One look out the window when we arose on Monday told us that this would be a good day to do the laundry and relax inside the house. The sky was a solid gray and rain was imminent. So we stayed home and took care of chores. I watered Muriel's house plants of which there were many. It rained on and off all day.
Tuesday morning we awoke to brilliant sunshine and blue sky - the prettiest day since our arrival in Scotland. We had already decided that it would be a good day to explore some of downtown Aberdeen which we previously only glimpsed from the train station and taxi to our home exchange.
Sunny Day at Broomhead Cottage
We found our way to a Park & Ride lot about 1/2 way to Aberdeen, and took the bus into the center of downtown. We found relatively few people compared to other big cities we have been in and the traffic wasn't bad either. We found the Tourist Office where we secured a map and headed towards the harbor for a look at the Maritime Museum which I found just o.k. but probably my father, who had been in the Chilean Navy and the Merchant Marines, would have loved it. There was a lot of information and displays having to do with offshore oil rigs as well as historical displays about fishing. Outside the museum there was a large oil rig supply ship from Norway and a huge ferry which goes to the Orkney Islands. If we had more time and nice weather, this would be a nice excursion, I'm sure. But it is an overnight on the ferry and wouldn't be much fun if the weather turned.
Judicial Building in downtown Aberdeen
From the museum we walked around town and stopped in at another little museum: The Tolhouse Museum where prisoners were kept in the 17th & 18th centuries next to the courthouse - it was small but interesting. Both museums were free. We then stopped in St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, took a look and chatted with a nice lady who told us about the church. She was interested to hearing about our travels also. They are trying to raise money for restoration of the church but it didn't really look to me like it needed a lot of restoration.
We were starting to get hungry and were surprised to see that it was already 3:00 - well past lunch time. After checking in with several restaurants, we found that most kitchens were closed even though the facility was open (just for coffee). After quite a lot of walking and looking we had just about decided to head back home when we saw a sign for a Hungarian Restaurant up a narrow pedestrian street and were delighted to find that it was indeed open for lunch even though we were the only customers. What a pleasant find! It was very authentically Hungarian in every way down to the beautiful dishes and decorations. The hostess/server spoke heavily accented English and we heard the staff chatting away in Hungarian in the kitchen. I ordered the Beef Goulash and John had a pork tenderloin in a creamy mushroom sauce (wonderful different mushrooms with so much flavor) - accompanied by an authentic Hungarian beer. We lingered over a long lunch/dinner and then took the Park & Ride bus back to the parking lot and home. We didn't have to eat again after our huge late lunch. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF MY PICTURES OF DOWNTOWN ABERDEEN.
Authentic Hungarian Restaurant in Aberdeen
Thanks for all the pics. The granite looks so cold, I pinched a penny here just to get in the mood.
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