I walked from the train station to my hotel, which was right on the loch. (Loch Shiel, that is.) If any of you are Highlander fans, you'll recognize this- "I was born in the village of Glenfinnan on the shores of Loch Shiel." The original Highlander movie and the TV series are what actually got me to first visit Glenfinnan. I fell in love with the place all on my own, though.
The Glenfinnan House Hotel was where I stayed and it is absolutely beautiful! If you're familiar with Monarch of the Glen (a show set in the Highlands that I watch on PBS), you'll understand when I say I kept waiting for Golly or Duncan to pop round the corner! (If you're not familiar with Monarch, then just imagine being in an old castle and waiting to see some eccentric Scotsmen greeting you!) I truly felt like a princess for the entire time I was there. The staff is very kind and courteous. When I started asking questions about the local area, they were only too helpful to supply me with answers and stories of their own.
These were my first views when I got off the train.
This is just outside the front door of my hotel. Beyond the picnic tables is the road leading back to the main road of the village.
This is the view from the front step. If you look really, really closely you might be able to see a stone monument sticking up in the distance (just slightly left of center). That's the Glenfinnan Monument. It was built to commemorate Bonnie Prince Charlie's gathering of Highlanders back in 1745 to help him take back the crown for his father. (Sadly, many of his troops were slaughtered the following year at the Battle of Culloden.)
And this is the view of the hotel from down by the loch.
Between the train ride and relaxing in my heaven on earth, I managed to write 18 pages! All in all, this was a spectacular day!
3 comments:
I'm sitting in my pod looking at those pictures and apparently was thinking out loud. My podmate goes 'where do you want to go?'. Apparently I groaned out loud 'aaawwww I wanna go there!!"
Beautiful photos, Lexi! Gorgeous place!! We didn't get to go there, but I want to. The closest we passed by Glenfinnian was probably Fort William. We stopped at the Commando Memorial and gazed at Ben Nevis in the background. Stopped at Spean Bridge to shop and eat. Then drove through Glencoe. The whole area is spectacular! I miss it so bad!!
Ladies, you MUST go if you EVER have the chance. It's a beautiful train ride (5 hours from Edinburgh) but SOO very much worth the trip!
Kelly, I hope you showed your podmate the pics!
Vonda, my first Highland tour took us through those same spots. I loved it all.
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