It's Monday evening, August 17, and I've put in another day of power-sightseeing here in northeastern Scotland. I've been staying these past two nights at a farmhouse B & B just across the road from the fabulous Dunnottar castle ruin, perched high on a headland over the North Sea about 15 miles south of Aberdeen. Having seen photos of Dunnottar on calendars of Scotland for years, I found upon arrival here that it is everything I had hoped it would be, and more, a gloomy ruin complete with bats and the mournful sound of gulls swooping overhead while waves crash below on the rocks. Staying here at the entrance to the castle means that I've been able to see it not just during opening hours like other tourists, but after hours and before hours as well. I'll show you some of the bazillion photos I've taken here.
O.K. ... What do you think of the Scottish cap?? Guess I'm just trying to fit into the Scottish scene! My kids would think I'm a real nerd, but what the heck? When in Scotland, do as the Scots!
Dunnottar Castle by evening light. This is how I first saw it when I arrived at my B & B that is located just across the road from Dunnottar, about two miles south of Stonehaven on the east coast of Scotland.
Dunnottar has a history dating back to the 800's A.D., when they believe St. Ninian arrived on this Scottish headland and brought Christianity to the Picts who were Scotland's native residents at the time. Then successive castles were built on the site, with the height of it's history being in the 17th century, with a particular Presbyterian connection. Presbyterians were called Covenanters (also Whigs) in Scotland at the time, and when for religious reasons they refused to acknowledge the English king as head of the church as well as head of state in 1685, 200 of them were marched in shackles to Dunnottar from Edinburgh, about 30 of them dying on the way. Those who survi and imprisoned in the dungeon there, now referred to as "the Whigs' Vault."
They were crowded into this dim room which had dank, ankle deep water in it, and they were not let out for six weeks, having to pay the guards for any food or drinkable water they could get. You can imagine the sanitation and health issues posed by this situation. 25 of them managed to escape through the window at the end of the vault and scale down the cliff to the North Sea below. 2 died falling in the process, and 15 were quickly recaptured nearby and then tortured. After 6 weeks the remaining survivors (about 140 who hadn't recanted and accepted the king's ecclesiastical authority were shipped on a sailing ship to the New World. 70 of them died on the voyage, and the remaining 70 or so started new lives in New England. Being there at Dunnottar and seeing it all kind of gives you a new appreciation as a Presyterian of our central tennet that "God alone is Lord of the conscience," and that our polity has no tolerance of authoritarianism or the mixture of state authority over the Church.
Dunnottar ruins on its headland over the North Sea.
My last view of Dunnottar, as night fell on August 17. I walked down the trail from the road, and communed with the bats that were swooping around the ruins. It was really spooky, and as perhaps you can see, as I hiked back up the hill opposite the castle's entrance there was a strange pale white light coming from one of the windows of the castle. Now possibly it was one light that was left on in the castle, but it didn't look like a normal light to me. More ethereal, and strange... they say a sad woman clad in green plaid shows up every so often in what used to be the laundry room of the castle. I didn't happen to see her, but this eerie light sent me scurrying for the relative safety of my B & B across the road!Later this week:
What a contrast there is from the gloom of a Scottish August to the sunny cheer of Greece in summer! Now I'm not trying to say that Scotland was a downer. It wasn't. But the concept of summer in Scotland is occasional peeks of sun between daily showers and temperatures in the 50's and 60's. One must always keep an umbrella handy and plan on dealing with constantly changing weather.
In contrast, here in Greece, where I arrived two days ago now on August 19, the sun is constantly shining and there is literally not a cloud in the sky anywhere. The temperatures are in the 90's during the middle of the day, so that you quickly realize why the culture here in summer is slow moving and siesta oriented. The stores and restaurants open about 11 a.m. here in the gorgeous Peloponnesian town of Nafplio where I am staying for a week with my family (Lucy, Chris and Anna) who've all rendez-voused with me on arrival in Athens. People don't really eat breakfast. They just congregate in cafes, starting about noon, and while away the hot afternoon visiting there with friends. Then lunch kind of happens around 3-5 p.m., and after 5 or 6 things begin to pick up a bit, and in reality the place starts to buzz around 9 p.m., when it has finally cooled off a bit, and the streets are pulsing with people and the techno-beat of music from the cafes till about 12 Midnight or 1 a.m.
Nafplio is a gorgeous town that sits at the head of a gulf coming in to the Pelopponesus Peninsula from the Aegean Sea. It has a crusaders fort on an islet in the mouth of its harbor, and then a huge citadel fortress perched on top of a small cliff-like mountain immediately behind the old town. The streets are all paved with marble, and it's mostly pedestrian traffic in the old town section, where we are staying in a second floor apartment with balconies, which you can rent by the week.
This morning Lucy, Chris, Anna and I climbed the 999 steps up the cliff to the citadel fortress, which has a commanding view over the town and harbor and off across the gulf toward Argos and the surrounding mountains.
Anna, Lucy and Chris, about three quarters of the way up to the fortress, with Nafplio in the background and the Venetian castle on an islet in the harbor, to the right.
Chris, Tom and Anna, standing on one of the 999 steps!It was truly a cardiac challenge to do all 999, and then a test of the knees to descend the same way back to town. But I made it, and we ended up in a sidewalk cafe to recoup, sipping frappe coffees. It's a hard assignment, but someone's got to do it, right??
We hope to visit some of the ancient Greek sites not far from here this week: the Acropolis in Athens, the ampitheater in Epidauros, ancient Mycenae in the hills above Nafplio, and maybe even Delphi, where the oracle was consulted by the ancients. I'll update you on all that once it happens. Of course, with this slow pace of life in Greece, we may not get everything on the agenda done, and sitting in a cafe during the hot hours of the day can be an attractive alternative to actually accomplishing things!
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