There's More to Inverness than Nessie

There is not a tremendous amount to do in the town of Inverness itself. The last time I was there, we ended up very lucky, because there was a free concert on in honor of the passing of the Commonwealth Games torch. The main band playing was this new, and I might add, great, young Celtic funk band called Croft No. 5.

But even if you don't have such great timing, Inverness is a great base for exploring the highlands, and the immediate area around it has a great deal to offer. Obviously you have to see Loch Ness and keep your eyes peeled for the monster, but my personal favorite thing having to do with the loch is Urquhart Castle. The famous Culloden battlefield is near Inverness, though it's not particularly impressive to actually see. More interesting are the Clava Cairns, a type of cairn that is only found in northeast Scotland. Another nice place to visit is Cawdor Castle, which is apparently the choice of 3 out of 4 ghosts, according to a bumper sticker I saw in the gift shop.

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In the town, all you need is a good pair of feet. To get out to any of the sites out of the town, you will need to take a bus. This can be either a local bus (information at the bus station), one of the Guide Friday tour buses, or one of the private tour company minibuses.

This was a basic independent hostel, on the upper two floors of a townhouse on the main pedestrian street in Inverness. It wasn't classy, but everything there was reliable--for example, the showers were private, gave consistent hot and cold water when expected, and so on, which is a nice change from some hostels. There was a nice big kitchen with storage space in both the cabinets and the fridges, and all the necessary appliances. And they even offered free tea and coffee.

We stayed in a room with six beds, and there was ample space for everyone to spread their stuff out, do sit-ups and have discussions about linguistics and phonetics (though this wasn't required). All rooms appeared to be single sex.

The common room, upon first appearances, was a bit of a spartan affair. A couple couches, a TV, 3 cramped tables. But add some World Cup action, and one stoner with an ample supply of black gold, and it could be a bit livelier. There has been a lot of debate lately about decriminalizing hash, but it was still quite amazing to watch a guy roll up joint after joint in plain view of the entire room. Inverness, the Little Amsterdam.

In summary, the hostel was pretty good, and I'll definitely stay there again the next time I go to Inverness. It was cheap (in the good way), mellow, and in a great location, just down the street from the tourist information centre.

Reception is open 8am-11pm, although there is no curfew, and beds are around £10.

My friend and I about fell over each other racing into the front door when we saw the sign: "Two meals for £5.50"--offering a range of full pub meals, like fish, chips and peas, etc. The food was really good and the meals were all more than filling. On the special, they had cod, haddock, chicken kiev, scampi, and a vegetarian pasta bake which all come with chips and peas (or salad), and also a soup and sandwich combo. Even if you're not traveling in multiples of two, the food is good and quite inexpensive.

The dining area is on one side of the pub, and is generally less smoky than many pubs, but the other half (the true "pub" half) is full of your typical raucous and entertaining daytime drunks.

They serve food from noon to 10pm, and the special is on the whole time.

This kind of site is not always very exciting to the casual observer. Cairns appear to be simple piles of stones, but of course really they are tombs, which required a lot of effort on the part of the prehistoric people who constructed them. The Clava Cairns site is very important in the archeology of Scotland, as this type of cairn (the Clava type) is found almost exclusively in northeastern Scotland, and especially in the Inverness region. The site is dated to late in the Neolothic (New Stone Age).

At this site, there are three cairns of two different types, arranged in a not-very-straight line. The middle cairn is a ring type, and the other two are chamber cairns. The two chamber cairns are very similar. The ring cairn is basically just that--a ring of stones, around 50 feet across. Formerly, it would have been much higher than it is now. The two chamber cairns are also rings of stones, but they are different from the ring cairn in that there is a walkway from the outer part to the chamber in the middle.

These cairns really are pretty exciting if you have a bit of imagination, and there are several signs posted at the site to give what little information is actually known about the cairns. Make sure to look for the cup marks on many of the base stones of each of the cairns--these are holes that were intentionally carved out, for some purpose (nobody knows...).

The cairns are open all the time. There is no admission fee to the site, although it is managed by Historic Scotland. For more information about the cairns, call +44 (0)1667 460232.

There is virtually no wheelchair access to this site. Also, the ground can be very muddy at times, and there are no constructed footpaths on the actual site.

