Melrose

I thought it fitting that our first post after the post on driving should be where we stayed. We've had decent luck when we've picked new places to stay in Scotland, and this was one of the best. We stayed in Melrose, a tiny town in Scotland that has benefited from being a tourist destination because of its famous abbey (by far the most impressive of the four main abbeys in that region).

For instance, Melrose is absolutely tiny, but has at least 4 nice hotels in town and 4 to 5 nice restaurants (pretty unusual for a town of its size). There was also some nice shopping places, and, more to Kelli's and my interests, coffee shops! We sat under an overhang while it drizzled out and enjoyed watching the towns-people hurry about trying not to get wet.



Here is a shot down the main street of the town, away from the main square area.



This was a particularly exciting discovery! My body seemed to steer itself towards the book shop without knowing it was there. I made a great cheap purchase as well.



All in all, Melrose is a great little town. I think the Southern part of Scotland has more cool towns than the North does. We went through a lot of towns with more than just character (though plenty of that), but actually had a lot of substance to them. We look forward to going back and hitting up some of the towns we were only able to drive through.