Scotland

Scotland is a part of the United Kingdom and it’s situated in the North of the main British island and includes the Hebrides, Orkney, Shetland and other smaller islands. It’s a beautiful place surrounded by the North sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Its landscape is varied, there are hills, moors, rivers, forests, lakes and mountain- Caledonia Mountain and the Grampians with the highest top of the mountain called Ben Newis. The most famous lake is Loch Ness, where you can ,meet a very shy monster called Nessie. Many people believe that the legend of Nessie is true and the monster lives in the lake, but other think that the monster is a lie, this is only a care of business. People sell posters, photos and steps of monster’s leg and earn a lot of money. However Nessie makes the Loch Ness mysterious and interesting to visit it.
Scotland’s history is very long and it goes back to prehistoric times. The first people who lived in Scotland were Celts, later Roman came and they called Scotland Caledonia.
Today this country has its own parliament, legal system and education system. Scottish have got their own money and their own Celtic language called Gaelic.

The cultural center of Scotland is Edinburgh, its capital city for almost 500 years. It isn’t a big city, only 500 thousand people live there. There are many interesting and famous places in Edinburgh, for example Edinburgh Castle, which is home to the Scottish Crown Jewels. Another place worth visiting is the Palace of Holy rood, her Majesty the Queen’s official residence. There is also a National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh is famous all over world for it’s arts festivals. There is an Official Festival for theatre, opera and classical music, and unofficial, but the most popular part- a ‘Fringe’ festival, where you can see avangard concerts, a big variety of plays, concerts, dance performances and films. Finally, there is the Military Tattoo, a parade, held in Edinburgh Castle.
One of the most characteristic things about Scots is their national garment called “tartan kilt”,
that is a woolen, checked short skirt worn by men.

Scotland like other countries has its own traditions. And for example 25 January Scotland celebrate Burns Night. Robert Burns is Scotland’s national poet and Scotts have a big dinner every year to celebrate his birthday. The dinner begins with the sound of bagpipes and the ‘haggis’. The bagpipes its characteristic Scottish instrument and the haggis is Scotland’s national dish, a kind of sausage made from the heart and other organs of a sheep. Then everyone reads poems and sings song written by the great ‘Robbie Burns’ himself. Other popular Scottish writer is sir Walter Scott.

Once time ago I thought that Scotland is a very boring place within interesting things to see, but now I think it’s one of the most interesting countries in Europe with wonderful and breathtaking landscapes.