Scotland - Carrbridge to Edinburgh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Our host highly recommended the Iain Burnett Highland Chocolatier as a place to visit on our way to Edinburgh. It took us off our path a little bit but it was well worth it. Iain Burnett is an award winning chocolatier and his awards include repeatedly Best Truffle in the World at the International Chocolate Awards, Gold from Academy of Chocolate, and Triple Gold at the Great Taste Awards.

Although delicious, we both decided that we preferred the chocolate that we got at Chocolates of Glenshiel better. Maybe we don’t have award winning taste?

FWIW, the hot chocolate was amazing!

Stirling Castle

After the chocolate shop we headed to Stirling Castle located in Stirling. It was part of our Explorer pass so we wanted to make sure to fit it in. We got there later than expected and when we drove up into Stirling, there was no parking available. After some circling and frustration, we headed down the hill out of Stirling and were ready to give up. We pulled into a parking rest area and noticed that we could park there for 2 hours. This might be our chance - after a hike up the hill we arrived at the gates of the castle. We do wish that we had more time but we were ready to make the best of it.

Stirling is one of Scotland’s greatest stone castles. The castle peaked in importance in the 1500s, but its volcanic crag has been fortified since ancient times. Generations of Scottish monarchs have enlarged, adapted and embellished Stirling Castle.

We explored its three main enclosures and the refurbished Royal Palace – childhood home of Mary Queen of Scots. The palace’s lavish design drew on European Renaissance fashions to show off James V’s power and good taste.

The hike to the castle was well worth it and we made it fun on the way down the trail. The last picture was taken from the top of the trail down to where we parked our car. It was a good day and we were ready to take in Edinburgh.