British Isles Explorer Ocean Cruise

Day 16: Wednesday, April 22, 2026 - Aberdeen, Scotland

The day's statistics:
⛅ Weather:
👟 Steps: Linda 1,351; Steve 11,412

Though we did most of our morning routine, Linda essentially stayed in bed. I went to breakfast and returned with an egg benedict, mushrooms, tomato, and a roll.

At about 8:45, it was time to head out for the excursion called The City of Aberdeen and Duthie Park.
Just off the gangway, we were greeted by another bagpiper.

We boarded the bus and headed out. Today's guide was Sonya, and our driver was Stewart.
Across the street were some ruins.

The big vacuum cleaner / Dust Buster® looking thing is actually a power incinerator.

We drove through the city, seeing some interesting sights, and architecture.










Our first stop was at King's College (four days ago it was Queen's University).
On the left side while looking at the college was a chapel, with a tomb out front of Bishop William Elainstone, founder of the College.




The group entered the courtyard and Sonya told us a bit about the college, as well as some of the crests on the wall.







Continuing on.





The next stop was the waterfront. We debussed and got some fresh air for 10 to 15 minutes.




There were small apartments for rent along the waterfront too.

The city is in the process of building a high observation tower to overlook the waterfront.
There was a new amusement park being built too.
And another new structure was recently put up. Sonya said "That's new." Stewart responded "No it isn't." She said "They didn't know that!"
Ha ha ha ha ha.
We continued on to our next destination.



Our next destination was Saint Machar.
It is a really old church.



































There were a plethora of headstones around the church - assumedly with graves underneath. But the mishmash and seemingly scattered placement of the headstones begs the question of whether there really are or not. Plus there was a headstone with a death date of 1893, next to one with a date of 1915 (plus three other "family members" through 1970), next to one from 1847.





Off to the next stop.




We arrived at the next stop: the Terrace Garden.



At the top center of the terrace was a statue to William Wallace, a Scottish knight and leader fighting with the resistance against the English during the First War for Scottish Independence. He was victorious in the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, and was executed for treason in 1305.



While Sonya told us about the statues, I headed down the terrace to the bottom (I was still able to hear her because the VOX reached all the way down there).



There was a weird disk like structure suspended over the open field at the bottom.

The group boarded again, and we headed to our next stop - this was quite the busy morning.
We arrived at Duthie Park - a 44 acre oasis in the city, debussed, and headed into the park.





Sonya took us to the greenhouse. It wasn't a guided tour, and we were set free until 12:25 when we had to be back on the bus. There was a hot house too, and my lens was foggy for a couple shots.






























There was still enough time to do a lap around the outer path of the park.








Our tour of Aberdeen was almost over. Time to head back to the ship.
Sonya asked the passengers if they were familiar with the Scottish national anthem - one of the "most beautiful anthems of any country in the world." She started to sing it for us - she had a pretty good voice (I actually initially thought it was a recording). Then all of a sudden she said "I forgot the rest of the words! I started thinking about what I was going to have for lunch and lost track of where I was. Stewart, do you know the rest of the words?" He said "I wasn't paying attention." Sonya said "Let me back up and continue." She then went back a couple verses and then finished up the song - she was almost done anyway.
Not before long we were back at the port.

Linda got a picture of the reception from the veranda.

I got a short video of the greeting too.

Lunch was in the World Café because, well, there is no other restaurant open.

During a post lunch stroll on the sundeck, we saw a lighthouse just over the hill.

A little bit of cards passed the remainder of the afternoon.

There was a need for me to go into town again. I returned to the parking lot, and took the shuttle to the Maritime Museum drop-off spot. Then I made a bee-line to the mall which was a healthy six blocks away. I sped through the mall and couldn't find what I was after. So I headed back to the shuttle to return to the ship.
I was walking rather quickly back and as I approached the pick-up spot, I saw the bus pull away. So I cut my speed in half. As I got even closer, I found that the bus had pulled forward a bit, and was waiting for passengers - I guess the drop-off spot was different than the pick-up spot...
The bus began its return to the ship.

Tonight's dinner was a Surf 'n Turf event. In addition to the seafood, there was steak and - more important - lobster tails available.
I focused more on the surf.... For the record, there was lettuce under the shrimp, and some carrots on the plate too.

As Linda wasn't feeling well, we chose not to participate in this evening's trivia was "Name That Tune", the music themed trivia.
And since we already saw the "Stage Door" show on the Vesta, we forewent that as well.
The end result was that we had an early evening.
Taking a look out the veranda I saw a small wind farm - just five visible turbines, unlike the four dozen one we saw earlier.

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