When I received an offer to participate in a tour of Great Britain, to be honest, I took time to think. A longtime fan of local football and local drinks, I had more than once indulged myself with short visits to the island, during which I was left entirely to my own devices and whims. This time, I was offered a strictly regulated journey – ten days on a bus.
My doubts, however, quickly dissipated. Looking at the excursion program, I realized that the route was quite worthy of the adventures of Afanasy Nikitin, who traveled across three seas and returned with impressions for a lifetime.
Speaking of Britain, many people mean exclusively England, forgetting that it is only part of the island. London is the capital of Great Britain – the overwhelming majority of visits to the Foggy Albion are limited to one of the key templates of the school foreign language curriculum. The capital with its authentic architecture and unique flavor is certainly good, but London is far from all of England. Many provincial cities of the country have long been considered world tourist brands. And then there is Scotland and Wales, often and completely undeservedly left out of excursion routes.
The first stop on our route is one of the main student capitals not only of Britain but of all of Europe – legendary Cambridge with its 31 colleges. In fact, it is a city within a university. Or a university in a city, populated mainly by teachers and students.
Cambridge is also a little Venice. There are many picturesque bridges and little bridges here. One of the most famous is the Bridge of Sighs, practically a copy of the Venetian one. And also under a roof. There is also its own legend: a student fell in love with a girl, sighed a lot, but never conquered her heart.
But there is definitely no such bridge in Venice – the Mathematical Bridge. It is wooden and, according to legend, was built without a single nail by Sir Isaac Newton himself. Inquisitive youth took the structure apart to understand how the pieces were connected, but they could only reassemble the bridge using bolts.
The most prestigious college in Cambridge is Trinity. By the way, Newton is its alumnus. And among Trinity's alumni are philosopher Francis Bacon, poet Lord Byron, and 31 Nobel laureates.
From eternally youthful Cambridge we moved further north and arrived in the capital of Scotland. It is best to start getting acquainted with Edinburgh with the official residence of British monarchs – the Palace of Holyroodhouse. In the 16th century, Mary Queen of Scots ruled here, whose tragic fate served as the basis for many works of art. Here she married her second husband, who, in a fit of jealousy, killed Her Majesty's personal secretary right in her bedroom. Nowadays, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain gives official receptions in this palace during her rare visits to Scotland.
Along the Royal Mile – one of the most famous streets in the city – we come out to Edinburgh Castle, the main tourist attraction of the capital of Scotland. The castle stands on top of an absolutely impregnable cliff. The halls of the castle are richly decorated with regalia of Scottish kings. The most colorful are the sword, scepter, and crown adorned with precious stones. Nearby is the mythical Stone of Destiny, on which the first Scottish monarchs were crowned. According to legend, the stone can distinguish a true sovereign from an impostor.
Not far from the castle lies a eerie underground city, the former Mary King's Close, all of whose inhabitants died from the plague in the mid-17th century. The empty houses were never reoccupied – despite the housing shortage in the Old Town, newcomers left this place in fear, saying that at night they heard terrible moans, saw pale faces and the hands of the unfortunate plague victims reaching out to them.
Scary? Only in Scotland can you relieve stress and partake in mystery in the same place. The Blair Athol distillery near Edinburgh will quickly lift your spirits. Tasting the national antifreeze – that's how the Scots affectionately call whiskey – is a tradition multiplied by art. And it refers only to single malt whiskey. Unlike blended whiskey, single malt whiskey is produced from spirits of one specific distillery, where it is usually bottled. The basic ingredients have not changed for a good six centuries, and the basis of everything is spring water and barley malt.
For a drink to have the right to be called whiskey, it must be aged in a barrel for at least three years. In Scotland, however, good form is considered to be at least an eight-year aging. According to local experts, only such whiskey acquires a taste and aroma that cannot be confused with anything else.
The northernmost point of our journey is the mysterious Loch Ness with its ever-elusive monster. Tens of thousands of tourists flock here every year hoping to take the most sensational photo in the world. I was no exception: what if I manage to capture the legendary monster?
And, you know, I ended up photographing it – on the shore. The monster turned out to be not at all scary because it was fake. Little Nessie was calmly basking on the shore and seemed to have long been accustomed to the increased attention from people. As a bonus – a two-hour boat tour of the lake on a comfortable boat. And of course, a bunch of various monster souvenirs in the local shop.
But it's not about the hypothetical dinosaur, of course. The lake and its surroundings are very picturesque. The water surface, heather-covered hills – a mesmerizing sight.
And in the evening, a new portion of adventures awaited us – we were to spend the night in a real cemetery. The fact is that our hotel, opened back in the 17th century in a remote Welsh village, was located next to an old church, which, as usual, had its own churchyard. It is easy to imagine the mood that prevailed on the bus after a couple of thrilling legends told by our guide about the nightlife of the hotel. It turned out to be so lively that at one time it even attracted the attention of TV crews, who spent several very eventful days here and got serious food for thought about the supernatural.
But, as is known, fear has overly big eyes. Personally, I had no problems with sleep. But the interior of both the hotel and the rooms was quite colorful. Each, by the way, had a Bible. Just in case. If you feel that you cannot cope with your rich imagination, I recommend stopping by the local drinking establishment in the evening. In that case, you will remember about garlic and incense only the next morning. Tested.