Whoever travels to Scotland will find a land rich in landscapes, a wonderful nature and a very dense history. Without wanting to in our minds we draw the silhouette of a country full of green fields, wild nature and castles that together with its picturesque villages and towns. Some areas are among the most unpopulated in Europe, and offer the possibility of enjoying a practically virgin landscape.
It is an endless contrast from the moment of their birth to the present day. The Scots have lived through great periods in their history, from the time when the Scots arrived from Ireland to mingle with the local population, then the Vikings arrived, who continued that task and gave the people of Scotland a special character. Scotland, or Alba in Scottish and even Caledonia as the ancient Romans called it, is as variable as the names it has. The most incredible thing is that the climate is practically the same in contrasts, the weather can change every 10 minutes, and go from a radiant sun to rain and wind in the blink of an eye. That's why it's often said that you can experience all four seasons in just one day.
Despite its size, it hides countless treasures: incredible landscapes, immense skies, spectacular nature, and cities that are symbols of culture. Every step you take in this wonderful country is full of castles and lakes that blend into the landscape, creating postcard silhouettes that you would spend hours looking at while trying to decipher the stories and legends that each one has. With the most extensive virgin areas in Western Europe, it is a paradise for naturalists who feel the irrepressible desire to travel through the north of the country.
The lakes scattered all over the landscape find their peak in Loch Ness, cradle of myths and legends that together with the cloudy landscapes give that halo of mystery that traps you in a circle of sensations difficult to forget.
When you start visiting the famous Highlands you realize that despite being an extremely humid area there is a great shortage of trees, and this is due to the great deforestation that the country has suffered throughout its history. Seeing these incredible bare landscapes is both amazing and sad, but the Scots are a traditional and innovative people and they always find a way to avoid that.
Most of the forests that through human action and climate have been disappearing, and the little that remains due to the winds and the shallow roots fall and end up dying. That is why in the two great natural parks, they have chosen to protect those native Caledonian trees (that is how Scotland was called in ancient Rome).
Situated in the north of Britain is a rugged and windy place, the Highlands region has always made great demands on its inhabitants. In its lands we can see the great constructions that are the scars of those wars that have always happened between families for the succession of a throne that was denied to them, and that also was much more crude in the wars between Protestants and Catholics that divided the country.
It is a country of legend, that Scotland full of stories that has always intoxicated our hearts. It was full of druids, of myths and legends of goblins with golden cauldrons, of horses transformed into women (Kelpies) and above all of stories of ghosts and mermaids. These Kelpies are evil spirits that inhabit lonely lakes, attracting people to ride them to trap them in their watery graves, but if you are brave enough to take the bridle and tame them, they will obey you for life.
It should be noted that their flagship animal is the unicorn, that in their most famous lake there is a monster that many have seen and no one sees (they pay you 25000 pounds if you take a good picture of the monster)