Hidden Gems
Scotland holds many hidden wonders. Some of my favorites are featured below - including many more unicorn sightings, a scavenger hunt of statues in cities across Scotland, classical chocolate art, and one of my favorite photography subjects - flowers.
As we continued our tour through Scotland, we began to see city art in the form of different animals in some of cities we visited - until we got to St. Andrews, where all the statues were golf bags, surprise surprise. We found the highest concentration of these statues in Edinburgh - the home of the giraffes. The "Giraffes About Town Trail" was a special art exhibit to support a conservation fund initiative by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS). This pop up featured 40 8-ft tall and 29 4-ft tall giraffes spread across the city. All sculptures were designed by local artists and the project funds are dedicated to providing COVID-lockdown relief to the Edinburgh Zoo and Highland Wildlife Park. It was only on display for July and August of 2022, and I feel blessed to be able to see such a cool exhibit during my trip.
While I saw about a dozen on my tours around the city, my aunt spotted close to 40 during her time in the city.
Along with the painted statues, we found a number of other interesting art pieces. My favorites included some classical art with a chocolatey twist in Tobermory, A memorium at Paisley's close, and fun fence folk outside of the Provand's Lordship in Glasgow.
The story of Paisley's close starts with a tragic multi-story building collapse in 1861. One lucky boy survived, shouting 'Heave awa'lads, I'm no' dead yet!". His face and famous phrase are memorialized at the entrance to the close.
I love that the national animal of Scotland is the unicorn! While Stirling Castle had the highest density of unicorn related statues, pictures and tapestries, we did spot a few other unicorns throughout our tour.
Legend says that only a king could overpower and command a unicorn. Thus most representations shows the unicorn with chains across its body and a crown around its neck, representing it being brought under command of the monarchy.
While this next album could be from anywhere, I did love the flora and fauna of Scotland. Flowers are one of my favorite subjects to photograph, and the flowers of Scotland were no exception. I especially love the few with bumblebees hard at work.
And with that, we're at the end of my time in Scotland. I hope you enjoyed reading and seeing about all the amazing places as much as I enjoyed visiting them! Slainte!
Background: Fushia in Oban