Our friends, Lori and Bruce, were traveling to Europe so they came to Scotland for a quick visit. We were going to meet them in Edinburgh and show them the city before moving on to St. Andrews. Or at least that was the plan until their plane got delayed by two days…… We did meet them in Edinburgh but almost immediately got on the train to Leuchars, the train station closest to St. Andrews. However, we found ourselves with two days in Edinburgh and made the best of it!
One place we had never been to is Dean Village, a quiet residential part of the city that is really beautiful.
With the extra time on our hands, we continued to explore parts of the city we had not been to before. One was Calton Hill with its great views of the city and Arthur’s Seat.
No trip to Edinburgh is complete without dinner at our favorite restaurant, The Witchery and our favorite pub, The Last Drop, the site of many shenanigans over the years, going back to Deb’s days as a student in Edinburgh.
You can look up why the symbol for The Last Drop is a hangman’s noose, or just guess……
Finally, our very tired friends made it to Scotland and we headed up to St. Andrews to see the town and play a little golf.
St. Andrews is known for two things, an outstanding University, and as the Home of Golf. There are also some ruins from an old castle and Cathedral, but really you go there to either go to Uni (as the Brits say!) or to play golf. It’s also a very pretty place.
The town is centered around the very old, and very famous, golf courses and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.
The view from the roof top bar at Rusack’s Hotel is amazing! It overlooks the 1st and 18th Fairways of the Old Course.
The famous Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole. Every famous golfer, and probably millions of not-so-famous ones, have had their pictures taken on this bridge. Ours is at the top of this page!
The bunkers on the Old Course can be quite challenging. This is the bunker on the Road Hole, the 17th hole. It’s almost 6 feet deep!
Deb and Lori visited the St. Andrews Heritage Museum and Gardens and we walked around most of the town for a lovely couple of days.
The residents of St. Andrews are very accommodating to the golfing tourists, even providing service above and beyond expectations!
Too bad we only got to spend about 90 minutes in Edinburgh😢, but our time in St Andrews was wonderful. Dave and Deb, thank you for a wonderful time in Scotland.
It was so good to see you!