Scotland's top attractions

by Premasara Epasinghe from Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.

During my stay, in this beautiful country - Scotland, I was fortunate to visit many historic cities, majestic castles, misty breathtaking picturesque mountains, dramatic lochs and glens. We witnessed the Best of Scotland and its best attractions.

Glen Loe, is a place full of drama for the bloody massacre of MacDonalds in 1692. Glen Loe, is the place, in February 1692, 40 members of the clan of Donald were massacred by Government Soldiers to whom they have given shelter.

This mountain scenery is one of the most famous "Glens" in Scotland. Glen means mountain.

In honour of the Scotland's Great poet, Rabble Burns there lies a beautiful National Heritage Park. He is a poet who contributed a lot to Scotland's life and culture.

Glasgow is a city for connoisseur. Edinburgh is Scottish. But Glasgow, what I felt was cosmopolitan. It is also like Edinburgh, one of the friendliest cities. Glasgow was a European city of Culture in 1990, and a city of architecture and design in 1994.

It is to host the 2014 - Commonwealth Games. Like the other four cities, Glasgow is defined by hills, and water.

Botanical

There are about 69 parks, but the most distinguished is the botanical garden.

The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond enclose the largest body of water in Britain, which along with the Trossachs hills part of the magnificent park. It is a very pleasant sight.Another attraction is the Isle of Skye.

It was romantically associated with Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora

MacDonald is a most scenically spectacular spot of the western seaboard with superb mountain landscapes and dramatic sea touch.

Another fantastic sight is The Sterling -a settlement since prehistoric times. It was with the name of the Scotland warrior, patriot William Wallace, where, he defeated Edward I, English Army at the Battle of the Stirling Bridge. Stirling was raised to city status in 2002. Today, it is an excellent venue, plus a National Park standing strategically as the Gateway to the Highlands. The ancient town Sterling is a focal point. The waterways of the Rivers Forth and Clyde are found in this Central Scotland.

The Cairngorms, is famous for its wild life. It lies between speyside and Bvaemar.

Here, we saw beautiful alpine plants, golden eagles. It is a magnet for walkers, climbers and skiers.

St.Andrew's is best known as the home of Golf, with seven courses. We saw the Marvellous collection of the memorabilia on display at the British Golf Museum at Bruce Embarkment.

Another important attraction is Iona. It has been known from the 6th century as the Cradle of Christianity in Scotland" Half a million people visit this sacred place annually.

The Royal Museum and Museum of Scotland is a Treasure House. There are two neighbouring Museums - one is ecclesiastical the other taking Scotland from pre-history to the 20th century.

The Glasgow Science Centre, a Sterling Pounds 75 million millennium project is a marvel. The heart of the centre is the science Mall. It is a glass-sided silver crescent with 3 floors of hands-on exhibits, demonstrations and special effect theatres.

"Out of the Cultural Events the Edinburgh International Festival, Fringe and Military Tattoo is great. It is an extravaganza of music, drama, dance, something out of this world that we witnessed. It is like our greatest cultural pageant - the Kandy Dalada Perahera. Thousands flock to Edinburgh to witness this great spectacle - Edinburgh International Military Tattoo.

Highest

The highest mountain of Great Britain Ben Navis - 1343 m or 4,410 feet has a panoramic view. Then comes the second highest mountain Ben Macdul - 1309 m / 4295 feet. This high altitude plateau is covered in sub Arctic flora. There are a number of mountain. Any Scottish summit over 3000 feet is known as Munro as Sir Hugh Munro was responsible in publishing a list of mountains.

The air and environment is pure and clean and there are many beautiful gardens. Edinburgh's prize garden is the Royal Botanic Garden. It has huge trees, rock terraces, glass houses and borders bursting with colour.

Edinburgh Zoo is something to remember. There are more than thousand animals, including Red Pandas, Tisen, White Rhinos, Ring tailed Lemurs and poison-arrow frogs. The Penguine colony that we witnessed was marvellous.

THE Southern Upland is a beautiful region. It has a beautiful mountain, sheep pastures, forested valleys, soporific rivers. It must be mentioned here that Southern Scotland is the Home of Rugby.

Scotland has an abundance of natural beauty, hundreds of castles, a turbulent past. The nation is endowed with artistic treasures. Its culture remains vibrant upto this day. It is one of the most beautiful countries that I have seen.

Attraction

The most important and the pre-eminent sight in the skyline is undoubtedly, inspirational, historic and cultural Edinburgh Castle.It is Scotland's most popular tourist attraction. It takes the name from Dineidayn - The stronghold of the Eidyn".

Then, we visited the National Gallery of Scotland. There are a collection of paintings from early renaissance masterpieces to works of Rembrandt, Velazques, Gainsbourgh, Ramsey and Raeburn.

Royal Museum and Museum of Scotland, cloche and depict Scotland from pre-historic time respectively.

The best, of rarest of the country's antiquities are found in the two treasure troves.