Monthly Archives: May 2025

Portavadie

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West of Scotland

If you are in Glasgow and fancy to go somewhere else, you can reach an interesting place on one of the western peninsulas of the Argyll and Bute region in a few hours.

The Argill and Bute region is the second largest (almost 7,000 square kilometres, larger are only the Scottish Highlands) in Scotland and borders the Stirling, Scottish Highlands and a few other regions. However, the region has low population density and, with less than 90,000 living there, it is the sixth from the bottom of the list.

Portavadie boats
Portavadie boats

The region begins relatively close to Glasgow, just before Helensburg. Because of its lakes, region has two large peninsulas and three large western Scottish islands – the Isle of Islay, the Isle Jura and the Isle of Mull.

There are two major roads in the region in the north-south direction and one in the east-west direction (in its northern part).

The vast majority of roads are local and on many occasions those have single lane for driving in both directions. However, as elsewhere in Scotland, all roads are paved and the road surface is of good quality.

Portavadie

Portavadie is a very small village with a small marina and nice Scandinavian spa complex. This spa complex is not widely known and is mostly used by locals and sailors, however we did not found anything better in Scotland in five years living there.

In principle, everything is built for the recreational needs of sailors. In a relatively large area there are hotels, a restaurant, a modern administrative building of the port and the already mentioned Spa complex which is quite tiny but the best in terms of services I have enjoyed in the United Kingdom.

There is also a ferry terminal in Portavadie, from where you can quickly, in about 15 minutes, reach the port of Tarbet on the next peninsula in the direction of the Isle of Arran. The journey from Portavadie to Tarbet would take at least two and a half hours.

Portavadie marina
Portavadie marina

If you are on the ferry, you can observe the nearby Scottish salmon farms, which are set in a fairly large area across the bay. Once when we visited Portavadie, we took a ferry to Tarbet on our way back to Glasgow. The trip was interesting, it was worth stopping in several places along the way and enjoying the surrounding landscape. Of course, there are different Scottish castles there.

For example, in the town of Inveraray there is a parking lot by the water in a very beautiful place. It is also worth visiting the castle and its garden – there you can spend several hours in a pleasant atmosphere (there is also a parking lot near the castle).

On the way back you can stop at the northern end of Loch Fine to relax and eat. If there are no vacancies at Loch Fine Oysters Restaurant (often, reservations must be made several days in advance), you can also enjoy a delicious, good-value meal at the café in the garden centre next door.

Hotel and Spa

Returning to Portavadie, we’ve been there quite a few times, taking friends there as well. We also stayed in the hotel apartments. Prices are quite high, but spending an entire afternoon going to the spa complex’s pool and treatments is a great pleasure.

Sunset in Portavadie
Sunset in Portavadie

Inside the complex there is a swimming pool, sauna, café, on the second floor treatment rooms, while outside there is a heated pool and jacuzzi. It feels especially good to go there when the weather is cold outside. After leaving the sauna, you should walk about ten meters and then it is a real pleasure to sink into the pool and look at the surrounding landscape.

It’s even difficult to describe those feelings, so it’s better to go there and try it.

Visiting Prague

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Visiting Prague will provide you with huge positive experiences. Prague is the most visited touristic site of the Czech Republic. We have been there several times and never were bored.

Visiting Prague and Czech Republic

Czech Republic, also called Czechia, is a country in the Central Europe, although, due to its 20th century history it is classified here rather as belonging to Eastern Europe.
Czechia has borders with Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Poland and its land territory is 77 thousand square kilometres (almost 30 thousand square miles).

This is a very similar size to their neighbouring country Austria (slightly smaller) and central American country Panama (Czechia is slightly bigger). In Czechia live more than 1ten million people; majority of them are Czechs.

Prague
Prague

Prague is the largest city in the Czech Republic and the 13th biggest city in the European Union. Total number of the people living there is around 1.3 million (over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area).

Getting there

By car

If you are in Czechia’s neighbouring country, it may be a good idea visiting Prague by car. Motorways in Czechia are excellent and driving on those is a joy. However, there are a couple things to keep in mind.

