Tobermory on the Isle of Mull is often cited as Scotland’s most picturesque seaside town. Pink, blue, yellow, and white buildings alternate along the harbor and look out over a bay filled with boats. Buildings grow above buildings in a kind of stepped terrace. On the top of the hill surrounding the harbor stand some of Tobermory’s most impressive buildings.
The Western Isles Hotel is one of these buildings, a purpose-built 26-room late Victorian hotel in red and brown stone with distinctive conical towers. I arrived to the Western Isles after spending the first half of my week on Mull at Druimnacroish, and it would be here that I finished it up. I was looking forward to being based in Mull’s largest town, small as it is. Read more...
by Keith Savage on September 28, 2011 · 2 comments
I walked into the stout, red stone building overlooking Brodick Bay and set down my bags with a thankful sigh. It had been a long day of travel involving countless drives, flights, and ferries, and I’d finally made it to my first stop: Brodick on the Isle of Arran. More specifically, I’d arrived at The Douglas Hotel, which would be my home for three nights thanks to arrangements from Visit Arran. Sorry, I meant the next two nights; delays on U.S. Airways shaved off a full day from my trip and I lost a night from my stay in Brodick.
I looked around the small, cozy lobby with its dark wood floor and thought about how The Douglas Hotel had just re-opened this season. Later I’d hear that the building had been an eyesore for a long time before this re-opening. Not so, now. Read more...
I’m no stranger to deep woods where the sun is blotted out by the interlocking arms of conifers. As a boy, travel and vacation meant journeying to these places in northern Wisconsin. Our abodes were always rustic cottages and lodges on the edges of lakes, and we fished and swam and did things that were just different enough from home.
These days, going “up north” is a ritualistic, nostalgic, and enjoyable affair that Sarah and I do a few times each summer. I look forward to it. So when I looked at my itinerary for the Best Holiday in the World week in MoraySpeyside, maybe you can imagine my interest when I saw that two of my accommodations sounded a lot like what I remember from my childhood: Tullochwood Lodges and Muckrach Lodge. Read more...
I sat inside a cozy lounge just off the main hall of the Cluny Bank Hotel and gazed at an array of Benromach whisky. The early nineteenth-century hotel, with its distinctive salmon-colored scrollwork framing the underside of the eaves, loomed over a beautiful street on the southern outskirts of Forres, Scotland. I was wearing my “foodie kilt” and eager to serve my stomach respite from the continuous assault of deep-fried fish and chips. I’ll refrain from discussing the copious platters of chips with curry sauce I’d previously gorged on.
I wouldn’t typically call myself a foodie. Dining on artful delicacies and pausing mid-chew to make faces of such satiety they border on lewdness is definitely in my portfolio, but I’m too strapped for cash to make it a habit. Read more...
So you’re in Argentina and you’ve been invited to an asado. Lucky you! You’re not a vegetarian (right?) and you love succulent meat! It’s juicy and tender whether char-grilled or broiled. You eat steaks, and Argentina’s got steaks that stand toe-to-toe with Kobe and Wagyu beef.
I can already see you dreaming about aged filet mignon. Well quit it.
Sure we know how to grill in the United States. Hamburgers and steaks are as American as apple pie and bad credit. But asado isn’t really about steaks (in the classical sense) and we don’t do asados. Not even close. Read more...
A hunter, oft-stubbled and bleary-eyed, driven by an insatiable hunger for exploration and experience - and perhaps a chance to thin the herd of caffeinated and alcoholic beverages. From the highlands and islands to Edinburgh, Glasgow, and the Borders, I explore Scotland with a pen in hand and a fire in the belly (which could be partly from the whisky). 
