We had thought we would do a hike today or a hill walk, as the locals call them, but it was very windy and not the weather that would allow it to be enjoyable. Last night we had booked a walking tour for 11:00 AM in At. Andrew’s. We planned on getting there early so we could walk around a wee bit beforehand. Instead, we spent about half an hour finding parking. We started our walking tour at the Martyr’s Monument but we had to get there first. There proved to be a slight challenge when the leader could not read his watch to tell us the directions. For about 10 minutes we walked in an oval trying to find the walking path to the monument’s Street. We eventually found it. Since we were to be 10 minutes early for the tour we were just on time.
The St. Andrew’s walking tour was worth the money. We did not know much of the history here so it would have been a quick stop had we not had this tour. The history in this town is much different than the rest of Scotland. It felt as if we were in a different kingdom, which in fact we were. At one time the county of Fife was the Kingdon of Fife. The history here was largely to do with the university and the church (Catholic). The Castle of St. Andrew’s is where the Bishop and eventually the Archbishops would live. The last Archbishop to live there was put to death by some of his Scottish friends. Though how these were friends I have no idea I would say more like enemies. St. Andrew’s Cathedral, which is now in ruins, was the biggest church in all of Scotland by a long shot. The town gets its name from the fact that there used to be relics of St. Andrew’s in residence in the Kirk. They were two fingers, a knee cap a tooth and an elbow. (I think this is what the lady said). In 1549 John Knox preached a sermon at one of the churches against the Catholic church. At this time some of his followers decided to take it upon themselves to ride the surrounding churches of things they did not agree with. St. Anderw’s Cathedral was one of these. After that, it was never worshiped again. Being so big it was hard to keep up so they instead worshiped in the smaller churches as well no pilgrims were coming as there were no more relics. It is unknown where the relics went some say they are hidden, and others say they were taken.
After our walking tour, we headed back to our car for lunch. I was worried because I had an ora but thankfully it did not turn into anything. We wanted to get some souvenirs but first we headed to the castle. It was interesting history but the car’s parking slip was running out so we headed back to the car paid for a 2-hour parking slip and went on a small shopping spree. After browsing the shops (I also bought a hat) we had coffee and cake (mom had a Hot Chocolate) at the Cafe in the square. It was a quaint little spot where you could hear yourself think. Then we went back out to look at souvenirs again. We all got St. Andrews sweaters and went shopping for groceries. I have to say it can be quite funny shopping for food with Kiera and Dad. They usually do not pay as much attention to the price as Mom and I and tend towards less healthy food. For most of the shopping we did they would disappear and then show up with chips or pop later asking us to check and see if it were good to eat. Well, Dad does check prices but Kiera does not do much.
This is our last night in Scotland, and we have had a great time. Sure, we have not done everything, but I am not sure if you could ever do everything. We have had a good mix of history and hikes.