This is a magnificent, ruined castle. Its striking position on the banks of Loch Ness give it a romantic or dangerous feel, and you can almost sense the tangled history of the region just by wandering through this castle. It was very large before it was destroyed in the late 17th century to prevent the Jacobites from occupying it.

The walk from the visitor center to the castle is downhill and windy, and it offers a nice view of the castle. When you cross the old defensive ditch and enter the main gate-house of the castle. There was a small prison in the gate-house which you can look at if you go through the doorway to the guard room, on your left as you pass through.

From the gate-house, you can go either right or left. To the left is a ruined 5-storey tower with a spiral staircase that you can climb. Then you can admire the loch (and watch for strange shapes that might be Nessie). From the top of the tower, you can see the ruins of the entire castle very well. On this side of the gate-house are the remains of the great hall, kitchens, and another rectangular ruin that may have been the chapel.

On the other side of the gate-house is an incline that leads up to several other ruins, but no structure is as impressive as the tower on the other side. Here, you can find the small circular remains of the dovecot, and against the water what may have been a smithy. On the summit of the hill is a rectangular ruin, but it is unknown what purpose this building would have served.

The first time I visited, a couple years ago, there was only a small hut to sell tickets and souvenirs. But now there is a large visitor center with a display about the castle, a cafe, a small theater showing a film about the castle, and tons of souvenirs for sale.

Urquhart Castle is open daily from 9:30am all year. From April to September it closes at 6:30, and the rest of the year at 4:30. Admission is £5 for adults, £3.75 for students/seniors and £1.20 for children. This property is managed by Historic Scotland.

There is virtually no wheelchair access to the castle itself, although the visitor centre and its restrooms are accessible.

In many ways Cawdor castle is a fairly typical preserved castle, in that it is lavishly decorated and has sprawling staircases and hallways and mysterious doors and rooms. A bizarre contrast to all of this is the big, bright, modern kitchen decked out in stainless-steel. Furthermore, this castle is actually still a genuine residence--for one woman, the widow of the last lord. (I suspect that she is not the one who enjoys the wonders in the kitchen, though probably the products thereof.)

Because the castle is still occupied, there are quite a few friendly guards throughout, and the route is strictly outlined, with off-limits areas clearly roped off. In each room is a narrative written by the previous lord, who had a bit of a sense of humor, making for more enjoyable reading than many castle guide books.

Although the castle itself is impressive enough, probably the best thing about it is the surrounding gardens and woodlands. An incredible amount of work has gone into the gardens, and they are quite charming. You can spend quite a bit of time amongst the trimmed hedges, wandering under the vine passageways. There is even a maze hedge made, although this area is inaccessible to the public (because the soil would be damaged by too many feet trampling over it...).

The castle is open seven days a week from 10am to 5:30pm, from May 1st to the second Sunday in October. There is ample parking. The castle's phone number is +44 (0)1667 404615, and their website is http://www.cawdorcastle.com/.

There is only minimal wheelchair access.

At first glance, this small museum doesn't seem very impressive. Downstairs, it has a clear local focus, with a bit of railroad history, a cute display of postcards from the region, and some natural history in the form of stuffed wildlife and displays. Upstairs is the art gallery, which I don't think had anything notable, and a few more Highland-related artifacts like weapons.

But if you know what to look for, there are some real gems here: Inverness is located in the old Pictish Kingdom region; in fact, it was actually the site of an important Pictish stronghold. Consequently, there are several fascinating Pictish standing stones and other artifacts on display at the museum. The most notable stone is the Ardross Wolf and Deer, which is classed as a Class 1 stone.

Pictish stones are divided into three classes, which are largely chronological but overlap a great deal. Class 1 stones are earlier and simpler, bearing only pre-Christian imagery. The images in these stones are made by carving out stone, effectively creating line drawings. These images can be any of the famous Pictish symbols, which are generally divided into four types: rods (decorative lines), objects (things from real life), animals (real or imagined) and abstract (basically, unidentifiable shapes). Class 2 stones are transitional, in that they are similar to Class 1, but also include some Christian symbolism. The carving on these stones is also significantly advanced, as the workers created the images generally in relief, so the figures are raised from the background. Class 3 stones are like Class 2 stones, except that they have none of the (pre-Christian) imagery associated with Class 1 stones.

The museum is open all year, Monday to Saturday 9pm-5pm. In July and August, it is also open Sundays, 2pm-5pm. Admission is free and there is a small shop with books and items of local and national interest.