Scotland

From Imakoopedia

Scotland is one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh.

Table of contents

1 Regions 2 Cities 3 Other destinations 4 Understand 5 Get In 5.1 By Plane 5.2 By Train 5.3 By Car 5.4 By Bus 5.5 By Boat 6 Get Around 6.1 By Train 6.2 By Car 6.3 By Bus 6.4 Hitching 7 Talk 8 Buy 8.1 Currency 8.2 Souvenirs 9 Eat 10 Drink 11 Sleep 12 See 13 Do 14 Learn 15 Work 16 Safety 17 Stay healthy 18 Contact 19 External Links

Regions

There are 32 unitary authority regions, which can be grouped into these parts:

• The Central Belt
• The Borders
• The Hebrides
• The Highlands
• North East Scotland
• The Orkney Islands
• The Shetland Islands
• South West Scotland

Cities

Glasgow is Scotland's largest city with a population of approximately 620,000 people while the capital, Edinburgh, has around 450,000 with Aberdeen next at about 220,000 inhabitants.

• Aberdeen
• Dundee
• Edinburgh
• Glasgow
• Inverness
• Perth
• St Andrews
• Stirling

Other destinations

Scotland has extensive wilderness areas, some of which have been proclaimed as National Parks:

• the Cairngorms - the Cairngorm Mountains
• Loch Lomond & the Trossachs - Scotland's first national park

Understand

Scotland is overwhelmingly rich in history, much of which is preserved in historic buildings throughout the country. It is a country that can be explored without prior trip-planning as Scotland has always either some touristic attraction close by or incredibly beautiful landscape to offer.

Throughout history many battles were fought against the English in order to gain independence. Scotland's national identity is very important to the people and they are generally very proud to be Scottish. You will find that most people in Scotland often express their dislike of the English, but that should not always be taken serious.

Scotland has two flags. The national flag, a diagonal white cross on blue ground — known as the saltire, is one of the oldest flags in the world. It is also incorporated into the Union Flag of the United Kingdom. The second flag which is often seen around Scotland is the Lion Rampant, a red lion on yellow ground. It is the royal banner of Scotland and actually should only be used by a Scottish monarch.

Get In

If you are entering the United Kingdom from another country you may need to obtain a visa. EU citizens do not need a visa and can live and work in Britain as long as they want. Visitors from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA can stay in Scotland for up to six months without a visa, but are not allowed to work without one. All other nations need to obtain a visa.

By Plane

There are four international airports in Scotland: Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Glasgow Prestwick. London Gatwick, London Heathrow and London Stansted are often places to change to a plane that heads to Scotland. London Stansted and Glasgow Prestwick are the airports used by low-fare airlines like Ryanair and Easy Jet, but they lie quite far from the towns they are named after. It takes about 50 minutes by train to arrive in Glasgow Central Station from Prestwick airport.

By Train

By Car

By Bus

By Boat

Get Around

By Train

First ScotRail covers most of Scotland and can take you through breath-taking landcapes. You can take a bike along free of charge, but you may need to book ahead when doing so.

• First ScotRail (http://www.firstscotrail.com/) — Journey information and ticket sales.

By Car

As Scotland is not a big country, most location can be reached within a few hours. Visitors from outside the United Kingdom should take special care when driving with the car, as it is not that easy to drive on the left-hand side if you have never done that before. Many by-passes have been built to allow faster travel, but you will miss out on the beautiful scenery of Scotland.

By Bus

The bus is the cheapest way of getting around in Scotland. You can get almost everywhere with the Citylink bus, but it is more expensive than Megabus. Megabus is a very cheap way to travel, with ticket prices from £1. Megabus departs from Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Perth, going between these Scottish cities as well as to English destinations. Note that with Megabus you can only book online (from 45 days to 30 minutes before departure) and buses tend to depart not from major bus stations, but nearby bus stops.

• Citylink (http://www.citylink.co.uk/) — Journey information and ticket sales.
• Megabus (http://www.megabus.com/) — Journey information and ticket sales.

Hitching

Hitchhiking is surprisingly easy in Scotland, but better to do outside the big cities. In the highlands you might need to wait for a long time until a car comes by. General caution must be given.

Talk

English is the official language of Scotland and is spoken by more or less everyone. Gaelic is also spoken by around 60,000 people, mainly in the highlands and islands, but even there everyone speaks English. In some rural communities in the Lowlands, the Scots language (descended from English, and not to be confused with Gaelic) is the common vernacular. The Scots, like most Britons, generally have rather poor foreign language skills, although those in tourism-related industries generally have better language skills. French and German are the most commonly known foreign languages.

Here are some useful Scottish words:

• Ben = mountain (Ben Nevis)
• Burn = stream (Bannockburn)
• Ceilidh = informal celebration, party
• Close = entrance to an alley or courtyard
• Firth = estuary (Firth of Forth)
• Glen, Strath = valley (Glen Coe)
• Kyle = narrow strait of water (Kyle of Sutherland)
• Loch = lake (Loch Ness)
• Wee = small
• Wynd = lane

Buy

Currency

As in the rest of the United Kingdom, the currency is Pounds Sterling, and banknotes and coins are issued by The Bank of England, the UK's government-owned central bank.

