Scotland:

General:

The capital of Scotland is Edinburgh. Edinburgh was the first city who has an fire company. The queen of Scotland is Elizabeth II. She is crowned on February 7, 1952.

There live about 5.300.000 people in Scotland. In Scotland is it one hour earlier than in the Netherlands. English is the most important language, but they also speak Scottisch and Gaelic.

The emergency number of Scotland is 999. Well-known people from Scotland are: Jim Clark, Amy Macdonald, Ally McCoist, Colin McRae, Derek Ogilvie, Gordon Ramsay, Jackie Stewart, James Watt and (Bon Scott, Angus Young and Malcolm Young)AC/DC.

Nature and culture:Ben Nevis:

Ben Nevis is a mountain. He is with 1344 metres the highest mountain of Scotland and of the United Kingdom. It is located not far from the place Fort William. This is also the best place to check out if you want to visit the Ben Nevis. By the Ben Nevis is Fort William one of the most popular places in Scotland. Every year tens of thousands tourist go to Fort William because they want to climbing at the Ben Nevis.

Hogmanay:Hogmanay is Scotland’s worldfamous new year’s celebration on December 31. Hogmanay is a huge party in scotland with street parties, traditions and lots of good wishes to all the people.

Scottisch Bagpipe:The Scottisch Bagpipe is well known as the Great Highland Bagpipe and owes it’s worldwide fame tot the fact that this instument in the first world war was used by the British army. The Scottisch Bagpipe is also intended for on the battlefield and can only issue one octave and one note. It is tradition that the Bagpipe player is special dressed.

Sights:Castles:

There are a lot of sights in Scotland. The country is mostly known for its many castles and castle ruins. The most famous castles of the country are Edinburgh Castle, Eilean Donan Castle, Striling Castle, Scone palace and Culzean Castle.

National parks: There are two national parks in Scotland. The Cairngorms National Park and the Trossachs National Park. The Cairngorms National Park is located in the Highlands of Scotland and is the largest nature reserve of Great Britain.

Myths and Sagas:Scotland is known for its many myths and sagas. Scotland is famous for its many Lochs. The largest and best known of these are Loch Lomond, Loch Ness, Loch Awe and Loch Maree.

Geography:The surface of Scotland is about 80.000 square kilometers. That is a bit bigger than the Benelux.

Scotland forms the northern part of Great Britain and only has a land border with England and is 96 kilometers long. This limit is partly formed by the River Tweed. The River Tay is the longest river of the country.

Next to the mainland has Scotland 800 islands that can be divided into four groups, the inside Hebrides, the Outside Hebrides, Orkney and the Shetland Islands. Most Scottish islands are uninhabited and are only used as bird breeding place.

In Scotland there are about three hundred mountains higher than 900 meters. Edinburgh is the capital of the country, but Glasgow is the biggest city in Scotland.

You can Scotland layout in 3 geographic areas: in the North the Highlands, in the Middle Central Belt and in the South the Southern uplands.