St. Andrew and Fife

Our 3-day overview of the Highlands concluded, we booked a much smaller, one-day tour of the area around Glasgow for today. The tour began just around the corner from our hotel, and took us to the first stop, which was the Kelpies -- those huge horse head sculptures which had been the first stop on our previous trek. Having been there just a few days before, we used the time to check out the longboats in the canal nearby.

Next stop was the village of Culross, another quaint, well-preserved collection of old buildings and a place where scenes from Outlander had been filmed. The "market cross" that marks the center of town features a unicorn, rather than the traditional cross.

Wind and rain dampened our visit, and made the cobblestones on the streets slippery underfoot. But one shop we ducked into to stay dry still had the old, open-rafter ceilings with original painted designs. A coffee shop still looked like the pub it had been a few centuries ago.

The main attraction of the day was the town of St. Andrews. It's another well-preserved place full of historical buildings. But one has never seen so many golf shops! St. Andrews is where golf was born, and the "Old Course" literally begins right at the end of one of the main streets.

Usually, the Old Course is closed to golfers on Sundays, and visitors are welcome to stroll over it. Unfortunately, a big golf tournament was underway. So (expensive) tickets were required to get onto the course, and movement was restricted by golfers, caddies, and TV crews. We got as close as we could.

Also famous here is the University of Saint Andrew, the UK's third most prestigious after Oxford and Cambridge. Prince William and Princess Kate are famous alumni. Buildings are off-limits without a student or faculty ID, but we did get as far as the lobby (and restrooms) of the main library. And visitors are free to roam the quads and green spaces. The university and the town are intermingled.

At the opposite end of town from the Old Course are two ruins perched on cliffs above the North Sea. One is the Saint Andrews Castle. Begun in the early 13th century, the castle's main task was to protect the town and the cathedral -- Scotland's ecclesiastical center. But both the castle and the cathedral were the focus of Protestant anger during the Reformation led by John Knox in the 16th century. By the 17th century it had fallen into such disrepair that the city council began using it as a quarry so that stones could be used to repair other structures.

The cathedral was a huge Romanesque structure almost 400 feet long and with the peak of the roof 100 feet above the floor. The adjacent Augustinian abbey supported the church's activities. Started in 1158, it was not completed until 1318. But in 1561, an angry mob inspired by Knox's preaching ransacked the building. What remained was abandoned and repeatedly vandalized. Nothing was done to preserve the ruins until 1826.

The churchyard remained the town cemetery well into the 20th century, with burials expanding into areas that were once interior. Many of the older gravestones have become unstable.

Before leaving St. Andrews we needed to find another restroom. Our first thought was to buy something in a coffee shop so that we could use their facilities. However, we determined that a half pint of beer in a local pub is cheaper than a cup of coffee here. So the pub got the nod.

We drove on to the village of Falkland, which is yet another quaint village filled with old buildings. This stop was brief, as the main attraction here -- a palace -- was already closed for the day, as was nearly all of the town's businesses.

A final stop was the three bridges over the Firth of Forth at Edinburgh. We had just been here yesterday at the close of the other tour. But the explanation was somewhat better from this guide. The first bridge, to the right, was built in the Victorian era as a railway bridge, considered an engineering marvel in the 19th century. The second bridge, in the middle, was built for cars and trucks in the mid-20th century. However, the traffic exceeded its capacity, so the newer bridge, to the left, with the three towers, was completed recently, in the 21st century.

After that final stop we were driven back to Glasgow, got ourselves some fish and chips, and then turned in for the night.