Exploring the Highlands -- Starting with Inverness, Scotland

 After covering my favorite city from the trip, I'm hopping this blog back in time to Inverness! Inverness is an ideal place to stay for day-trips out into the Scottish Highlands, but I low-key loathed it. I will admit my experience was probably colored by an unfortunate AirBnB experience and the herds of drunks that seem to take over the city from later afternoon on; but there were some lovely sights to see regardless. So here they are! 

First up is the Victorian Market, a quaint little 19th century shopping arcade with an assort of jewelry shops, tourist goods, and a small but diverse foodhall. I enjoyed a very strong matcha from Milk Bar while Elowen had some chocolate ice cream--though the vanilla clotted cream scoop we tried a few stores down before we left blew it out of the water. YUM. I had regrets about missing the chocolate shop too, because it was closed on Sundays and Mondays--so I missed out on a variety of chocolates filled with various whiskeys. 




We also visited an old-fashioned candy shop where the sweets lined the walls in like jewels in jars and also the famous Leakey's Bookshop, an enormous used bookshop in a converted church. 



There's almost no nighttime in Scotland in summer--the sun sets fully around 11 pm and is up in the sky at around 4 am (waking your toddler because the AirBnB didn't have blinds in all the rooms and someone let their children pick the room WITH blinds even though they sleep with the light on and the other room had twin beds. Never travel with people, guys.). Anyway, because of that we could take late night walks and strolled to a lovely nearby park with Elowen. The azaleas towered above me, and some flowery white tree filled the air with a sweet, fresh scent. There was also a slide of certain death, pictured below. Scottish children must be especially hardy. 



Another morning, we walked short distance to the Ness Islands, a collection of islands that sit in the middle of the River Ness and are connected by Victorian bridges. It feels a world away from the city--so green and peaceful and cooled by a soft breeze. Elowen vehemently declined climbing onto Nessie, so Taylor and I clambered up instead. 







We also visited the kirkyard and I took pictures of random lovely buildings as we explored, but they're kind of a trick--the city itself is not very pretty overall, with lots of garish plastic signs over the businesses. 









Negativity aside, though, the food was pretty uniformly excellent, from the venison salami pizzat at Black Tap Brewery to my feta and cheddar cheese puffs with pear salad and honey dressing at Rocpool (where I also had a great passionfruit pavlova). We also enjoyed lentil soup and chicken pot pie at Hootenanny, which is a large pub/restaurant with nightly live music. On Sundays, they have "open sessions," where local musicians just sit and play songs with each other while they eat and drink. The UK McDonald's also had a special anniversary menu, which included a burger with jalapeno sauce and halloumi fries with savory tomato sauce. Mmm. (If I haven't mentioned this before, one of my travel interests is global McDonald's menu items.) 

I even ordered a cocktail that came very unexpectedly in a little tub! The cocktails at Jimmy Badger's, though, were some of the best I had on the trip, especially the pistachio cream martini and the bramble. We also had a really cool brewery about a three-minute walk from the house, which was themed on Scottish folklore (right up my alley), so we went there almost every night.


The cheesecake in the UK is SO FLUFFY. Like clouds!

Musicians at Hootenanny



Cheddar puffs at Rocpool

I can find Dr Pepper anywhere, guys. I just sense it.

Pistachio martini at Jimmy Badger's


Black Tap Brewery and venison salami pizza

The brewery near our AirBnB


 

While I wouldn't dedicate any time again to Inverness as a tourist stop, I guess I'd stay there (in a hotel) as a base to take day trips; but seeing a drunk guy punch a cop, and then the cop punch him and the guy's wife, and then a bunch of cops show up and have to restrain/ziptie them to subdue them, really put me off (and wasn't the only episode of beyond-the-pale drunkery we saw, either). 

This brand of cider was AMAZING. The strawberry, elderberry, and mixed berry--all phenomenal. 



 

The cafe where the Beatles played their first-ever set as a band! 


A drunk man and his drunker wife making some very bad choices. 


The very friendly cat who lived outside of our AirBnB. 


 

Elowen was very into feeling royal at Jimmy Badger's. 





Next up though, a more positive post as we jaunted out into the countryside to see castles!


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