St Andrews, Without the Golf

Both the cathedral and the castle are quite nice, and the climb up St. Rule's Tower is a definite must, if a bit strenuous for some of us. A visit to the beach is also worth it, and there is a small ice cream shop on the way down, so you can pretend it’s a hot summer day. Otherwise, a general stroll around the university and the town as a whole is quite relaxing, as it's a pretty town.

We went for a walk along South Street around 11pm our first night there, and quickly found West Port, a surviving gate from the medieval city walls that stands at the western end of the street. It was built in 1589 and renovated in 1843. Another notable site on South Street is the Blackfriars Chapel. The Dominican friars’ church was built in 1516 and you can see the surviving vaulted side apse. Next to this is the Madras College, which you can view from the street. This college is designed to look like a little piece of India in Scotland, and was built to provide a place for an innovative new teaching methodology.

Quick Tips:

The first thing you should do is to take a walk around the town. The layout seems a bit strange at first, but really it is just the old medieval street plan. The three main roads, North Street, St Mary’s Place and South Street, all radiate from the cathedral, as that was the clear focal point of medieval St Andrews. But there are not too many directions for these roads to go, so they all run nearly parallel to each other, and even a fair distance from the cathedral they are not far from each other. St Andrews has a rather long and narrow feel to it.

You can easily see the cathedral, tower and castle all in one day, and you should consider buying a joint ticket for these. You can buy them at either location.

The best beach is called the East Sands, and it is a walk down Pends Road, on the south side of the cathedral (the other direction from the castle).

And of course, no matter where you go or what you do in St Andrews, keep your eyes peeled for Prince William. He’ll be the young chap with the bodyguard entourage, if you’re wondering.

Best Way To Get Around:

Walking is more than sufficient for everything in the town. If you arrive by train, at the station in Leuchars, you will need to take the bus to St Andrews, as it has no station itself. All buses to and from the town operate via the bus station, situated in the western part of the centre.

We weren't so sure about the place when we first arrived, because it was about 5 after 9pm, and on the door it said reception was only until 9. We rang the buzzer and climbed up one flight of stairs, and a confused-looking guy stared at us for a moment, and then said, "Were you looking for a couple of beds?" I said we had a reservation, and then we followed him into the reception room. He mumbled something about making people sleep on the floor, and counting on us not showing up that night. Then we paid for our beds and he directed us upstairs, quickly pointing out the kitchen, bathrooms and common room.

But, after that, everything was great. The only negative (and this had apparently contributed to this guy's lack of sleep and general confusion) was that there was a whole team of pre-teen soccer players staying in the hostel, and they seemed to think they owned the stairs, the hall, the common room and the outside seats of the restaurant downstairs. But they left the next day and the entire hostel (walls included) breathed a sigh of relief.

Our room was one floor up, and had 6 beds. We were the only females in there--I was very glad I'd brought my earplugs. The room was quite clean and there was a clean bathroom with a shower across the hall, and other showers and toilets on the main floor. The kitchen and common room were also on the main floor of the hostel, and were both roomy. The kitchen could have been a bit cleaner, though the facilities were excellent (ovens so new I couldn't figure out how to operate them).

The location is good for a couple of reasons. It's right above a great Mexican restuarant (my favorite), and it's close to everything you'll want to walk to. It's right at the end of St Mary's Place, just before it meets City Road, so it's less than a five minute walk from the bus station

Dorm beds cost £12 except during July, August and September, when they are £13, £16 and £13 respectively. A deposit is required for the key.

See the website for more information (www.eastgatehostel.com/standrews.htm).

This is a chain I have visited in Glasgow (though I think that one closed down, or at least moved). It is just a basic large sit-in restaurant/bar, with a menu covering a wide range. You can get everything from burgers to steaks to fish to Mexican. Meals are not too expensive, and you can easily spend less than £10 if you want to. They are open late and the restaurant is large enough that you won't need to make reservations, even on weekends.

