Trip Summary
Discover the Scottish Highlands — with their mist-shrouded peaks, verdant glens and velvet moors — from the perspective of the Caledonian Canal aboard the classic, cozy Lord of the Glens. Immerse yourself in breathtaking scenery as your expedition ship cruises the canal — built in the early 1800s to connect the Great Glen’s four lochs — and navigates passages inaccessible to larger boats. On this unforgettable voyage, step inside ancient sacred abbeys and legendary castles; experience warm, welcoming cities, and glide alongside an untamable coastline. Stride across the battlefield at Culloden — where Bonnie Prince Charlie was dramatically defeated in 1746 — and discover Clava Cairns, a well-preserved Bronze Age cemetery. Take a train over the renowned viaduct to beautiful Glenfinnan. Search for marine animals and birdlife — including seals, whales, dolphins and seabirds — at Eigg, one of the Small Isles in the Inner Hebrides. Delight to Scottish dancers and whisky tastings, marvel at impressive nautical engineering and savor gorgeous views. This exclusive travel program takes you to destinations of wild beauty you’ll never forget.
Event Itinerary
Day 1: Depart Home City
Day 2: Edinburgh, Scotland
Day 3: Edinburgh
Day 4: Inverness/Embark Lord of the Glens
Day 5: Culloden & Clava Cairns
Day 6: Caledonian Canal
Day 7: Oban
Day 8: Craignure on Mull
Day 9: Tobermory/Eigg
Day 10: Armadale/Kyle of Lochalsh
Day 11: Kyle of Lochalsh/Disembark/Inverness
Day 12: Depart for Home City
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Exclusive land and cruise journey on an intimate ship built specifically to fit through the locks and canals of the Scottish Highlands.
- Two nights in Edinburgh, 7-night cruise, plus 1 night in Inverness.
- Explore the UNESCO-inscribed Old and New Towns in Edinburgh.
- Transit Neptune’s Staircase, a series of eight locks on the Caledonian Canal that raises the water 62 feet over a quarter mile.
- Onboard cultural programs featuring Scottish dancers, a whisky tasting, the Glenfinnan estate manager and more.
Meet Your Faculty Expert
Steve Swayne ’57a
Steve Swayne, the Jacob H. Strauss 1922 Professor of Music at Dartmouth College, teaches courses in art music from 1700 to the present day, opera, American musical theater, Russian music, and American music.
He has written two books—How Sondheim Found His Sound (University of Michigan Press, 2005) and Orpheus in Manhattan: William Schuman and the Shaping of America's Musical Life (Oxford University Press, 2011; winner of the 2012 ASCAP Nicolas Slonimsky Award for Outstanding Musical Biography)—and served as the 2022 president of the American Musicological Society, the premier organization for musicologists in the English-speaking world. He held the 2020 Kluge Chair in Modern Culture at the Library of Congress and received an inaugural Professor John Rassias Faculty Award in 2017 for his exceptional educational outreach to alumni.
He specializes in making classical music intelligible to non-musicians and in linking the history of music to larger political, cultural, socioeconomic, and historical trends.