Quirky winter sights in Scotland
Tuesday, 13 December 2011 1:28 PM
Travellers hoping to take in some unique and memorable sights during a break this winter have been encouraged to consider a trip to Scotland.
VisitScotland highlighted a number of opportunities to see unusual spectacles in the country over the coming months, such as Up Helly Aa, the largest fire festival in Europe.
Due to return to Lerwick, the capital of the Shetland Islands, on the last Tuesday in January, the event will feature a series of marches culminating in a torchlight procession.
Visitors will also be able to see a Viking galley being burnt.
Another of Scotland's winter festivals, Snowdrops by Starlight, will come to the Cambo Estate in Fife from February 11th to 19th 2012.
The estate offers displays of its collection of 300 species of snowdrop flowers by the day and uses light and sound at night to transform the flora into an even more striking sight.
People planning a trip to Scotland this month might have the opportunity to mark the shortest day of the year, December 21st, at Maeshowe, a Neolithic chamber in Orkney.
The structure was built to align with the winter solstice, meaning light from the setting sun on the shortest day of the year passes through a passage and illuminates the back wall of the chamber.
VisitScotland also pointed out that holidaymakers might be able to see the Northern Lights if they are visiting regions such as Aberdeenshire, the Northern Highlands, Orkney and Shetland during the winter months.
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