Historic Castle Series: Eilean Donan Castle, Scotland

Entrance to Eilean Donan Castle

Eilean Donan’s History

The name Eilean Donan means island of Donan. It was most likely named after the 6th century Irish Saint, Bishop Donan, who came to Scotland around 580 AD. There are several churches dedicated to Donan in the area and he could have formed a small cell or community on the island during the late 7th century.

View from Castle

The first fortified structure was built in the 13th century as a defensive measure, protecting the lands of Kintail between 800 & 1266 against the Vikings who controlled, raided and settled much of Northern Scotland and the Western Isles. From the mid 13th century on, the sea became the main highway with the power of the feuding clan chiefs in this “Sea Kingdom” of the Lord of the Isles. Eilean Donan offered the perfect defensive position.

The castle has changed size over the centuries. The largest was the medieval castle, with towers and a curtain wall that encompassed nearly the entire island. The main keep stood on the island’s highest point. By the end of the 14th century, the castle area was reduced to a fifth of its original size. This was due to the number of men required to defend the castle. Canons were introduced by the 16th century on a hornwork firing platform added to the east wall.

The Jacobite Risings in Scotland

Outside Castle

Eilean Donan also played a role in the Jacobite risings of the 17th and 18th centuries which resulted in the castle’s destruction.

In 1719 the castle was garrisoned by 46 Spanish soldiers who were supporting the Jacobites. They had established a magazine of gunpowder, and were awaiting the delivery of weapons and cannon from Spain. The English Government discovered the intended uprising and sent three heavily armed frigates The Flamborough, The Worcester, and The Enterprise to the area. The castle was bombarded for 3 days with limited success due to the enormous thick castle walls which were up to 14 feet thick in some places.

Finally, Captain Herdman of The Enterprise sent his men ashore and overwhelmed the Spanish defenders. Following the surrender, the government troops discovered the magazine of 343 barrels of gunpowder which was then used to blow up what had remained from the bombardment.

Eilean Donan

For 200 years, the ruins of Eilean Donan lay neglected and abandoned. Lt Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911. Along with his Clerk of Works, Farquar Macrae, he dedicated the next 20 years of his life to the reconstruction of Eilean Donan, restoring her to her former glory. The castle was rebuilt according to the surviving ground plan of earlier phases and was formally completed in the July of 1932.

Eilean Donan Today

Eilean Donan has starred in many films including:

Bonnie Prince Charlie starring David Niven (1948)
The Master of Ballantreee starring Errol Flynn (1953)
The New Avengers (1976)
Highlander (1986)
Loch Ness (1996)
James Bond – The World is Not Enough (1999)

A more recent movie was Made of Honour, a romantic comedy from 2008 starring Patrick Dempsey & Michelle Monaghan.

Wedding at Eileen Donan

Besides movies, weddings are popular at the Castle. It’s well worth a visit if you are planning a trip to Scotland!

Al and I in front of Castle

Travel Memories: Mykonos, Greece

A Popular Greek Island

Windmill on Mykonos

Another Greek island stop on the cruise was to Mykonos. The main town is called Mykonos too.

A Town By The Sea

Mykonos is a lovely town with some buildings and restaurants up to the water’s edge. It is nicknamed “The Island of Winds” due to the very strong winds which blow across the island which we experienced.

The cruise ship in the distance.

Greek Dining

We were able to sit outside and enjoy some Greek food while almost on the water.

My husband Al and myself sitting outside at Mykonos restaurant.

We had some Greek appetizers which included olives and hummous of course!

Hummous

They also brought us olives, bread and tsatziki.

Appetizers

We had to try the cappucino!

Cappucino

Greek Octopus

One thing we didn’t try was the octopus! This one was sitting outside on the bar all ready to go!

It was a fun day in Mykonos and well worth the visit.

Dining by the sea.
Mykonos Pottery showing the famous windmills.

I look forward to returning there again in the future.

Narrow streets in Mykonos.