Unlike England and Wales, Scottish law permits certain private banks to issue their own, legal, sterling banknotes. These are The Bank of Scotland, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and The Clydesdale Bank. These notes are very common in Scotland, but are generally not accepted in shops in England (although English banks will exchange them for Bank of England notes). ATMs commonly dispense the Scottish notes, but bank tellers will cash travelers cheques into English notes on request. Scottish banknotes may be difficult to exchange outside the UK, where banks are generally unfamiliar with the notes.

As English notes are more commonly forged than their (lower-circulation) Scottish equivalents, smaller shops are sometimes wary of larger-denomination English banknotes, particularly when the note is in an uncirculated condition (as is common with sterling notes sold abroad).

Euros are accepted at a very small number of highstreet stores and tourist shops, but this should not be relied upon.

Scotland (similar to the rest of Britain) is quite expensive when compared to other European country. The further north you go the more expensive it gets, mostly because of the difficulty of supply.

Currency conversion table
Foreign currency	Either one	Pound Sterling
€1.45 Euro	1	£0.69
$1.80 US Dollar	1	£0.56
$2.49 Australian Dollar	1	£0.40
$2.26 Canadian Dollar	1	£0.44

Souvenirs

The classic tourist souvenir is a kilt and everything else involving the tartan. Note that a real kilt costs about £300-400 and is made of heavy wool (so it won't reveal what you are wearing underneath even at strong winds), but most souvenir stores only offer unauthentic thin ones.

Whisky is also a common buy and huge differences in price and taste.

Eat

• Haggis -- Scotland's national dish does sounds quite disgusting to foreigners because of its ingredients, but doesn't really taste as bad as one might think. Haggis is made up of chopped heart, liver and lungs of a sheep and then cooked in a sheep's stomach bag. Nowadays, you can buy and cook Haggis in plastic bags. It is served with mashed potatoes and turnips.
• Porridge is an oat meal the Scottish eat at breakfast, although it is not the everyday breakfast anymore.
• The Crisp Roll is one of the strangest snacks that you see some Scottish people eat. To make yourself one, get a fluffy roll, put butter on it and then but crisps (crisps as in Pringles crisps) in between them. The taste obviously depends to the flavor of the crisps.

Drink

Bars are the places you meet people and where you have a good time. More than in other countries, bars are very lively and it is easy to get to know people when you're travelling alone. The Scottish are very welcoming, so it's not unusual that they will buy you a beer even though you just met them.

The legal drinking age is 18.

• Beer — Beer, especially the ales, are measured in pints. One pint equals just over half a litre (568ml).
• Irn Bru — A highly popular, fizzy, orange-coloured soft drink that is supposed to be the best cure for a hangover.
• Whisky — Scotland's most famous export.

Sleep

• SYHA Hostels -- The SYHA (Scottish Youth Hostel Association) has hostels all over Scotland and is probably the cheapest place to stay. Some of the buildings are very impressive, like the one in Loch Lomond and the Carbisdale Castle Hostel. SYHA hostel listing (http://www.syha.co.uk/)

See

Most historic sites are maintained either the NTS (National Trust of Scotland) or by Historic Scotland. Both offer memberships for a week,a year or a lifeteam. Depending on how much you get around and how long you are staying, they may be worth buying.

• Historic Scotland (http://www.historic-scotland.co.uk/) — Sites and prices
• National Trust of Scotland (http://www.nts.co.uk/) — Sites and prices

Do

• Cycling -- Even though there are only a few cycle trails compared to England, Scotland makes a great cycling country as there are many roads with little traffic. See Cycling in Scotland.
• Hillwalking -- Scotland is famous for hillwalking. You can try to climb all 284 Munros of Scotland (which are mountains higher than 3000 feet / 911.4 m) and become a Munroist, or you could hike the popular West Highland Way, which stretches for 153km (95 miles).

Learn

In the bigger cities you can learn highland dancing. If you're interested in learning how to play the Scottish bagpipe, you should know that it takes about one year to play on an actual bagpipe for the first time. It is really more difficult than it looks like and needs daily practice!

Work

EU citizens do not need a visa to work in Scotland. All other nations need to acquire a visa. In the big cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow it should not be too difficult to find a job, but it really depends on your skills.

Safety

Scotland has no unusual high or low crime rate. Glasgow is said to be rougher than Edinburgh and some parts of Glasgow should be avoided. Keep away from Orange marches, which demonstrate support for the protestants in Norther Ireland, as it can quickly come to riots with Catholics.

Stay healthy

When hillwalking, you should always take along a compass, detailed maps and a good pair of boots. Note that the weather on the hills can change suddenly, with vision of only a few meters. Never do hillwalking on your own!

In case of emergency, call 999 from any phone.

Contact

• Internet -- Most libraries offer free internet access. In Edinburgh you will need to join the library first though. Internet cafes are rare outside of the major cities.
• Post -- Mailboxes are red. In most post offices you can change your foreign money without a fee.

Also see Contact entry under United Kingdom for national information on telephone, internet and postal services.

See Contact entries under individual cities for local information.

External Links

• VisitScotland.com (http://www.visitscotland.com/) -- the Official Site of the Scotland's National Tourism Board
• http://home.freiepresse.de/uwdel/whw.html -- some information about hiking the West-Highland-Way