We spent three days Edinburgh, a fantastic old city. I’m in love!
We left
Belfast and dropped off the rental car early in the morning and flew with easyjet into Scotland. We took a bus from the airport which dropped us off smack in between Old Town and New Town.
DAY 1
Our first sight was Edinburgh Castle from the Princes Street Gardens. This area used to be a lake called the North Loch which was eventually filled in. It served as the water supply for the city but it became too polluted by human waste flowing downhill from the Royal Mile that city officials eventually realized it wasn't usable anymore.
The city is split in two. Old Town and New Town. Old Town was the city that flourished outside Edinburgh Castle. New Town was built in the 1700s where more wealthy occupants of the city moved out of Old Town to get away from the overcrowded Royal mile area. We explored a bit of New town but were focused on getting the big experience of Old Town and the Royal Mile. Our hotel was just off High Street, the backbone of the Royal Mile. Edinburgh Castle was uphill from us and the Palace of Holyroodhouse is at the bottom of the hill (bookends for the RM). We headed uphill first and stopped at St. Giles Cathedral. It has been in this spot for 900 years. Most has been re-built after fire but inside is full of arches and smaller areas of worship. Old flags hang from the walls. The detailed ceilings in parts of the chapel are amazing.
We arrived at Edinburgh castle too late on the first day to do a tour, it was closing down for a private event and we wanted to make sure we had time to see everything. Instead we checked out the Edinburgh Tartan Weaving Mill. I made sure to save space in my suitcase for some good cashmere and lambswool. We got to see how the tartan colors are pulled together to make a pattern and run through a loom. The number of different patterns is astounding.
We ended up going to dinner at The Worlds End. There were large walls that originally surrounded the city, protecting it from the outside and so past the walls were considered the end of the world. Thus the name of The Worlds End. Here we tried Haggis and had Scottish dishes that would put hair on our chests and make us real Scots. We both enjoyed it very much and met a bunch of other American tourists inside who were too afraid to try.
High Street is the main street that forms a ridge at the top and leading downhill on both sides are narrow alleyways called Wynds and Closes. Today they act as pedestrian shortcuts to the streets below, but hundreds of years ago Merchants, rich
and poor people had homes and businesses all down these alleys. I was really interested in these because they've been used for hundreds of years and in most of them you can see in the walls where old doorways and
windows used to exist but were filled in.
We finished our first day with a tour of an underground area where two of these closes were sealed off after a building was built on top of them. So underneath the building you can see these one or two room homes that are kept in their original conditions. We coudn't take photos but it was very interesting. We learned that the bubonic plague hit the city and many people were bricked up inside their homes trying to keep the contaminated separate. There are a lot of ghost stories that come with these underground areas that have been built over. We stopped to check out the lit up castle before calling it a day.
DAY 2
We started with a tour of Einburgh Castle. It was huge. It has old and older and REALLY old parts to it. We spent about 4 hours wandering around to every part they let you go into. Robert the Bruce and William Wallace welcomed us by the entrance.
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| St. Margaret's Chapel. The oldest building still standing. Built in the 1100s. |
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| Mons Meg, one of the largest cannons in the world. From the 1400s |
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| Half Moon Battery overlooks the Royal mile (These guns were added in the 1800s) |
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| Looking out at Arthurs' Seat an extinct volcano |
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| Great Hall ceiling is made from an overturned ships hull |
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| Old prison cells where prisoners were held up through the 1800s |
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| More modern Jail cells used in the 1800 |
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| The crowd gathering for the firing of the 1 o'clock Gun. Set off everyday |
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| Now we are in the old parts. |
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| deep down |
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| More modern part - The chambers where Mary Queen of Scots had James VI in the 1500s |
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| Her View of the city and Arthurs Seat |
After our tour of the Scottish Crown Jewels or the "Honours", we made our way down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace where the Queen stays when she is in Edinburgh. On the way we stopped at the Elephant House, known for being the birthplace of Harry Potter. It's where J.K. Rowling would sit and write her book when she couldn't afford to pay for heat at her apartment. The bathrooms are covered in graffiti - all HP related.
Finally, at the bottom of the Royal Mile we got to The Palace of Holyroodhouse. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos while we were inside because of security reasons but The Queen stays here one week a year when she comes to Scotland for business. Originally this site was just an Abbey built by King David I of Scotland back in the 1100s that served Edinburgh Castle. In the very early 1500's the Palace was constructed next to the Abbey. Mary Queen of Scots lived here in the mid 1500s when she came back from France. It has been re-built and added to since then. If you look closely in the left of the picture below is the original tower that Mary lived in and where her private secretary was murdered.
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| The courtyard, shows three levels, and three styles of Roman columns. |
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| The roof was vaulted stone and collapsed in 1768 and was never re-built |
We called it a day afterwards, giving our poor feet a break. That night we went to dinner in New Town - exploring the "newer" side of Edinburgh. Which meant buildings were built in the 1800s. After dinner we stopped at a Whisky Bar in order to sample what Scotland is very well known for. James and I don't drink it usually but we had to while we were here. We each tried the Macallan and Laphroaig (both aged 10 years). The Macallan was smooth while Laphroaig was smokey which I really did not like. I don't know how to describe the tastes other than to just say, I'm not a Whisky person.
DAY 3
The plan of the day was to hike Arthur's Seat - it's an extinct volcano that sits right next to the Palace at Holyroodhouse. It's considered a family friendly short hike, in my head like a Runyon Canyon. The walk through Holyrood Park was very beautiful. There were lots of dogs running around and people of all ages on the trails with us. The hike took about 2 hours and we realized when we finished that we went up the hard way and came down the easy way. It had amazing views from the top and I brought an extra long lens for my camera to get some great close up shots of Edinburgh Castle and the Abbey attached to Holyroodhouse.
After walking down, we decided to walk over to another hill in the city - Calton Hill. It's considered a World Heritage site and has a number of interesting monuments.
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| Looking back at Arthur's Seat. We hiked that! |
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| The National Monument - modeled after the Parthenon in Greece - They ran out of money and left it incomplete |
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| Princes Street and New Town down the hill |
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| Old Town Edinburgh behind the Dougal Stewart Memorial |
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| The Parliament building behind us and Old Town and Edinburgh Castle in the distance. |
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| The Nelson Monument |
After these two hikes, we went back to rest our feet. We had dinner in an area under Edinburgh Castle called Haymarket. We went to a pub called The Last Drop, named because it's the site of the last public hanging in Edinburgh. I saved room for desert because we were nearby the restaurant Howies which is renowned for their Banoffee Pie (an English desert). SO DELICIOUS! Fun fact - Howie's is inside a room that is 600 years old! (HUGE difference between old town and new town!)
We left for England early Sunday morning. I had such a wonderful time in Edinburgh. I would 100000% go back to Scotland to see more of the country and all it has to offer. I would love to have had more time to explore the highlands, lochs and more castles.
