Scottish Culture

The rich Scotland culture has gone through many changes. Scotland was mostly inhabited by the Celtic decedents in the Scottish Highlands. Scots dominated the Southern part of the country. Mostly the Scots are smart and vigilant. There is some influence of the Nordic and Anglo Saxon people on the culture of Scotland. The church going majority in Scotland are the members of the Scotland church. The Scottish people always had a thirst for learning. Farmers called crofters live on the north western coastal region of Scotland. They live in houses built of pebbles and stones. Apart from farming the people are interested in forestry, cottage industries and road work. The Highlands are famous for more than 100 clans and these groups of people are famous for sports and athletic shows. There are also some Bagpipers and Highland dancers. Scottish culture, like that of the many of Northern European nations (for example Ireland & England), has been described as a pub culture or drinking culture, whereby consumption of alcohol has deep rooted tradition - along with pride of working class heritage, which is common in all of Britain.

Sights and Sounds of Edinburgh

Capital of Scotland since the 15th Century, Edinburgh stands on seven hills creating the dramatic skyline of this lively cosmopolitan city. What better way to see this fantastic city than from the top of a City Sightseeing Tour Bus. Each tour is tailor-made to offer a distinctive and entertaining experience and provide a great introduction to Scotland's Capital City. What's more, their hop-on hop-off tickets give you the flexibility to visit the famous sights around the City as you pass them. Compare Edinburgh's Old Town, where families lived in cramped conditions and rubbish was thrown out of the windows to the elegant Georgian New Town with its three main streets and a square at either end. Hear about the hangings that took place in the Grassmarket as you marvel at the impenetrable Castle Rock above you and hear about the attempts to capture Edinburgh Castle. See the Royal Mile which joins Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyrood House.

Enchanting Edinburgh

The beautiful city of Edinburgh is an enchanting place to visit with so much to see that you will be spoilt for choice. Located in the south east of Scotland, Edinburgh lies on the east coast near the North Sea. More than 6,200 miles long and with over 760 islands, the jagged Scottish coastline is one of the most dangerous in the world. This is one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, draped across a series of rocky hills overlooking the sea. It's a town intimately entwined with its landscape, with buildings and monuments, almost in a poetic manner. The city offers a constantly changing perspective. And it's all small enough to explore easily on foot. Edinburgh is a capital in miniature compared to the other famous European capitals. It's not even the largest city in Scotland. With population of only 500,000, everything is within reach. Traffic congestion is not as bad as in bigger cities like London either. Edinburgh's unique features include two extinct volcanoes, one of them right in the City Centre onto which Edinburgh Castle is built.  Also known as Athens of the North, a name inspired by the great thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment, is a city of high culture and lofty ideals, of art and literature, philosophy and science. The return of a devolved Scottish parliament to Edinburgh in 1999 marked a growing confidence and sense of pride in the nation’s achievements. The UNESCO World Heritage Site at the heart of the city combines the medieval Old Town, the Georgian New Town and award winning modern architecture. Explore Edinburgh at your leisure, you’ll see views that make for perfect picture postcards, mysterious winding streets, elegant terraces and an abundance of shops, bars and restaurants. Edinburgh is a great base from which you can explore the rest of Scotland. Edinburgh is only an hour's drive from Glasgow, Scotland's largest City and 2-3 hours from the Highlands and that says a lot of the size of Scotland.  The bottom line about the city is : great food, great music, great shows, really great pubs, incredibly friendly people and above all, enough attractions to keep even the most energetic tourist busy.

Surviving Greece

You will find that Greece is a friendly place, very hospitable to guests, but it is still important to learn about their traditions and customs in order to blend in and respect Greece's heritage. As in any country, there are certain do's and don'ts in Greece. Many times, a foreigner might think some of these customs strange or may disagree with them, but we should all respect a country's ways when we visit it. If you go out to dinner with locals, there is no way you will be allowed to pay your share of the bill and if they ask you to stay over at their house, they will in all likelihood offer you their own bed, in order to make you feel as comfortable as possible. This is known as ‘filotimo’, a Greek word without an exact equivalent in English, meaning something between a sense of honour, dignity and pride and is a highly-praised virtue in Greek society. Below are some more etiquette tips for your trip to Greece.