*The Flower of Scotland

Aberdeen also known fondly as "The Flower of Scotland" is the capital of the Grampian Region. It is Scotland's biggest fishing port. It lies on the North Sea coast between the river months of the Dee and the Don.

Readers who have read my previous posts would have been informed that yours truly will be visiting Aberdeen this early August.

In my attempts to find out more about Aberdeen, I have chanced across this site: http://www.agtb.org/agtbhome.htm

Please feel free to browse through the above-mentioned site to do your own research of Aberdeen.

According to Baedeker's Scotland, a travel guide, Aberdeen is Scotland's third-biggest city. Its name is derived from the juxtaposition of "aber" meaning "mouth" and the combination of the Dee and the Don.

Fodor's Exploring Scotland states that before the end of the 18th century, Aberdeen was exporting its silver-gray granite to London. I suppose, I could expect to see granite streets when I am in Aberdeen?

1969 was perhaps the most important year in Abedeen's history when the first British oil field was opened. By 1995, the large numbers of oil and gas fields in production in Aberdeen have brought about a massive boom to the local economy.

Oh yes, it seems like one of the favourite terms of the modern world is "economy", but I am not sure if we should be looking at successes of a city solely based on its economy.

Back to the topic, I read that Aberdeen has sandy beaches. A pity that I am not a person who's keen on beaches. I don't know how to swim actually.

But I suppose I could walk about Aberdeen and visit the various places of interests. Yours truly prefers walking. The travel guides seem to imply that many of Aberdeen's places of interest are within walking distance of each other. That would mean that I could quite easily travel around on foot. Most likely I might end up alone. I am seriously contemplating the thought of investing in a good tripod to take better pictures. Of course, I do get a little put off by the thought of carrying extra weight. I must learn to travel light, even though my regular policy is to make sure I am fully-equipped, even if it means it would be at the expense of bringing along things that I would end up not using.

Off-hand, there seems to be some worth-to-catch places that I should visit when I am there. I shall list a few:

Marischal College


Marischal College 

Remember that it was mentioned earlier that Aberdeen was exporting granite in the 18th century? Located on Broad Street stands the Marischal College. It was founded in 1593 by George Keith, the 5th Earl Marischal of Dunnottar. It is the second largest granite building in the world after Spain's El Escorial. Inside the college lies the Marischal Museum. The museum possesses a superb anthropological collection, including exhibits from Egypt, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii and Tibet. However, I read that the main emphasis in the museum in the collection on the north-east of Scotland. Opening hours are: Mon-Fri: 10 am - 5 pm, Sun: 2 - 5 pm. I heard that admission might be free?

Old Aberdeen
I was told by the travel guides that I should visit the Old Aberdeen. Today, it holds a host of protected buildings, the oldest which dates from the 6th century. I have no pictures of it yet to help me determine if it is nice, but I shall try to visit it if time permits.

That's for today. When I manage to sort through the information on hand, I shall post about Aberdeen again.