Towers of Power

In 16th and 17th century Scotland, the fashion--among the few--was to build fortified residences, tower-houses, whose great height added to their defensibility. Monday and Tuesday we saw a few of the better preserved instances.

Craigievar, not far down the Dee from Braemar, is noted 
for its great 7-story height; alas, it was closed for 
renovation--the hurling put on the exterior in 1970 was 
defective (this is not a Mike Myers term)

Very large Monkey Puzzle tree on the Craigievar grounds; 
and behind it, a 160 year- old Sequoia; the Victorians were 
really into exotic tree specimens for their estates' grounds

Craithes is noted for its original furnishingsdating to the 1590s 
(beautiful carved stuff), painted ceilings, and its gardens; great 
tour, too

Craithes' gardens--a view from the castle

Vicki in Craithes garden

Glamis castle/palace; considerably greater wealth and connections on display; 
the Queen Mum's family; most impressive; but, as with all the others, no 
interior pix allowed; we visited Glamis for its Macbeth connection, only to 
learn that it was built 300 years after Macbeth's reign; our faith in Shakespeare 
the historian is shaken; actually, the only tragedy about Macbeth was his

treatment by the Bard; but, then, we understand Will was working under some 
serious deadlines...

Vicki adds:

Glamis, Scotland September 7, 2009

Visited the castle of MacBeth today—though MacBeth never lived in it since he lived over 250 years before it was built. Shakespeare is full of poetic license! However, it was very interesting anyway. We went to the Royal Braemar Highland Games on Saturday and the Queen, Prince Philip and Charles and Princess Ann all attended. They drove in about 20 ft from our seats so it was all very exciting—as was the caber toss, the 58 lb weights, tug of wars and about 5,000 men in kilts.

We are headed to Scone Castle tomorrow and then north to the Orkney Islands and then Mackay (McCoy) country in far northwestern Scotland. My ancesters were about the bloodiest clan in Scotland and one of the first to be sent to Ireland when the English took over. We have had very little connectivity and it will get worse as we head north. It reminds me of rural Montana—even the cell doesn't work well. So I may not be able to post again till we leave the Highlands.