’s world
heritage site status.
Edinburgh Castle sits on
a big volcanic rock in the old town. On
our first day, as we
rushed to the castle, we went via a huge garden next to one of the main
streets, which kind of cascades downwards, almost like a V-shaped space. There
were lovely walkways and gardens for picnics and afternoon lazes, but in the
old days, according to our guide, the space was a dark and eerie lake with all
kinds of strange stories attached.
The castle itself is a
fortress with a palace within. We went through the lovely rooms where the king
and queen lived, the rooms where gatherings took place, the chapel, and the
kitchens. Part of the castle has been turned into a museum, with lifelike
models of the past: the kings, the queens, the working people, soldiers,
children and scenarios from that era. It was beautifully done and I wish our
museums in India were like that.
That evening, we went for
a walk through the old town. Our guide was actually an actor and, dressed in a
black cape and a black hat, he took us past interesting sights and enacted
stories from those eras, complete with different voice tones and accents. This
turned the whole evening into a gigantic tale – a fascinating way to learn some
history.
TOSSING
THE CABER
There was more history
the next day, when we visited the Scone Palace, home of the family of the earl
and countess of Mansfield for the past 400 years, and the place of Scottish
coronations. The throne at Scone is really just a piece of stone, but a newly
crowned king would always walk down the aisle towards it in a ceremony attended
by royals and nobles.
Later,
we played highland games in the palace grounds: traditional games played by
villagers, such as tossing the caber. The caber is a large 4-feet pole, which
you have to pick up, spin around and toss, aiming to have it land on the ground
in the 12 o’clock position. Then we played weight over the bar, swinging a
block of wood and throwing it over a bar placed 15 feet behind us, and later we
tossed gumboots into large tyres. Funny games, made funnier by the fact that we
really couldn’t play them! We also went for a safari – a drive in the mountains
of Scotland. On our way up, we stopped at a military-looking camp for a lunch
of soup and sandwiches, and then continued to the point we’d been aiming for –
a lookout point reached by a short walk through some woods. There was the most
amazing view of the lakes below – it was just beautiful! We were 2,000 feet
above sea level, and down below was a little village surrounded by green trees.
Gorgeous! But by the time we had our phones out to shoot pictures, it was all
gone. Fog had rolled in and the scenery vanished. That’s the Scottish climate
for you ;weather changes by the minute. You could have rain to mist to sunshine
all in the space of three minutes.
MACBETH’S
DINNER
An hour and a half away
from Edinburgh is a lovely resort called Gleneagles, where we’d shifted when we
had our fill of the city. It’s huge, with pretty gardens, a maze, a golf
course, and a swimming pool. And it turned out to be owned by an Indian family
connected to the Mittals. Amazing!
Close to Gleneagles is
Glamis Castle, where we went for a royalstyle dinner, complete with men in
kilts, the cutlery and crockery of Scotland of old, and jokes and stories from
the past. Between courses, a man played the pipes while a girl dressed in a
traditional highland dress did the highland fling. We were taken to its oldest
parts – including Duncan’s Hall, famous to us because of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
To end this traditional evening, we were bowed out like royalty, stepping into
our cars to the tunes of a pipe band, complete with drumming.
Later we took a
helicopter ride over the breathtaking terrain. It was spectacular. The pilots
were also guides who pointed out various sights and told us about them.
THE
HARRY POTTER MOMENT
But as I said, we’d gone
to Scotland looking for magic, so the helicopters dropped us off at Mallaig,
where we were to board the Hogwarts Express, a Jacobite steam train, which was
used in the famous scene of the Potter films when the Hogwarts Express goes
over a viaduct. That was the Glenfinnan Viaduct, which has 21 arches. We were
all so excited about the fact that this was the train that Harry Potter was filmed
in, so we boarded, thrilled, and then realised that the train is actually quite
small; not half as glamorous as it seemed in the movie.
But even so, it is the
Harry Potter train, complete with a shop in one of the carriages, selling Harry
Potter merchandise from T-shirts to wands, badges to broomsticks, and all the
sweets and chocolates named in the books. Yes, it’s THE Harry Potter train, and
it’s quite a ride! You can’t leave Scotland without taking a ride in it.
·
By Juhi Chawla
·
HTBR 23OCT16
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