Scotland for two
This is one of the many trips that can be done on the island. It's short, comfortable and easy, which is what every romantic trip should be. We will add the intensity along the way.
Note: Any route chosen in Scotland will be a hit. It is an infallible destiny.
EDINBURGH: WALKS OF STONE, WOOL AND TREES
This is not an urban trip but how not to spend some time in this city. It will be a concentrated visit but it will serve to taste it and decide to return more days another time. Edinburgh pleases everyone with its monumentality, its golden stone, its cashmere shops and its historical and cultural power. It is, cheers, walkable and friendly. ** We will sleep in a restaurant with rooms **, which is a format quite used around here. They are 21212 , by chef Paul Kitching, who has a Michelin star; on the ground floor you eat and on the two upstairs you sleep. The silence of the dining room and kitchen impresses , in which the cooks move like dancers without music. The menu changes every week and knows how to be imaginative and delicious; we will have dinner or we will eat, in both moments it works. Going up some stately stairs you access the four rooms, which are discreet and have views of a garden. Everything in Scotland is close to green. The rooms are what we need: private and quiet. We'll use this particular hotel as our headquarters.
Burr & Co: coffee delight
From there we will walk to the hard core of the city, the Royal Mile, the Castle and the New Town . A romantic Edinburgh calls for evening strolls through the city and daytime strolls through the parks; Regent's Gardens Y Prince Street Gardens They serve us for this purpose. We will spend hours wandering between stone buildings, touching scarves to see which one we buy and making stops at strategic places such as Whiskey Rooms to drink a whiskey among Scots; also in Burr & Co. , on George Street, a great street to buy gifts for ourselves and, perhaps, one for the companion. The Scots know so well how to make whiskey that they are now making gin. The OneSquare offers up to 70 varieties and tastings; besides, he has his own, bottled as if it were a perfume. In this bar, located in the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa locals and travelers mix. In the background, always, a fireplace. We can also have a cocktail at Epicurean. This bar just opened in the G&V hotel . The extravagant touch is that herbs from the hydroponic cultivation of Evogro , which is the only one in Scotland and which is in the hotel lobby. In it we also find a flower shop, Snapdragon. Let's buy some flowers.
After one or two nights in Edinburgh we prepare to go out into the country. A rental car is the perfect medium. True: you have to drive on the left but the thrill is part of every trip. Note: roundabouts will boost adrenaline.
One Square offers up to 70 varieties and tastings
A GREEN AND ARISTOCRATIC RETREAT
We hit the road and in less than an hour and a half we are already in our Scottish fantasy. That is, in a stone mansion, surrounded by calm, trees, sheep and pure air . One of the most grateful things about Scotland is that it corresponds to our mental image. Many times it improves but there are never disappointments. We will spend the night in The Roxburghe House . This is the house or mansion, depending on the scale we handle, of the Duke of Roxburghe. Like so many British (and non-British) nobles h has decided to keep the property turning it into a hotel . This place maintains the air of a family home, with its photo frames with well-groomed children, its used sofas, its books and its unsteady lamps . Roxburghe is cozy and delicious. It takes you, not so much to another time, as to another world that we have seen in the BBC series. Rooms have four-poster beds and some their own fireplaces, but they're stark. In the surroundings there is a wonderful golf course, like all the Scots, and a lot of countryside to walk (hand in hand?). This is a hotel to be in and around. What we are looking for.
Tea at Roxburghe House?
As we are restless souls, we will put on some boots and go to a nearby town, Kelso ; this town is on the edge of the river Tweed, wonderful and Scottish name. We will stroll to catch something of the daily life of Scotland . Maybe, on the weekend, we will meet gentlemen with kilts or bloomers on the street and they will win a stolen photo. Kelso has cafes where it looks like old men are having tea while plotting a crime, churches that only old Europe can boast of, the remains of a 12th-century abbey, said to be the largest square in Scotland (are they exaggerating?) and a lot of charm. A curiosity, one of those that we like to drop later on after meals: Kelso has just been chosen the most dog-friendly town in Great Britain.
Very close to Kelso is the Floor's Castle , the largest uninhabited house in Scotland which is also part of the family of the Duke of Roxburghe. You can't visit this mansion-castle-palace until March, but we can walk through part of its gardens and have a meatloaf or some shortbreads; Scotland is a hot land and that's a good thing. Also a land dotted with castles and mansions where you can sleep . Good news: they are all beautiful and the prices are not prohibitive. A walk on the net luxury scotland confirms it. Nor After the ride, back to our domain, back to Roxburghe.
