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13. Rosslyn Chapel
Anyone who has read or seen Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code will not be able to visit Scotland without seeing this Gothic chapel. It had sparked the imagination of writers, thinkers and theologists for hundreds of years before this, however – and with good reason: its sculptures are as rich in detail and as baffling as a long-forgotten myth, while the iconography and alleged treasures it holds, ranging from the head of Jesus to the gold of Templars, are vast, secretive and teasing. Originally a Roman Catholic place of worship, it was founded in 1450 and is said by some to have been modelled on the Temple of Solomon.
14. Massacre Cave
Another jolly suggestion for all the happy travelers out there – how about a cave with an entrance so constricted that a rival clan was able to dispatch everyone who took cover in it by setting a fire at its mouth? A feud between the invading McLeods and the local MacDonalds led the latter to take shelter, few by few, in the cave; wet straw and a flame were then employed by the enemy, allegedly killing all 400 or so of the people hiding by smoke asphyxiation. Human remains found at the site substantiate the story.
