September 2, 2024, 4:04 pm | Read time: 7 minutes
Aberdeen is a port and university city in the east of Scotland. TRAVELBOOK author Anna Wengel (now Chiodo) recently visited it during her Scotland road trip and was less than impressed. A travelogue.
A sense of unease begins to gnaw at my stomach, swiftly radiating through my entire body. My senses sharpen. Something is wrong here. I glance back, my child is sleeping blissfully in his car seat. While my husband waits in the car, I exit the car and tread cautiously under a house. Navigating a minefield of shattered glass bottles, my unease grows with every step. Broken windows await me on the other side of house walls that may once have been white but haven’t been for a very long time. I narrowly avoid stepping on a discarded syringe, a careless remnant of someone’s oblivion.
At last, I locate the correct house, casting a wary glance at the battered wooden door flung aside in disarray. The key box, as promised by our Airbnb host in Aberdeen, dangles precariously from the filth-encrusted wall. I take out the key with trembling fingers. I hesitate at the threshold – truthfully, I’m reluctant to enter, yet a sense of obligation compels me to inspect the apartment that cost me dearly – when suddenly, a shout and approaching footsteps freeze me in my tracks. “No, get out of here,” the voice echoes in my head as I turn on my heel.
Shabby social housing, grand hotels and book cafés
One encounter with a few drunken residents in the foul-smelling hallway later, and my husband and I are equally convinced that we don’t want to stay. Thus, we decide to leave the Airbnb in the dilapidated council house, which is nestled between Old Town and the beach, behind, in search of a more welcoming abode.
That was my first impression of Aberdeen. Several more moments, ranging from slightly unpleasant to feeling anxious, were to follow.
But first, we arrive at the hotel we had spontaneously booked. To our delight, it reveals itself as a quaint oasis amidst a cityscape that has thus far failed to charm me. The hotel, “Inn at the Park“, welcomes us with the splendor of times gone by. There are thick red carpets on the staircases, winding ceilings, and a dark blue breakfast room. It also contains a Scottish pub with a bay window to sit in. As soon as I enter the street lined with charming Scottish stone houses with their various chimneys, my uneasiness gives way to a pleasant feeling. The hotel’s interior, with its quaint charm, succeeds in coaxing a broad grin onto my face once more. I’m a big fan of old hotels with their glamorous, bygone chic. And this one is pretty much everything I could wish for at this point. Hence, I give this recommendation within a text that is otherwise not bubbling over with joy.
Another recommendation I would like to pass on for Aberdeen is the “Books & Beans” café. Here, amidst a sea of literature, you can savor drinks and dishes named after beloved novel characters, with the added delight of purchasing second-hand books at reasonable prices, courtesy of their numerous previous owners. We spent some time here, reading, eating, drinking, and recovering from the far less relaxed atmosphere around us.
Aberdeen feels desolate
Because despite these two charming finds, which I thoroughly enjoyed, Aberdeen and I didn’t warm to each other. Was it my first impression that overshadowed my stay? Maybe, probably even. But compared to the picturesque and cheerful Edinburgh and the impressive Highlands, but also to the nice and quietly charming Inverness, the harbor city just couldn’t keep up. What’s different about Aberdeen?
At first glance, it is a large city in the east of Scotland, with all kinds of magnificent buildings. Known as the “Granite City” and “Silver City” because of its many granite buildings. There are various, sometimes beautiful parks, a long coastline with a beach, and a promenade. Museums, culture, and alternative lifestyles can be found in several places. Aberdeen’s residents come from many parts of the world. Some are students, and many were born in Aberdeen or somewhere else in Scotland. That all sounds good, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, Aberdeen felt anything but good to me. Throughout our stay, the city’s atmosphere was tinged with an undercurrent of tension. Its pervasive sense of bleakness really stood out to us the most. Once obviously magnificent buildings with peeling plaster. Streets littered with refuse and debris presented an eerie emptiness that struck us as odd. The faces of the sparse passersby bore the marks of hardship, with many showing the telltale signs of drug and alcohol abuse. Even the coast, which for me always and everywhere creates the feeling of breathing deeply, felt oppressive. This was also, but not only, due to the anything but attractive sight of several oil tankers. They were either sailing in or out, or parked not far away in the sea.
Aberdeen and oil
Since the 1970s, when oil was discovered off its coast in the North Sea, Aberdeen has developed into the “oil capital of Europe”. Today, the city is a logistical hub, with the huge oil tankers dominating the scene in the ports and on the coast. Wealth flowed into Aberdeen alongside the oil, and today the city stands as one of Scotland’s most affluent. To be honest, this surprises me, as it looks run-down in many places, including in the city center and on the beach.
During my subsequent research on Aberdeen, I came across various articles that offer an explanation. There, they write about the end of the oil culture in the Scottish city. Aberdeen is said to have slipped into a severe crisis back in 2014 after the oil price collapsed. This was reported by Deutsche Welle in 2018, for example, which also wrote that one in three jobs in Aberdeen depends on the raw materials’ industry, but that sources are gradually running out. This was confirmed by an article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung last month. It states that oil and gas production has been declining dramatically for years. A number of fields are so “old and largely exhausted” that they will soon be taken out of operation.
In an article in the Scottish “Orkney News“, the author, using a Charles Dickens reference, writes about a tale of two cities. While many Aberdonians have fared well, those not involved in oil have had to struggle, it says. “There is also the cost and tragedy of lives lost from an industry producing oil from the horrendous conditions in Scotland’s North Sea,” writes the author.
Is it these living conditions that I read on the faces of the people here? Collapsed prosperity and lost jobs? The hard life that this work entails or has entailed? I am not in a position to judge. I only got to know Aberdeen for a few days. I’m left with a lingering sense of discomfort after our brief visit, which we curtailed a day sooner than we had intended.
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Aberdeen’s surroundings
Despite the bad aftertaste, I’m eager to conclude on a brighter note, as I uncovered a gem in Aberdeenshire, just south of Aberdeen: the majestic Dunnottar Castle. The impressive castle ruins, most of whose remains date back to the 15th and 16th centuries, were built directly on a huge rocky outcrop.
Not too far from Aberdeen, just under an hour and a half to the west, is also Balmoral Castle, the Scottish vacation home of the British royal family. And now, it has even opened its doors to visitors, as TRAVELBOOK has reported. South of Aberdeen, a similarly long drive will also take you to Dundee, officially the oldest city in Scotland.