ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND

                       St Andrews

Golf, golf, and more golf. That is about it for the small town of St. Andrews, Scotland. It was explained, “A link golf course is one that connects sandy beach with the course. In Scotland all beaches are public, so a link course cannot be private. Most golf courses in Scotland are near a beach and therefore are public link courses.”

The Central Highlands, north of Edinburgh, is the county of Fife where the area is still referred to as a kingdom. The Stuart kings were from this area. The Cult of Green is a 1754 club where golfers still flock to.

The medieval and  royal city was once filled with monasteries and ancient houses that did not survive King Henry VIII.  Little remained after his destruction. Most of the city today was built in the 18^th, 19^th, and early 20^th century of local stone. Golf was first played in the 1400s. The municipality owns the six courses. A letter of introduction from a bonafide golf club and a certain handicap are required to play the Old Course. The other courses are the New Course (1896), Jubilee Course (1897), Eden (1914), Balgove (1942, a nine-hole course for children), Strathtyum (1993), and Royal and Ancient Golf Club (1754) which remains a private men’s club. Golf  is the symbol of St. Andrews.

Our guide told us, “An ancient law prohibits golf to be played on the 18-hole courses on Sunday. And since it is Sunday you may walk on the course, and we’ll stop by the 18^th green.”

The University of St. Andrews, established in 1411, makes it the oldest in Scotland and Britain. St. Andrews Castle, late 13^th century, maintains secret tunnels, bottle-shaped dungeons, and high stone walls to keep religious heretics out.

 I headed to the bathrooms a block away. It was a bit of a surprise to pay 20 pence to do so, and the first and only time we had to pay to pee in Scotland. Then we headed uptown to wander the streets. All the stores were open and 9 out of 10 was a golf store. I did find some fresh raspberries in a grocery store. Scotland is known for raspberries and I do love them. The whole container was gone before we reached the corner of the next block!

We sat in the park and listened to a band concert, which was a delight, while we waited for everyone else to do their thing.  Can you tell neither my travel buddy nor  I are sports fans or shoppers? Because of its familiarity it was nice to see St Andrews, but I wouldn’t bother to stop there again.