UK Trip - Day Two (continued)
Pitlochry is a great little town. It’s quite picturesque and was one of our favorite little towns in all of Scotland. We spent quite a bit of time in the visitor center there, partly looking for souvenirs, partly gathering information about the area. The woman who helped us was really wonderful. Her accent was great too! After buying some t-shirts for friends of ours that said “I have friends in Scotland”, a refrigerator magnet, and a great map of Scotland, loading up with every brochure imaginable about Scotland’s various regions, we trekked on down the main street of Pitlochry. There were dozens of great little shops, and I think we went into every one of them. We didn’t buy anything, just did a lot of looking. Around lunch time we noticed several people eating fish and chips from Styrofoam containers. It looked really good, so we asked one couple where they got it. There was a place on one of the side streets called “The Plaice to Be” (spelled just that way). We headed straight for it since we were starving. There was a line of about 10 people that wound out the door and in front of the take out place. Obviously, this WAS the “plaice” to be. We looked at the menu and decided to just go for the fish and chips, though there was pretty much anything you could want on the menu. They had steak pie, haggis, sausages, and some things I had no clue what they were. We saw the steak pies and they looked pretty tasty, but we were ready for some fish and chips – our first since our arrival in the UK. We were not disappointed. The piece of fish was huge! In the US, you usually get two or three small pieces of fish and a pile of chips (fries), so we were awed by the giant piece of haddock that we were given and the enormous of steak fries it was served with. Jonathan and I opted for the vinegar, of course, but Tom hates it, so he just had salt. This was strictly a take away place with no seating, so we walked down the street a bit and found a stone wall upon which we could place our take out boxes while we ate. We joined the others who were eating their fish and chips while standing on the sidewalk. One bite and we were hooked. The fish was hot, moist, and delicious! My only complaint was that, by the time we got to the fries, they were kind of soaked with grease from the fish, and I really couldn’t eat much more. Tom wanted to eat every dinner there for the rest of the stay. He really, really loved it. It was good, but I’d take it somewhere I could sit down to eat it, and separate it from the fries so they didn’t soak up all the grease. If you go to Pitlochry, give “The Plaice to Be” a try. It’s just east of the main street on the north end of town. Excellent food!
After we ate, we explored the town a bit more, taking in the scenery, the quaint stone houses, the beautiful gardens, the old churches. It was a really great day and we would love to go back and try out some of the pubs we passed. I highly recommend a visit to Pitlochry. I know we didn’t see half of what we could have had we spent more time there. Interestingly, I found out from my sister that she stayed at a B & B there when she visited about 8 years ago. I had no idea.
There are some great sights in Pitlochry, like the River Tummel, Loch Faskally, and the Edradour Distillery. I believe the Queen's View at Loch Tummel is close by as well. We didn't get to take in any of those sights - this time. We will next time. We did stop by Blair Atholl and Blair Castle, though after hours, so all we could see was the outside of the castle, the grounds, and the Hercules garden. I will post photos of it in the next few days. I have posted about 15 new photos from our trip to Stirling, which comes on Day Three, so checkout my photobucket.
