Elgin's headline attraction is its ruined cathedral, but there is enough else to fill a day. Elgin Museum is the oldest independent museum in Scotland, with a strong collection of Pictish stones and Permian fossils. Gordon & MacPhail on South Street is one of the great whisky shops in the world — hundreds of single malt bottlings, including rare expressions from long-closed distilleries. Johnstons of Elgin has been weaving cashmere on the edge of town since 1797; the mill tour is worth an hour. Pluscarden Abbey, six miles southwest in a wooded valley, is a medieval monastery rebuilt by monks who returned to a ruin in 1948 and have been working at it ever since. The Speyside Whisky Trail puts over 50 distilleries within easy driving distance.