Firstly, buy highway vignette; if they catch you without it, fines may be huge. Also, follow speed limits; according to my personal experience, police officers use to hide to stop you with a surprise if you are speeding.

By airplane

If you go by plane, you’ll most probably arrive at Vaclav Havel Prague Airport. Options to get from the airport to the city centre cheap are not huge; there are no metro connection between Prague airport and the city centre, and it is not planned for a foreseeable future as far as I know. The best option, in my opinion (we used it a few times), is departing from airport by bus 119.

After 8 stops (this might be the destination of 119, although I am not quite sure about it; sign next to 119 says ‘Dejvicka’), leave bus and look for Prague Metro Green Line station Nadrazi Veleslavin and board a train going in direction of Depo Hostivar – after six stops you’ll arrive in the city centre (Mustek).

It’s not hard to find metro station because it’s close and just follow the crowd as majority of people will go the same route usually. All journey from boarding the bus to arrival at Mustek will take around 30 minutes. Using private pick-up, shuttle or taxi would not save that much money, however, would cost much more – 10 to 25 euros or even more in some cases.

Roofs of Prague
Roofs of Prague

People say there is also Airport Express bus service (costs about a double of bus/metro transfer, which is still cheap), however I have not been using it and cannot comment for that reason.

There are more options, and you can explore those visiting Prague airport webpage dedicated to transportation to Prague city centre – information is really detailed and useful there.

Getting around

I already mentioned Prague metro – apart of busses and trams, this is convenient way to travel across the city. There are three metro lines – Green (A), Yellow (B) and Red (C). They have plans to open the fourth underground line (Blue line) in 2027 to connect southern parts of the city to the city centre.

Once we lived quite far away from the city centre, however, were able quickly to reach central parts of the city, where vast majority of the best touristic sites are located, by using metro.

Charles Bridge
Charles Bridge

After you arrive at one of metro stations in the city centre, we usually prefer to walk, occasionally popping into tram. Metro may be useful to commute between sites located in opposite sides of the river.

More information, including prices, you may find on different websites. You can also explore where to go, where to stay, where to eat and drink in Prague.

Cornwall – the second day

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This is about the second day in Cornwall. After the first day in Cornwall we went to the nearby local pub The Shire Inn for dinner before going to bed. It is about a 15-minute walk from the guest house we used for staying at night.

The atmosphere and service were good, the food and the local Cornish beer were also delicious – just like in a gastropub. The bill surprised me a bit though – they know how to use supposedly normal prices in such a way that at the end you get a bill what is at least ten pounds more than expected.

Minak Theatre

In the morning, right after breakfast, we went to an interesting place – an amphitheatre built in the rocks, where real performances are held often. This place was a real surprise we got in Cornwall.

Minak Theatre
Minak Theatre

The author and creator of the theatre idea was a local woman, Rowena Cade. The name Minak (meynek in the local language) means rocky place. The woman started creating theatre in the thirties of the last century.

Minack Theatre is located in the very south of the peninsula. You can see the theatre and the garden created around it (entrance fee 10 pounds), but in the afternoons and evenings there are live performances (performances do not take place every day though). The garden itself is worth a visit and the amphitheatre looks really impressive.

More information can be found on the theatre’s website.

Mount St. Michael

Mount St. Michael is an island in the sea near the coast, very similar to Mount Saint Michel in France. What both have in common is that during low tide you can walk from the land to the island on dry feet, but during high tide water separates the island from the mainland.

Mount St. Michael
Mount St. Michael

The difference is that the French counterpart has an abbey located on the island, while Cornwall has a castle on it, which is owned by the National Trust.

The place is interesting, worth a look if you are in that part of England. A few things to consider if you visit.

Finding a parking space for a car is quite problematic; the best option is to approach the castle as close as you can and wait for a parking space to become available. The nearby (recommended) long-term parking lots are usually occupied and you have to walk quite a distance to the island.

There are several types of entrance tickets: island and castle, island and garden and a combined ticket. Since we already visited a garden in the morning, we took a ticket only to the palace. The garden, by the way, could be viewed from the palace courtyard.

