Edinburgh

It was time for a big city, Edinburgh. We got up early in order to ensure we had a full day in the city and did as much as we could. Even though we are going at our own pace with the van tour, we do have a budget to stick to, so as much as we would love to see everything and stay longer it is just not possible.

We left the van at a park and ride just outside the city centre as the parking is free you just pay for the bus to and from the city (which was £3.00 return each, not too bad we thought). After getting off the bus, and trying to stay away from those enticing shops, we headed for the Royal Mile. Heading down hill we stopped in at the Scottish Parliament to have a look and went to a committee meeting to see what was being discussed.

Straight across from Parliament is the Palace of Holyroodhouse which is the Queen’s residence when she visits Scotland. Unfortunately we didn’t go inside and instead we stared at it from the outside. I think from memory it was £11.00 each and we have been to Buckingham Palace so we gave this one a miss. Travelling up towards Edinburgh castle we stopped in at the Edinburgh museum which explained about the history of the city and was free, so it was very much worth the visit.

After re-fuelling, we visited the castle which took us around two – three hours to go around. It cost £16.00 each which at first we thought was a bit, but you get a guided tour around and castle and there is a lot of stuff to see. This was probably the best castle we have been to in the UK. We were feeling a bit tired after walking around all day, as it was now about 5pm, but we still had a couple more things to see.

Off to Carlton Hill we trudged for a view over Edinburgh city and to see the various monuments on the hill. I find it is always nice to get a view over a city, see where you have walked that day and see if anything sticks out that you might want to visit later. After taking as many snaps as humanly possible, our last stop was Princes Street gardens. This is a really nice garden and I tested out a bit of my photography skills with a couple of snaps as evidenced below. Lovely way to end our tour of the city we had to catch our bus home to rest our weary feet!

This was also our last stop in Scotland before crossing the border to England. Scotland is such a beautiful country and we will be back again, there is so much more to see and do!

Scottish Parliament

Palace of Holyroodhouse

Part of the Edinburgh Museum - these were old water pipes

St Giles' Cathdedral

View of one of the streets

Very traditional

Edinburgh Castle

This guy gave us a demonstration of how to make what he was wearing from 7 metres of tartan

Discovering the Honours (the Crown jewels) in 1818
 

Mons Meg - weighs six tonnes !!

St Margaret's chapel - the oldest building in the castle

Ashlea being locked away

 
Paul inside the castle

Robot in the National Museum of Scotland

Large deer with massive horns

T-Rex

 

Old double decker

View from Carlton Hill

Some of the nice flowers in Princes gardens