My friend and I shared a plate of nachos as an appetizer. I bought a salmon dish and couple of cocktails, and my total was about £15.

The only problem my friend and I had was in acquiring the bill. Our waitress seemed to have that condition so many servers here have: the dreaded fear of speaking to the customer once the food has been delivered. She walked past several times after we were clearly done, and even cleared our plates, but never brought us the bill. Finally we went to the bar to pay, and somebody went to find her.

When I realized that our hostel was in the same building as a Mexican restuarant, I was ecstatic--it had been over a year since I'd had Mexican food. I'd spent 5 months in Mexico before coming to Scotland, and even before that I was used to eating it nearly every day. So imagine my horror when we went down there the night we arrived, only to be told they were all booked for the night. I thought I might die, my taste buds having already been kicked into overdrive by the aromas sneakily wafting by. Reservations are clearly necessary in the evenings, but especially for weekends.

So we tried the next day for lunch. And there were almost no other customers, so we had no problem getting seated right away. Our server even remembered us from the night before, and told us we wouldn't have wanted to eat there the night before, because things apparently got a bit crazy. So things work out.

One of the benefits to eating at lunch is that the lunch menu can be cheaper than the dinner menu. There are many lunch meals, such as taco and enchilada plates, for £4-5. I instead chose the chicken fajitas, which included four tortillas, came with sour cream and salsa, and were very substantial. The price was standard for lunch and dinner: £7.99. My friend ordered flautas with a mango sauce that was quite tasty. We split an order of chips and guacamole. The guacamole was very good, but the number of chips was a bit lacking. And of course you can't eat a Mexican meal without ordering a margarita or two, especially when you are making up for lost time like I was. We went a bit overboard and ordered first one pitcher of frozen margaritas, and then a second. Oops. This was very inspirational in a sense, forcing me to climb upstairs to my hostel room and lie down on the floor for a few minutes, to ponder such life essentials as the value of self-control and other such things.

The pitchers were £11 each, and even so, our bill came to £38 total, so that was only £16 for a starter and two main meals. There were desserts available in the range of £3-4. A dinner meal will most likely be a little more expensive, but it does not have to be much more. I do highly recommend the margaritas, however.

La Posada is conventiently located on the western end of St Mary's Place, about 100 meters before it meets City Road.

St Andrews Cathedral is an impressive ruin indeed. It is hard to really visualize what the intact structure would have looked like, but it isn't difficult to see that it would have been massive. And rightly so, as it was Scotland's largest cathedral. Currently, the three most notable parts that survive on the grounds are the east gable, part of the west gable, and St Rule's Tower (part of the previous church on the site).

Building on the cathedral was begun in 1160, but the building was not relatively complete until 1318, when it was consecrated. In the mid 16th century, the Protestant Reformation shook the Scottish Church, and St Andrews Cathedral was just one of many that was defaced, and then abandoned, by excited citizens. It was out of use for some time thereafter, and simply decayed rather naturally after the 17th century, although it still was looted building material until fairly recently. The ruin provides an interesting spectacle, with the juxtaposition of the bright green grass with ornate, dark stone remains jutting out of it.

When you first approach the cathedral, you see the partial west gable standing confidently and facing the town. A large part of a wall is still standing from this gable, as well. Walking past the gable, you enter the area that would have been the nave. You can see the (flat) remains of the lines of large columns that used to support the building. You can continue walking all the way to the east gable, and you will see the column remains all the way there. Once you pass the transepts, which branched out toward the north and south near at the eastern end of the nave, you are in the eastern limb of the cathedral, which housed the choir, probably the high altar common in cathedrals, and perhaps the cathedral's relics. Fortunately, there are signposts all over the area explaining the many stone areas, which would otherwise be unrecognizable to most people.

Attached to the nave, to the south, was the cathedral priory. This was a large square cloister surrounded by the various buildings for the friars, such as the dormitory, kitchen and refectory. The visitor centre is in this direction. Inside it is a small museum with Pictish and early Christian crosses and burial stones (including the important and impressive St Andrews Sarcophagus), and a small shop from which you can buy tokens to enter St Rule's Tower.

