Fancy Some Fish & Chips in Anstruther?

A visit to Anstruther, about 9 miles southeast of St Andrews in the Kingdom of Fife in Scotland, is not complete without a plate of amazing Fish & Chips.  Anstruther is a small town of about 3,500 people, but on a bright sunny day, it is swarming with tourists.  

The northern end of the harbour

It is located on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, the estuary (a "firth") of Scotland's River Forth that flows into the North Sea.  A map showing the Firth of Forth is shown below, with Anstruther in the right upper hand corner, and Edinburgh (capital city of Scotland) at the center toward the bottom.  Ladybank, where I am staying, is about 13 miles north of Kirkcaldy (at center of the map & pronounced "Kir-cawdy").

The view from Anstruther across the Firth of Forth.

The lighthouse is located at the end of the harbour walls.  It is sometimes referred to as the Chalmers Lighthouse, as it was built in 1880 to commemorate Dr. Thomas Chalmers, a famous Scottish scientist who studied at St Andrews University from the very young age of 12.

Anstruther's original industry was fishing, but now it is tourism.  There is a beautiful harbour and a small row of shops and restaurants that overlooks it. There are boat trips that take you to the Isle of May to see the UK's largest population of puffins (I will have to go back sans dog to take the boat trip).

The southern end of the harbour with a view of Anstruther Church to the left.  Originally built in 1634 and the steeple was added later, in 1644.  The spire houses a bell brought from Holland and is still in use today.  

The town was going through some renovation when I was there, so it was a little difficult to walk among all the scaffolding.  I did find this beautiful old building, the Murray Library, that was built in 1908.  David Murray, who made his wealth in Adelaide, Australia (where I visited in 2010!) donated the building and is buried in Anstruther.

The Murray Library

Near Anstruther is Scotland's Secret Bunker.  I am a bit claustrophobic and the destination is now quite commercialized with an entrance fee of £10 + £2 for the audio tour (ouch $18.50!), so I doubt I will be visiting in the future.  However, I thought I would add a few photos "borrowed" from the internet.  The bunker was built in 1951 and was still in use until 1993.  It looks like an ordinary farmhouse on the outside, but underneath is a 24,000 square foot nuclear bunker, 100 feet underground.  There are 6 dormitories capable of sleeping up to 300 people in rotation.  There was also a fully equipped BBC sound studio and a chapel.  The bunker would have been the Regional Seat of Government, had there been a nuclear emergency.

Scotland's Secret Bunker (photo courtesy of Google Earth)

The radio and television studio (photo from their website).

One of the dormitories in Scotland's Secret Bunker (photo from their website).

A visit to Anstruther is not complete without a plate full of Fish & Chips.  The Anstruther Fish Bar is a bit famous, having won the Fish and Chip shop of the year award in 2001 and 2002 and again in 2009.  It was swarming with tourists, so I chose the lesser known Waterfront Resaurant.  A friend said it was at the opposite end of the harbour from the Fish Bar, but his description of how far turned out to be literally 4 shops away.  I don't have a "food-selfie" photograph of my giant plant of Fish & Chips, as there were too many people nearby for me to feel comfortable photographing my food.  However, it was terrific!  And, conveniently, there was an ice cream shop right next door.  Look who enjoyed that shop!