Post by King Adam Aberdeen I on Nov 4, 2010 5:29:08 GMT -6
Historic monuments, bustling streets and fun, friendly people all combine to make the Nation’s capital a true Gaelic experience.
To say that Turas Lan is a bustling city is an understatement. Carriages, wagons, horses, and walkers swarm down the labyrinth of streets in what seems to be a well choreographed dance. As well as being the capital of the Gaelic Nations, Turas Lan is also a great base for exploring other areas in the Isles.
The Old Quarter Possibly the most popular area, for tourists and locals alike is the old quarter. Traditionally the economic heart of Turas Lan, this is where traditional Celtic collides with the European experience. The famous merchant houses are unusual architectural features along streets that have historically been named for the particular traders or artisans that set up business there.
Today still, each street is dedicated to particular wares or products, such as clothing, cooking wares, spices or even weaponry. It’s worth spending a day wandering down the maze of streets, taking in the eateries, shops, and sidecart vendors, at one of the street side stalls and watching daily life unfold.
Turas Lan's market square needs no forewarning; it announces itself. Vendors line the streets, two rows of them on each side, displaying their goods on blankets and portable wooden stands. Customers flood between shops, filling all empty spaces, so that wagons and carriages cannot pass through the most populated areas. Small gardens surround inner city ponds, offering a gathering spot for weekend wanderers and citywide festivals.
Citizens move up and down along the City Steps to the bustling Marketplace for the best deals to be bartered across the Celtic trade routes. Colorful house banners wave in the breeze on Herald's Row amidst the merchant's jargon as they look up to see which chieftain or noble is in the city to be impressed.
The Clock Tower resounds with rich, musical bells to mark the passage of hours by number while prayer marks it in the Turas Lan Cathedral. It is not uncommon for the priest to have the choir sing if only for the pleasure of filling the sanctuary with sound.
The Hall of Guilds houses every economic trade in Turas Lan, and it is here apprentices may go to begin their training, and where masters go to talk among their fellows.
If one is ill or merely seeking to learn the mystery of healing, then to the Infirmary and Healer's College, where classes on everything from herbs, midwifery, and even the daring controversy of human anatomy are learned. Patients rest in warm beds and caring hands, and the recovering and healthy alike sojourn in the simplicity of the gardens where fresh fruits, vegetables, and healing herbs are grown.
For one who seeks the beauty of the esoteric, the knowledge of mankind, or to learn the arts of chivalry and knighthood, they come to the curious Templar Hall. It houses the libraries where in knowledge is chronicled of the Celts and lands far away, where scholar and pupil alike come to grow in wisdom. The clock on the Hall's face marks the passage of the months and stars, giving whisper to the rumors of ancient, pagan teachings taught and practiced.
Talk of chivalry mingles with sword clang in Fieldren Fields where future men of honor are mad while others bask on distant hills covered in heather and bluebells.
Sailors and brash folk, fiddles and scotch fill the Pubs at Dockside while some huddle in corners over tales or cards at Bannockburn Tavern. Those merely passing through on business prefer a quick refresher and the friendliness of Traveler's Rest while some say the best of food, lodgings, and faces is at the Briar Rose Inn.
On special occasions, the aptly named marvel of the Blue Castle hosts gatherings for the titled and common of Skye, and has become the venue for electing guild masters, knightings, giving of title, and even black business among the disloyal. The castle garden is open to all, and in fact blends with many other gardens in the city.
Griffin Castle. Once home to Norman lords, the castle in the hills just above Turas Lan has been renamed in honor of the pair who now wears the Crowns of the Gaelic Nations.
The architecture alone is lovely to behold. Old stone masonry still holds firm, touched by the hand of glass artisans in the making of both the clear and colored windows that catch the light of the sun. A great hall awaits matters of court and merriment, intrigue and excitement. Her gardens are lovely enchantments celebrating the blossoms of near and far as if only a field that goes on forever. Not without familial touches, a room now holds charts and maps to track a course, mounted weaponry with special significance, a place for stories and music, and room for kith and kin alike. Never before did such a family seek to have a home as this, nor will they ever seek to leave it.
