Oban

Well so much for the "highly recommended" fish restaurant I spoke of yesterday. It was a disaster. Short story: after being seated and ignored for 30 minutes we walked out. I couldn't flag the waitress down - she completely ignored us. It also was grey and rained all yesterday - not a down pour but a steady drizzle. We were ready to bag Oban and move on. But a day makes a difference and this morning the sun shown. I still wouldn't recommend coming here unless it's on your way to somewhere else (this is the hopping off point for the Hebrides Islands) but my impression of the area improved after today. Here are a few photos. The town's center is the harbor (unlike most towns we've been in where the center is some market square). Honestly this reminds me of some of the Oregon costal towns: a bit run down but when you are in the right frame of mind they can be charming. Think Seaside or Newport. We started our day with a tour of the Oban Whiskey distillery. It was actually quite fun touring this small plant with a group of eight. And of course the best part was the tasting. Honestly, I learned a lot about Scotch single malts. Just a shot up the "main" street of the town. On the right is the distillery. Up above, the roman amphitheater like thing, is called "McCraig's" folly. More on that in a minute. A shot of town from a pier out in the harbor. So McCraig was the founder of the North Bank of Scotland. Towards the end of his days he got the idea to build a monument to himself and his family. He was planning to build a museum that would surround statues of himself and his family. Of course he died long before it was finished. He left a provision in his will to give a thousand pounds a year (this was 1900) until it was finished. His family contested the will (they apparently had different plans for the money) and won. McCraig's folly (as it became known) sat empty up until the early 2000's when the town bought it and turned it into a park. So in a way he got his monument. Views from McCraig's tower are pretty spectacular. We also took a few mile trek out to the McDougall castle. Not much as castles go but a nice scenic walk. That's sort of it for the day. We're off to Inverness tomorrow (just for one night) and then Edinburgh for a few days. I doubt I'll write about Oban again so look for more tomorrow or the next day.