Insatiable Wanderer: Day 7: Loch Ness ->Oban via Isle of Skye

Our morning began with a spectacularly beautiful drive through the rolling hills and across a giant bridge onto the Isle of Skye. This cloud covered and vibrantly green island was by far the most breathtaking place I have seen in my life. It was speckled with wildflowers being hydrated by the hundreds of creeks running down the hills.

We later stopped at the Sligachan River where our tour manager, Az, stopped to tell us a story:

There once was two warring clans. To put an end to their fighting and blood shed, it was decided that one clan would send their most beautiful woman to marry the son of the leader of the other clan. So they sent the woman, on a mule and with a slave as her escort, to the other clan. But tragedy stuck during their journey! The small traveling party was attacked and the woman ended up with mud and blood all over her body and face. Even with this set back they traveled on to the clan, but when they got there, they thought that due to her current appearance, the other clan had sent an ugly woman as a way of defying the treaty that was to happen. Infuriated, the leader of the clan had an eye removed from the woman, mule, and slave before sending them back to their own clan. On their way back, they stopped at a river and the woman, completely distraught, confessed that she was terrified of going home to tell what happened and couldn't bear looking this way for the rest of her life and she started weeping uncontrollably. In that moment, an old woman appeared in front of the trio. She told them that if they held their faces in the river for 7 seconds, their looks would be restored and they would be unfailingly beautiful for the rest of their days. First the woman tried, then the servant, and then the mule. The magic worked on all three. The woman was now even more beautiful than she had been, the servant was transformed into the most handsome man in the world, and the mule morphed into an elegant stallion. The three then returned to their home and retold the events that had unfolded with the other clan. The leader told them that they were to return to the other clan and try again, since she was once again beautiful, but the woman refused. She decided that she wanted to marry the slave, since he was now the most handsome man in the world. So they ran away together on their beautiful steed.

And with that, we all took turns holding our faces in the water to gain eternal beauty!

While on the Isle of Skye, we also stopped in a small town tucked into the hills at the water's edge called Portree. This town is home to a very famous row of buildings usually called the "postcard street". It's been in many movies and is a beautifully colorful street right on the water.

After eating some amazing fish and chips while sitting on the edge of the dock and fending off crazy seagulls, we loaded back onto the bus and left the Isle of Skye. On our long drive to the town of Oban, we stopped at one of the most famous landmarks in Scotland: Eileen Donan Castle.

Our next stop was to see the tallest peak in the United Kingdom: Ben Nevis. Standing at 4,406 ft tall it is nothing in comparison to Mount Everest's 29,029 ft or even Mount Rainer's 14,411 ft, but still grand in its own right.

Then it was on to Oban, another beautiful town on the water. The first order of business to take care of when we got there was to get food! We were all starving. Most of us ended up at this place called Nories where we got to try something Scotland is famous for: fried foods! I was one of the brave few that chose to get a fried pizza (yes you read that correctly, I said pizza). It was . . . interesting. It wasn't bad but it was definitely something that I only need to eat once in my life. Also had Irn Bru, a soft drink made in Scotland that actually out sells Coke. I really loved it, though I can't say that very many others did. Oh well, more for me!

After dinner, we hiked up to McCaig Tower for some spectacular views of the town and the harbor from above. Very much worth the climb up some very steep streets, although my calves would probably tell you otherwise!