To my delight, Aberdeen is a wonderful city. It's nicknamed The Granite City, and it's abundantly clear why - everything there is made from granite. All buildings are a wonderful gray stone and, though I'm sure things get a little drab around the January/February time of the year, we were blessed with sunshine for our visit and it made for a very scenic city centre.
No major adventures to speak of, just lots of fun. We went there with no plan, no rush to do anything. I think it was the most relaxed trip I have ever taken, and it was perfect.
Aberdeen is quite tiny. We arrived in Scotland early Thursday, November 11, and after dropping our bags off at a Holiday Inn, we covered all of city centre on foot easily. We picked up a tiny, ink-jet printer map from the local tourism office and set out to see what there was to do. We found churches, parks, graveyards, shopping, cafes (one with a delightful used bookstore inside) and lots of restaurants. It was a relaxing day, with our site-seeing not going much past stepping inside some churches and stores. We took a break late-afternoon so that the three of us could indulge in a bit of TV in the hotel just before dinner (there's something amazing about access to MTV when you've been separated from pop culture for 3 months).
Dinner that night was delicious Thai food. The restaurant was around the corner from our hotel and as we took a gander at the menu on the front door, a group of 20-somethings walked passed us into the restaurant. Aditya stopped them to ask if the restaurant was worth it, and a girl promptly told us this was the best Thai restaurant in Aberdeen. She was right: the cheesy decor, bad music, and delicious noodles made for a great dinner. From there we visited the Justice Mill (appropriately named, no?) for a beer sampler (The World's Biggest Real Ale and Cider Festival!) and some good conversation. Thursday was a great introduction to Aberdeen.
Friday included a lot more time on foot. We walked many kilometers that day, taking ourselves from city centre to Old Aberdeen. We walked cobbled streets, visited King's College, and found our way to the Cathedral Church of St. Machar and Seaton Park. The cathedral was really beautiful and a lot less ornate than all of the others I've seen thus far on this trip. It was stunning in it's simplicity and seemed to place more emphasis on its connection to the community than the greater church. The ceiling was adorned with various Scottish crests and displays showing community activities were posted throughout the sanctuary.
From the Cathedral we followed the River Don in Seaton Park (and we may or may not have stopped to carve our initials into a tree . . . ) to the Brig O' Balgownie, a 14th century granite and sandstone bridge. I marveled over the fact that something so old was still holding us up quite sturdily (what do they build today that will last 600 years??) and we paused to take photos. The Brig O' Balgownie was a very quaint end to a very quaint day.
Lunch was at a place which appeared to be the Scottish version of TGI Fridays - we indulged in a greasy bliss. I ordered some mac and cheese, Aditya a large burger, Kalli some chicken fingers. Delicious. Our looooong walk back to town culminated in a visit to the Mercat Cross, then tea at Cocoa. That night we found ourselves back at the Justice Mill for dinner and a few more drinks, and before we knew it we were back in Dublin the next day. What a wonderful weekend!
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