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Aberdeen & The Grampians - A Guide

By: Terry Cod

Aberdeen offers an explosion of amazing scenery from an original waterfront on the east coast to the awesome Grampian Mountains to the west. Being Scotland's third largest city, expect Aberdeen to have a wide range of cosmopolitan places of interest from the arts to ancient artefacts and a wonderful selection of shops. This immediate region is responsible for the world renowned Malt Whisky Trail. Once you have recovered from trying the wares of eight distilleries, there is the Castle Trail to explore amidst the area's most memorable of views. There is skiing, whisky tasting, fishing, golf and much more to be found here in the Granite City.

Expect some form of celebration to be happening while in Aberdeen. The local population and the visitors often get together to remember the region’s heritage with long established spectacles such as the "Friendly Games at nearby Lonach. The games are held each year on the 4th Saturday in August at nearby Strathdon. Other entertainment to look out for when visiting the city include the Aberdeen Jazz Festival (March), Tartan Day, the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival (April-May), The Wickerman, the Braemar Telemark Festival (March) and the Stonehaven Fireball Festival. The Stonehaven event is one of the last remaining of an east coast fire festival traditionally held to celebrate the New Year.

Aberdeen city centre comprises many wonderful granite buildings and endless supplies of the finest restaurants, shops to suit all types and a very lively ‘what’s on’ listing available to all visitors. It's easy to understand why so many Aberdonians get homesick so easily. Who could blame them? The city has everything! A dry, cool climate, soft sandy beaches, the Lemon Tree (Aberdeen's own perpetual Festival Fringe), scenic streets, warm friendly people, picturesque fishing villages and Union Street (the main shopping street), as well as three shopping malls!

Aberdeen is known as the "City of Roses" and not without reason. A popular landmark and attraction in these parts is the Rose Hill at Duthie Park with in excess of 12,000 different varieties of Rose.

The Old Town section of Aberdeen has a nostalgic air about it. The area known as Old Aberdeen is a preserved site, which was once an individual burgh. Here you will find the cobbled high street with Provost Ross's House,Aberdeen Art Gallery and many other places of interest within close proximity:a few miles of one another. Don't miss an opportunity to explore the University of Aberdeen's wonderful King's College with its 15th century chapel and fixtures.

While in Aberdeen many visitors explore the correlation between the area and the hostile North Sea. For many years North Sea oil reserves have played a huge part in the growth and prosperity as well as many heartbreaking losses of the region. Visitors can pay their respects at the Piper Alpha Memorial, a peaceful rose garden dedicated to the memory of the one hundred and sixty seven oil workers lost to the ocean in that tragedy of 1988. The Maritime Museum on the Shiprow has a number of fascinating exhibits illustrating the synergy between the City of Aberdeen and the fishing and oil industries associated with the city.

On the map, the region around Aberdeen and the Grampians seems very compact. This is totally untrue. In actual fact there is a huge expanse of territory to cover, with sights and attractions around every corner and much to miss if restricted to public transport. Cycling in this wonderfully scenic area is amazing but it's a hilly area and it's definitely an activity only suggested for the young and agile amongst us. For the remainder, the use of four wheels rather than two has much to recommend it as a way to see the wonderful sights and countryside in this beautiful part of the world.

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This article on the area around Aberdeen was written by Terry Cod, a writer with a deep love of Scotland and its way of life. He is the owner of www.online-hotel-bookings.co.uk/ offering a range of hotels in Aberdeen.

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