Been there a lot. I would agree it is the prettiest part of the Isle. Parts are jaw dropping. Very gritty people. Very hard to understand them unless you are drunk. Great place to get drunk. They really truly give ZERO ***** about anything other than working, eating and brawling. Must see is the underground. Edinburgh castle is worth the visit. Also be prepared to be sleepy, the weather makes you want to sleep all the time. I personally have had the most fun going with my buddy, hitting harsh pubs and getting smashed and mixing with locals.
Is Stirling where William Wallace led the Scots in battle and the defeat of the English as they tried to cross a narrow bridge (unlike the depiction in the fictitious film "Braveheart" where they battled in an open field...which I guess wasn't a good enough battle scenario for filmmaking entertainment)? Or, am I thinking of another battle?
If you have a Scottish surname and background, with an interest in Scottish history and perhaps your ancestors, the Scottish War Memorial at Edinburgh Castle is well worth visiting. I meant to mention it earlier. They have books you can leaf through and find who fell in battle, their regiments, battalions, etc., going back to The Great War, between the wars, WWII, Korea, and the other conflicts. The different books are on stone tables. Here's an example: Much of this is online these days, but I enjoyed going through the books and finding a row of fallen with my last name, wondering if they were cousins, relations of some sort. My family originated in the area of Cape Wrath, in far Northwest Scotland. Their clan chief, as happened across Scotland at the time, "sold out" their clan for greed, with the encouragement of the English, the ruling class of England seeing a large part of troublesome Scotland depopulated as a good thing. That hasn't been forgotten by the Scots, either. The clan chiefs could make more money raising sheep if they could just get their own clans people to leave land they'd lived and worked for hundreds of years, small holdings they held at "the pleasure" of the clan chiefs, who were offered estates and titles in the south to encourage the practice. Many of those forced off their land went to Northern Ireland, America, Canada, Australia, and other areas of the empire. Scots made up a significant part of the empire's military, because it was considered an honorable profession and was an option other than immigration. It could lead to immigrating anyway upon retirement if they liked where they were and chose to retire there at the end of their service. It's fascinating stuff for a history buff like me.
