Highlands, Scotland: Inveraray Castle - Rick Steves’ Europe Travel Guide - Travel Bite

Inveraray Castle, the residence of the 13th Duke of Argyle, has a stately, turreted exterior set in a delightful garden. Historically a stronghold of the Campbell clan, its walls are well hung with portraits of the many dukes who've called this palace home. Here's the first duke, with Dukes No. 2 and 3 on deck. As with many such castles, the aristocratic family still lives here, like clan royals. Displays are like the family scrapbook. Showing the current duke and his family, who still occupy the private half of this palace. The public half is a museum, filled with precious, if you're a Campbell, artifacts. This case features pendants of esteemed family members through the ages. This one's filled with dirks and daggers, set against a nice Campbell tartan. A highlight is the armory hall, which fills the main atrium. Here, swords and rifles are artistically arrayed in starburst patterns. Docents are standing by and happy to answer questions. So our halberds here date from the 1600s. They come from the earlier castle before this one. Now, what is a halberd? So a halberd could be used against charging cavalry, and you'll notice they've got tassels on them. It's not just for decoration. Don't know about you. If you're killing someone, you don't want their blood dripping down your weapon, making it all slippy. So the tassels actually had a function. That's right. So the tassels would soak up the blood. And these muskets? So this is our brown-based flintlock muskets, all dating from the 1740s. These are all original, and they were last used at the Battle of Culloden, 1746, the last battle fought on British soil. Yes, so we have in this cabinet some of the belongings of Rob Roy MacGregor, a kind of famous folk hero. The famous Rob Roy. That's right, Rob Roy MacGregor. So this is his spawn here. And what is his spawn? So his spawn, if you think of a kilt, there's no pockets in a kilt. Right. So you'd have your spawn, and in your spawn you'd have maybe a wee bag of oatmeal. So this is your bag of essentials. Exactly, yes. Hanging right here in front. You'll find castles like this all over the Highlands. Today, countless Scottish Americans make a pilgrimage of sorts to their ancestral clan capital. If you're a Campbell, you'd come here to Inveraray.