I know there is more to Scotland than Castles, but my brain simply equates them as the same. The castles are not the grand fortresses you often think of, but something that began as a fortified tower and morphed eventually to a home for the Lord and family, often with additions as the years went by. Seldom being finished in the form the architect planned and left alone. If you are curious for more detail: https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/a-tale-of-two-towers

There are FAR too many castles in the area of Aberdeen to even approach seeing all of them in the time we had, but we tried to see a good sampling. There is a tour designed to see the major ones if you want to go all out: https://www.visitscotland.com/things-to-do/attractions/castles/scotland-castle-trail

Some are ruins, but were once large stately homes, these first two pictures are of Huntly Castle. You can see the bay windows on the top floor and the intricate stonework indicating serious wealth.

This second photo is included more because I liked it than that it shows the castle to best effect. I simply liked using an ultrawide lens at f2.8 for the thinnest depth of field I could at as close of a focus as I could manage. That is not something that is standard operating procedure, but just kind of fun. Your cell phone wont capture this without all kinds of computing resources and trickery.  

Dunottar Castle just south of Aberdeen near the town of Stonehaven was the first castle I ever visited, as such it has a very special place in my heart. Many of the students in my class of study rode the train down and hiked the coast to the castle as a group. It was an amazing introduction to the area. It is built on a naturally defensible spot, it has amazing views and has history of many amazing events.     

I did have to limit the number of photos I included in this post, I have many more in my gallery here: https://www.lloydshell.com/p901116219 and took many more than that but did not process them from the RAW files, I had to find some semblance of restraint.

Crathes Castle is a shot drive inland from Dunottar and I felt it made an easy second stop after the more strenuous hiking to get in and out of Dunottar. The fabric of the original tower home is fairly intact with a smaller addition to the side, it is graceful and has the most AMAZING gardens. I chose to not put too many flower photos in so as to ease the boredom. The gallery is linked earlier in the post if you are flush with time to poke around.  

Craigievar Castle is a little different than the other castles in the area it was finished in 1626 and was very minimally altered after that.   https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/craigievar

 Castle Fraser was one I had never visited during my time in Scotland while in school. I is a very fun building with multiple different additions and a beautiful courtyard entrance. While the day was not a blue sky day, it was still a pretty day to visit.  

Interspersed with the Castles was one particular cathedral, Elgin Cathedral, it is mostly ruined, but I took one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip here. My 12mm f2.8 fisheye lens gave me the ability to get creative in this chapter house and make a striking image looking up and backwards from the entrance.  How they can make ceilings like this out of stone, still boggles my mind.

On our way home from Elgin we stopped by Mortlach Parish Church, a cool little churchyard and building, that is more noteworthy for links to MacBeth than for any other reason. It is a moody little burial ground and the atmosphere was cool.    

Stirling Castle, I want to say it is a don't miss, yet it lacks the... feeling of some of the other castles in that it really has been through so many different uses that the insides are just not that remarkable. The overall building is very impressive, and there are some nice gardens. It also attracts a LOT of visitors and the parking is non-existent close to the entrance, there is some but it is very limited and the streets around the building are just NOT suitable.   

Gargoyles amuse me, they just do.  

Blair Castle was our last stop Castlewise for the short term, we stopped there on our way into the highlands, leaving the lowlands of Aberdeenshire. This is a very stately and lovely home that I enjoyed, having missed it during my school times as it was closed the day I tried to stop. Considering how far it is from London, up in the Scottish Highlands it is an amazing spot of luxury.   

For now I will end this post, the next few stops count more as being in the highlands proper and deserve a separate post. AS always, thanks for reading and look at my photos. Please comment and let me know what you think!