Highland Explorer Part 1: The Road to Aberdeen

Hello my lovely readers! I hope you've all had a pleasant easter break. As we've been in Edinburgh for a couple of months now, Ed and I thought we should spend our Easter break exploring a bit more of Scotland. I've travelled around Scotland a number of times in the past ( including a phase where I was into mountain bagging...!!) but it was always to do very specific things. This time, on the other hand, Ed drafted a very loose itinerary involving many hundred miles of driving, a few pit stops and a not a lot more. We planned to zoom through Highland roads, stopping whenever something took our fancy and with no rigidness to the itinerary whatsoever (other than getting to a certain place by bedtime). It was sunny day in Edinburgh as we set off and the glorious weather followed us all through the holiday.

The itinerary on day 1 was to drive for about 4-5 hours and get to Elgin by the evening. It had been a long week and I was feeling particularly rough and so Ed drove all the way to Aberdeen with only a quick lunch stop en-route. I wasn't sure of what to expect from Aberdeen. Its a very 'grey' coloured city due to the predominately stone architecture. And it was very very cold despite the sunshine. We drove around Aberdeen a few times, taking in the city and the harbour, before finding a place to park (a complete nightmare). We finally found a place at the Union Square car park ( attached to a big retail park and convenient location) and trundled to the Musa Art Cafe, one of the few places I was keen on checking out in the city.

The cafe is set in a converted church and is very arty, unsurprisingly. I loved the quirkiness of the place; retro prints, Russian propaganda beer bottles converted into vases, bottle cap decor on the tables, funky music and art on sale. We ordered some great coffee and shared a lovely croissant bread and butter pudding with cranachan ice cream...it was *delicious*!

Ed's a very un-englishly chatty chappie and we were soon making friends with the girls sat at the next table ( locals who now live away). They confirmed that Musa was a good place to be in Aberdeen and that there wasn't a whole lot more they'd recommend. Apparently, Jamie's Italian is what is considered haute cuisine locally. I took all this with a pinch of salt ( as you must whilst travelling) but we decided we wanted to crack on and get to Elgin by nighttime.

We did spend a little time walking around Aberdeen city centre, purchased a pack of tennis balls at a local sports shop ( because we like doing random things and we needed them, obviously), checked out the Italian food market inside the Union Square shopping centre, a quick nosey around the local TK Maxx ( who stocked a number of Kate Spade goodies, surprisingly) before motoring off.

I know I haven't done justice to Aberdeen and there is always more to a place but there is always a 'next time' to explore deeper. If you do want some Scotland itinerary ideas or would like to share your, do drop me a line. Ann x

Wearing: Zara cropped shirt; Gap khakis (now further reduced); Dune kitten heels, Michael Kors bag, Moschino scarves, Christin Dior Madrague sunglasses.

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Highland Explorer Part 1: The Road to Aberdeen
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