Church in Kelso, on the edge of the River Tweed
THE TOTEM AND THE HAWKS
We will leave behind aristocratic indolence to address a national totem: gleneagles . This hotel belongs to the lineage of hotels that are a symbol of the culture in which they are integrated, such as La Mamounia in Marrakech or the Ritz in Paris. Gleneagles was born in 1924 thanks to the Caledonian Railway Company. The idea was to build a Grand Hotel in the middle of the Scottish countryside. Station and hotel were built at the same time. It is still in use today and can be reached from King's Cross , in London, to this place in five hours. Gleneagles soon became part of the route of the aristocracy, who came here to play golf and hunt. Today, golf lovers remember it for its stupendous course (dating back to 1919) and for hosting the 2014 Ryder Cup; those of politics because the 2005 G8 was held here and they say that even the floors were modified so that they were not within the reach of shooters.
Gleneagles: the essence of Scotland
Gleanagles is a historic resort, but a full-fledged resort: you don't have to leave it at all. Let's think of an activity and surely it can be done in this immense farm. apart from the Golf , the horse riding , the Photography Nature or cycling here is the British School of Falconry, so a falconry course can be an exotic activity. It has a powerful spa, Spa by ESPA , outdoor and indoor tennis courts and shopping arcade; It even has its own brand of accessories. The gastro offer is enormous: it brings together nine different spaces and there will soon be ten with the opening of the American Bar in December; its star is a two Michelin star restaurant, the only one in Scotland, which is led by Andrew Fairlie . You have to order lobster. In fact, this route will include, even if you don't want to, more than one lobster dish.
Gleneagles: a perfect classic for couples
In Gleanagles we can be as busy as we want or do nothing. Both options great decisions. It's nice to see the multi-generational feel of the hotel, with their large families having dinner and breakfast together. Keep that air of place where you have to get ready for dinner , of crêpes Suzette finished on the table, of Titanic without shipwreck. It's hard to call a resort such a romantic place, but this one is. Although it may seem solemn, Gleaneagles is a place full of life and not at all stuffy. Our route for two could never stop at a stuffy place.
Outdoor Spa at Gleangles
LAKE LIFE
We've already been to Gleaeagles. We can now cross it off the list of “Places to see…”. We have already felt characters from The Great Gatsby on vacation in Europe. Now we are going to look for a lake, to continue chasing the Scottish fantasy. We will choose Loch Lomond, a classic holiday refuge where everyone from Eugenia de Montijo to the ubiquitous Churchill landed. There is Luss . This town is more curious than it seems at first glance. It is a spiritual center and a place of pilgrimage. It doesn't seem like it camouflaged under its guise as a charming Scottish town. It is also the people of the Colquhoun clan, owner of all the territory of the lake. Being in the lands of a clan sounds so much like "The Immortals"... In Luss the lake forms small beaches, there are waterfront restaurants serving homemade soup , stone houses full of flowers and shops that smell of candles and the kind of soap that only the English know how to make. Luss and its surroundings have many bed & breakfasts (such as The Corries ) where we like to imagine that they serve dishes with rhubarb and in which we imagine ourselves with enormous sweaters and hair blown by the wind. Luss also has a 19th century church surrounded by the cemetery and the walk is terribly romantic. If we are lucky and there is fog, then the fantasy will be complete. In Luss we can stay for an hour. Then we will take the road again to head, in a short time, to Cameron House .
In Luss the lake forms small beaches and piers
CAMERON HOUSE
It is not a historic hotel: it is the hotel we are looking for. Built on a classic mansion in the 80's it is a lakefront retreat . Every trip to Scotland must include a loch. You walk through the door and smell clean, burnt wood; the steps are muffled by the wool. This hotel has one of the most beautiful uses of tartan that we are going to see in decoration. Rooms are intimate and photogenic , dark colors but without falling for a moment in the pseudo design. The bar is a great place for a pre-dinner Scotch. There are a thousand types. Let us advise. A few kilometers away are the golf course (there is no escaping it) and the hotel spa, which It has some swimming pools with views in which you want to settle . At Cameron House you want to divide your time leisurely between the room with a view of the lake and the hotel bar. The landscape of the lake, in autumn or winter seems to be black and white . It is of extreme beauty. We must, before leaving for Spain, sit on the bench in front of the lake and dream of some ghost or monster. This is obligatory. And you have to do it very close to the other person. Just in case they happen to show up.
Cameron House, Scottish magic