Travel Memories: Santorini, Greece

A Trip to Santorini

How To Get There

Santorini is a beautiful Greek Island and was very popular with tourists when I visited on a cruise stop a few years ago.

Once the ship docks, there are two ways to get up the hill.

The first way is by cable car which is a steep ride up to the top with amazing views.

Cable Car up hill

The second way is to take a donkey ride or walk up the steps which takes a while. The donkeys must know the route by memory as they constantly walk up and down the steep slope.

Donkeys and tourists walking up the steep slope to the top.

I chose the cable car because it was fast and also a fun way to quickly get to the top.

Donkeys waiting on steps in shade.

A Special Greek Island

Santorini is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, around 200 kilometers from the mainland of Greece.

It is the largest island of a small, circular archipelago, and is a remnant of a volcanic caldera. A caldera is a caldron-like hollow which forms shortly after the magma chamber empties in a volcanic eruption. The walls of the volcano cave in resulting in the cauldron-like appearance of the island. It can also be considered a crater though it looks more like a giant sinkhole structure due to the eruption and the build-up of magma over time.

The Churches

The principal city in Santorini is Fira. The building is done in the cycladic style where the white buildings are built like an amphitheatre on the hillside. The blue domed churches really stand out against the white buildings built with narrow pathways between them. The churches were my favourite part of Santorini because they are so beautiful and I had never seen anything like them before.

A Return to Santorini

When it is safe to travel again internationally, it will be wonderful to go back to Greece and re-visit this amazing island with the beautiful views.

A church dome.

Social Media Is Really Anti-Social

When Social Media first came out, I thought the name wasn’t appropriate for there isn’t anything social about it. As human beings, we need to interact face to face with others so we can have conversations, watch our facial expressions and understand what we are saying to each other.

Using the Ipad for business

Are We All Addicted?

Social media has been a tremendous help with the pandemic. As we haven’t been social throughout this time, we have seen friends, family and participated in meetings, classes and ceremonies on-line.

Office Face-to-Face Meeting before Covid

From the time we wake up until we go to bed, we are constantly on our cell phones or other mobile devices. Addiction explains why people still drive and use their cell phones. They are addicted to know who is calling or they just have to make another call or send another text. Everyone knows not to use a cell phone when driving because the driver must concentrate on the road at all times. Addiction has taken over and people can’t stop using the cell phone when on the road which has caused tragic accidents and sometimes death.

On the cell phone while studying

I’ve also noticed people on cell phones when walking down the street sometimes never look up. I had a near crash with one person who wasn’t looking where she was going but madly typing away on her phone. Fortunately, we both didn’t get hurt but she should have paid attention to where she was walking instead of being so distracted.

The Proof of Addiction

Computers for Office Staff

A new book written by Adam Atler, a professor at NYU, is called Irresistible. He lays out the evidence for the hidden danger in our lives called behavioral addiction. From tracking social media “likes” to constantly counting our steps, we are being guided by the technologies we use.

Instead of letting addiction rule our lives, we can take steps to live more productively. This behavorial addiction is preventing us from forming meaningful relationships, raising empathetic children, and separating work from sleep and play. Who would have thought a decade ago that Facebook would attract 1.5 billion users? As the author suggests, many of these users wish they spent less time on the site. Also Instagram users spend hours uploading and liking sixty million new photos every day on the app. More than twenty million people daily count and monitor their every step with a small wrist-bound device.

Suggestions he makes include workplaces shutting down at six pm and disabling work email accounts between midnight and five am the next morning. Games, similar to books with chapters, can be built with natural stopping points. Social media platforms can demetricate which is removing the numerical feedback allowing damaging social comparison and chronic goalsetting. Children can be introduced to screens slowly under supervision instead of all at once. Our culture needs to make space for a work-free, game-free, screen-free downtime to make it easier to resist the lure of behavioral addiction. This will result in us communicating with others directly which will make us happier than any screen time or device could ever do!

SOURCE: Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology And The Business of Keeping Us Hooked by Adam Alter