6/14 Dunvegan Castle, Home of MacLeod Clan, Isle of Skye

I am headed north to Thurso, Scotland, tomorrow.  This is the small town from which I will catch the ferry on Thursday morning.  Before I leave, I wanted to post some photos of the center of the town of Portree.  By the way, since Scotland has been working towards independence from the United Kingdom, it has been posting all road signs and many other signs using both the original Gallic names and the English names.  So, it is important to know that this town was NOT named after a tree in the port!  In fact, it was originally called "Port Righ" or the King's Port in Gallic.  And you will NOT see the British flag anywhere here in Scotland, but you will see the blue and white Scottish flag. 

I will try to take some photos of signs with dual names tomorrow before I leave.  

There are a couple of car parks in the center of this busy town, but the one I have been using is right in front of the police station, and more importantly, right in front on the little bakery in the middle of this photo.  They have several sandwiches available on their very fresh rolls, as well as donuts and several different kinds of pastries.  When I was here yesterday the line went all the way to the sidewalk along the street.  Long wait, but worth it enough that I came back today.

 

 

I am getting better at backing into these small spaces, but today I finally found out where the backup camera was located so I could clean the grime off it and see better!   You don't really need to back in, but that way it is much easier to get out if a car parks really close to you.

 

 

After about a 45 minute drive to the far end of the western arm of the island, I arrived at Dunvegan Castle.  This castle was built by and has been owned by the head of the MacLeod clan.  The family still owns the castle and lives in part of it, but they have allowed the National Trust to assist in its upkeep and allow visitors. 

Much of the castle looks pretty modern, but later you will see that these modern walls are a facade over the original stone building.

Hidden behind a secret door in the modern drawing room, you can see what is supposed to be the oldest circular staircase in the United Kingdom.  The sign in the next photo explains it.

This is another room in the lower level of the castle that displays some of the items retrieved in archeological digs.

And the last photo is of the garden.  My ticket allowed access for both the castle and the gardens around it, but considering it was about 50 degrees F out, alternating between drizzling or pouring rain, with a 20 MPH wind, I decided to pass on touring it!!!

Fitbit says I took 3,861 steps and walked 1.6 miles today.