Ticket prices vary – for an adult, 14 pounds for entry to the palace, 10 pounds for entry to the garden, and a total ticket costs 24 pounds; for children aged 5 to 17, about half of that.

The end of the earth

As the name suggests, beyond the end of the earth there is only the sea. To be honest, we didn’t go to the very end of the earth, but we went to the nearby village of Sennen Cove. The only difference – parking spaces are cheaper, fewer people on the beach, more pleasant and restful feeling. The sea is the same, the beach and the surrounding views are the same. It was recommended by the locals and thanks to them for offering this option!

We spent a couple of hours on the beach, and even organized a picnic on the seashore before moving on.

St Ives

St Ives is a small pretty town and fishing port on the north side of the peninsula. Local internet marketers say St Ives is a shining jewel in Cornwall’s crown, one of the most valued in England. St Eves has been voted the best family holiday on the coast and one of the 10 best beaches in Europe.

In reality, I wouldn’t really say that. First, the beach is quite small, although the sand bar is wide. In any case, there was no special feeling of romance – just an expensive resort pretending to be posh.

Speaking of treasures – we booked a table in beach café to watch the sunset. Although we saw the prices while ordering snacks, after receiving the bill we understood why they mention gems describing this place – we must have had eaten quite a few of them.

St Ives sunset
St Ives sunset

The place (they call themselves a beach café, which is true) didn’t even have white tablecloths, but a piece of tuna the size of a piece of sushi was right there for £20. However, I have to admit that the taste of this mini dish was fantastic.

After dinner, we got lost in the city because we didn’t really remember where we had left the car. The town is located on a hill and if you take one street in the wrong direction you can get lost very quickly. However, we did not mind that accident as walking around the town was quite nice experience.

So the second day in Cornwall was spent and in the morning we planned to go back to Dorset, stopping for lunch on the seaside in Devon.

Cornwall

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This time I will start with a short summary. We were planning to go to Cornwall for at least seven years. It didn’t happen because it was quite far from Scotland – travel costs also played serious role. While living in the south of England we couldn’t do it in the beginning because there were many other places to go.

We decided to go to Cornwall after listening to stories from others about how unique and beautiful it is. After the trip there, I can say one thing – the idea of visiting Cornwall could have been not the highest priority. Mainly because of associated costs. The cost of the trip was essentially at least the same as nice comfortable weekend in Rome. To be honest, the feeling and impressions after returning home from Rome were also better at the end.

Cornwall scenery
Cornwall scenery

The value you get for the money you spend plays significant role here and for me it would be in favour of Italy. Roughly speaking, everything in Cornwall was about half as expensive as it should be based on my travel experience in Europe. In short, the prices in remote places of Britain are inflated to the maximum and do not really meet expectations. In this case, the only exception might be the guest house where we stayed, although it was not cheap either.

About Cornwall in brief

Cornwall is a relatively large area in the very south-west of England. If you look at the map, it ends up with only water around it. For this reason, there is even a place called Lands End.

One peculiarity of Cornwall is that, unlike the rest of England, it has historically been a Celtic region. It can also be felt, for example, by many strange names of places or the way the locals pronounce them.

The territory of Cornwall is 3.56 thousand square kilometres, it is the 12th largest of 48 regions. More than 550 thousand people live there and it is only 40th in terms of population. The population density per square kilometre is only 160 people. The administrative centre of the region is Truro.

The Eden Project

The first place we visited was the Eden Project. It is a complex of gardens and greenhouses where plants from all over the world have been collected. You need about three to four hours to see everything. All in all, quite interesting, especially if you get to stand in line and climb up to the dome itself and look at the tropical world from above (the observation deck is open periodically and there are quite a lot of people who want to participate in this 5-minute dizzying attraction).

Sunset in Cornwall
Sunset in Cornwall

The entrance ticket costs around 35 pounds (around 40 euros) for adults (prices vary depending on the season) and 11 pounds for visitors aged 5 to 16. In essence, it is a ticket for a year, but it does not make much sense, because hardly anyone will want to drive that long way again during the same year. In my opinion, it would make sense to reduce the price for one visit (up to £20 per adult’s visit would be more appropriate price).