The cathedral is open daily at 9:30am, and closes at 6:30pm April to Septmember and 4:30pm October to March. It is free (the St Rules Tower is not).

This tower is what remains of the 12th century St Rule's Church. The church was most likely originally built from the 1120s to 1150s, though there are some who think it may be earlier. The tower, over 100 feet high, sat between the nave and chancel. The nave is completely gone, but the chancel walls and arched entrance actually remain.

A token is necessary to enter the tower. You insert the token and then you can enter through one of those scary revolving metal gates with teeth. It's such a tight squeeze that I had to take my backpack off and I still thought I might get stuck.

Once through, you climb a short metal staircase, and then start on the tight stone spiral staircase. Just under halfway up, you come to a landing, where you can rest, and I recommend listening for people coming down. We heard people and waited to let them pass, and had the stairs to ourselves the rest of the way up. On the way back down, we met a family, and had to pass our backpacks along three pairs of hands, and then get quite intimate with all of them to squeeze past. In total, there are over 150 steps, and it's a tiring climb if you're not used to stairs or steep inclines.

The views from the tower are quite splendid, really. The top is open and there is a barricade to prevent people from falling off, but you can still get nice photos. You can see all of the town, the cathedral and graveyard, the castle, the beach, and everything, really.

The tower sits in the same area as St Andrews Cathedral, and you need to buy a token from the cathedral visitor centre to enter the tower. Admission is £2.20 for adults and 75p for children. A joint ticket is available with the castle. It is open daily at 9:30am, and closes at 6:30pm April to September and 4:30pm October to March. The tower is managed by Historic Scotland and admission is free to members.

The tower is inaccessible to people using wheelchairs or walking aids.

There is not a great deal left of this castle. It is surrounded on two sides by the sea, and parts of the castle have been falling into that sea for centuries. The setting is quite striking, and there is a small beach on the northeast side that is accessible from outside the castle grounds.

The main entrance is called the South Front, and you enter here by crossing the new wooden bridge across the old moat. You’ll see the castle well in the courtyard when you first enter, and you can wander over to it and peer 16 meters down if you want. The tower that survives in the South Front is called the 4-storey Fore Tower, most of which is inaccessible, though you can explore the ground level.

Moving along from the Fore Tower, away from the entrance, is the ruins of the chapel (only the columns remain). Just beyond that you can find a path down to the mine and the countermine, which offer far more for the visitor. These were dug during the siege of 1546-7, and are very notable as surviving examples of this common engineering feat used in sieges all over Europe. The Earl of Arran began digging the Mine in order to gain access to the castle in November 1546. The funny thing about this is that the start of the digging was in plain view of those within the castle; consequently, they began digging a countermine, to cut off the mine diggers. But this was not as easy as it might seem, because there was no way of knowing in which direction the mine was being dug, and several failed attempts were made before the mine was finally met by the countermine. You can explore the tunnels, and they are not as cramped as you might think.

Moving along the wall past the mine and countermine will take you towards the Kitchen Tower. But you will pass the spot where the Great Hall used to stand, until it fell into the sea in 1801, which must have been a disastrous thing to see, because this hall was supposed to rival those at Linlithgow Palace or Stirling Castle. You can climb up to the first level of the Kitchen Tower, though it is not the most interesting thing. The last tower, along the northern wall, is called the Sea Tower. Within its confines is the famed Bottle Dungeon, where several early Protestants were imprisoned.

The castle opens daily at 9:30am, and closes at 6:30pm April to September and 4:30pm October to March. Tickets cost £2.80 for adults and £1 for children. You can also buy a joint ticket at the cathedral to include St Rule’s Tower.

Parts of the castle will be accessible to those in wheelchairs, and the toilets in the visitor centre are fully accessible.

This is a Historic Scotland property, so entrance is free to members.