Farewell New Galloway

We bid farewell to our favorite apartment so far. The New Galloway apartment was very modern and furnished by Ikea, but it was located in an old building once removed from the main street of this sleepy little retirement community. We could not figure out what people do for a living here! Liz, who manages the hotel on main street just in front of the apartment says the town is dying. She manages the hotel, which is vacant most of the time, cleans the apartment we were in, and has a bake sale once a month among several other things just to make ends meet. But it is quaint and beautiful, and the residents take pride in their properties.

We took a drive through the countryside in the last days we were here, and visited the abbey where Mary, Queen of Scots was raised as a little girl. She was already betrothed to the king of France while she lived here. While we were on our trip, we had to stop for a herd of cattle that were being driven down the middle of the road. The clouds were magical this day. We stopped in a small village that was having an art fair, and took a picture of the castle that sits in the middle of town. We were advised by the local tourist office that the drive down the coast was a pretty one, and we saw a wonderful lighthouse out on the point. The road was a single track unit.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

While the south of Scotland is quite different from the north, it is also very, very beautiful. The people here have been wonderful. We stopped in for a sandwich, (which was fabulous..a fresh baguette with creamy feta cheese, sun dried tomato, cucumber, lettuce and fresh basil picked right off the plant). We had the two sandwiches with crisps (chips are what we call fries), and a can of soda for about $7 pounds total.

Chris set her purse down on the counter and then forgot about it while we went outside to eat. After awhile, the man who made the sandwich came out and asked if it was her purse. He'd had lots of people in an out, and no one had bothered it at all. We have seldom felt as safe as we have in Scotland.