Accommodation

We booked a guest house in Cornwall a long time in advance, because during the high season the prices skyrocket, often the accommodation is simply not available. The main reason – those Britons who do not go overseas visit Cornwall and other similar regions of Britain.

Guesthouse in Cornwall
Guesthouse in Cornwall

As I said at the beginning, the price for this accommodation was reasonable in given circumstances – £245 for two nights in a two bedroom apartment with a fitted kitchen, living room, bathroom and a nice little private courtyard at the side of the house. The beds were comfortable, the hostess had left local eggs and ham in the fridge for breakfast, so I can definitely recommend this Church House guest house to other travellers (we booked this through Airbnb).

That’s it about our first day in Cornwall in 2022, you can also read about our second day in Cornwall.

Road network in Scotland

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Scottish highways

The road network in Scotland is very well developed and virtually all, even the smallest, roads are paved. There are relatively few holes on them, even if they are in remote areas, so driving is quite enjoyable. The total length of the Scottish highways (according to 2017 data) is 56 thousand 250 kilometres, of which 632 kilometres are motorways. Strange as it may sound, the longest road network is in the Scottish Highlands.

There can be conventional Scottish roads with one lane in each direction (almost 28,000 kilometres in total), two- or three-lane motorways, or very narrow local roads with single file traffic sections. To be able to drive there, special passing places have been created on those roads. This type of carriageway is particularly common in the Scottish islands and makes driving slower but quite interesting.

To get to and return from Scotland, most motorists use the M74, which runs from the southern border of Scotland and is a continuation of the M6 in England. This motorway has three lanes in each direction almost along its entire length, with the exception of a small section before Glasgow, where there are only two lanes.

Central Scotland

Of course, Scotland’s best-developed and ‘fastest’ Scottish roads are in the central part of the country, connecting the capital, Edinburgh, with Glasgow, Stirling and Perth.

Road near Edinburgh
Road near Edinburgh

The main Scottish highways (motorways) connecting these cities are the M8 (Edinburgh-Glasgow), M9 (Edinburgh-Stirling), M90 (Edinburgh-Perth) and M80 (Glasgow-Stirling). In the absence of congestion, any journey to these cities will not take more than an hour, but in the morning before the start of the working day and in the late afternoon, when the work ends, the journey may take twice as long.

The good news is that motorways in Scotland, like in England, are toll-free, so there will be no extra cost for travellers, unlike such countries as France, Italy and Croatia.

Western Islands

As for the extra cost, those will be if you travel to western islands of Scotland. Scottish roads in the western islands are as good as elsewhere, although you can often get caught on roads with only one lane in both directions.

West of Scotland
West of Scotland

There will be an additional cost for the ferries that will take you from the mainland to the island. The ferry service is very well organized and they run precisely according to a pre-arranged schedule. It must be said, however, that ferry travel is not cheap and can be stopped due to the weather conditions, mainly due to strong winds (those my be well over 100 kilometres per hour).

There are also popular destinations that can be reached both by land and by ferry, such as the Isle of Skye. We’ve tried both ways, and each has its advantages, especially if you don’t have to rush anywhere.

Rest of Scotland

Where there are no motorways, there are good ordinary roads, in some places there are even two lanes in each direction. One of the main reasons why there are no motorways is the Scottish terrain. For example, when driving in mountainous areas, in many cases there is hardly a space for even one full single lane.

Road in Scotland
Road in Scotland

Another feature, especially in mountainous areas, are long stretches of road where overtaking is prohibited but also practically impossible, as the roads are winding and cars, buses and lorries with long trailers drive on them. One can only hope for luck that there will not be many slow vehicles on the road.

In any case, if you go plan a longer trip, you can’t trust the estimated time of arrival to your destination proposed by your navigation device – be sure to add some time to your trip if you want to get to the destination at a specific time.

However, there should be no rush when you travel around Scotland. The country is so beautiful that you can enjoy the scenery during almost every season, especially when you are lucky enough to have sunny weather or at least sunny spells.