Aberdeen, Inverness and Sinclair Castle

We took the train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen where we stayed for 2 nights. The hotel we stayed in was directly across the street from the train station, which made things convenient as the hotel stored our luggage until check-in while we went and got something to eat. By the time we checked-in and got settled it was too late in the day to really see much, so we walked around and took a few pictures. We did get to go in Provost Skeen's house, though we were unable to take pictures of the inside. We were slightly disappointed in that the interior had been turned into a museum of important Scots - contributions various Scots have made in the fields of medicine, the arts, etc. We had hoped that we would be given a history of the house. The second day was our only full day in Aberdeen and we walked to the beach, walked to a downtown park and saw the statue of William Wallace. 

This was the Saint Mary of the Assumption Cathedral near our hotel in Aberdeen. We know nothing about this cathedral as we just walked past and snapped this quick picture.

Provost Skeen's House as seen from the back.

Provost Skeen's House as seen from the front.

Aberdeen's Mercat Cross.

A big sign that says "Aberdeen" in the same square as Mercat Cross. We thought it looked cool.

Jeff on the sidewalk at Aberdeen Beach.

A cool looking building we found on our walk through the city

Another cool looking building - this has an old tower connected to a modern structure surrounding it. We were unable to determine why this old tower was connected to this modern structure.

We never could find out what this was, a circular thing suspended in the air by wires and hanging over a grassy area of the park we walked through. Is it art? Is it something to make you go "hmm"? We're not sure.

A piece of art in the park we dubbed The Bat Ball.

This is the park where the circular thing was suspended and the Bat Ball resided in a corner. The park was pretty cool as it had stairs, but it also had a ramp that wound around up the hill which made the park accessible to people with disabilities. There were also benches scattered along the path.

This is the statue of William Wallace at the top of the hill in the park.

Umbrellas suspended from wires across a street & over a cafe. We're sure these have some sort of significance (other than the obvious), but we don't know what that may be.

The ScotRail train that took us from Aberdeen to Inverness.

Picture of offshore windmills in Aberdeen. Scotland has many windmills and is working to become more Green.

We left Aberdeen by train and went to Inverness. We had to cut a day off our Inverness stay due to a glitch with the ferry we had to take to the Orkneys. We had less than 24 hours in the city and we arrived about 11am. We could not get our rental car until 3pm and couldn't check in to our B&B until 4pm. We stored our luggage at the train station and took a walk up the River Ness to an island. By the time we finished that we grabbed our luggage and walked to the car rental place, then drove to the B&B and then grabbed a bite to eat. We left Inverness early the next morning (about 7am) in order to catch the ferry to the Orkneys. We really regret that we didn't have more time in this beautiful city. We'll probably have to come back sometime.

Three churches and one of the walking bridges across the River Ness.

The two of us along the River Ness.

Another selfie of us along the River Ness.

Our rental car - a Vauxhall Crossland.

The view from the front window of our B&B

Saint Mary Catholic Church down the street from our B&B

Inverness Castle - it was closed temporarily for repairs so we couldn't have visited it even if we'd had the time!

Looking upstream on the River Ness

On our drive the next morning to the ferry we stopped to see the ruins of Castle Sinclair Girnigoe. It is listed on the world register of most endangered historical sites. The UK government is working to preserve this castle. Unfortunately, there were no signs telling us what parts of the castle we were looking at so we have no real information about it. It's still a pretty amazing structure.

More of Edinburgh

Here are some photos of other things we did in Edinburg during our first few days there. These didn't fit into our Edinburg Castle or Arthur's Seat blog. We will be visiting Edinburgh again for a couple of days at the end of our trip so we'll post those later. We hope you enjoy these photos & captions!

This was Victoria St/Bow St (it changed names somewhere in the middle). It was a colorful street that we would walk to either get up to the Royal Mile or back down to Grassmarket, where our AirBNB was located. This picture was taken in the morning around 8 before most people were up and about and most shops were closed. We were surprised that shops didn't stay open past 5 or 6 pm.

In 1788 South Bridge was open, connecting the two high sides of Edinburgh. The original bridge had 19 arches. Over the years, these arches were closed in and businesses were built up on either side until today one does not realize that the bridge exists. On our walking tour of the city we learned a lot about the history of this bridge and were allowed access to some of the arches underneath. Looking at this picture you'd never know that this was actually a bridge. The buildings on either side were actually built up from the ground beside the bridge and are taller than they appear.

Of the 19 original arches South Bridge had, this is the only one still visible today. This road is Cowgate and it wasn't very far from our AirBNB. As you can see, the buildings on either side of the arch go down a couple of stories.

This was the Wiccan Coven's site of worship. They worshipped in one of the vaults under South Bridge until their leader passed away. It is their belief that once the leader passes then the Coven should disband and form new Covens. It was requested by the Coven that the site be left as it was and that request was honored by the owner of the vaults. As an aside, we were told that the Coven's leader expressed concern that some of these vaults held spirits that were malevolent and suggested that those particular vaults be sealed off.

This is a Grotesque...not a Gargoyle. A grotesque was used to help ward off evil spirits. The theory was that if the evil spirit saw a grotesque it would think the area was already inhabited by an evil spirit and leave. This grotesque guarded the entrance of the Wiccan Coven who gathered at this site.

This is an original vault. The ceiling is made of limestone the one which is very porous and water seeps through and falls to the floor. When the bridge was first built, Edinburgh had outlawed homelessness so those that were homeless fled to these vaults. There was no natural light and, being that the bridge was built in the late 1700s, candles were an expense that could not be afforded by the homeless..so the vaults were very dark. Mortality rates were high due to the diseases that ran though the homeless living in these dark, cramped, wet and cold spaces.

This is a vault that has been renovated to seal the ceiling to prevent water pooling on the floor.

The Sir Walter Scott Monument in Edinburgh, close to Edinburgh Castle.

Saint Giles' Cathedral stands in the middle of the Royal Mile, between Edinburgh Castle and the royal residence of Holyroodhouse. John Knox, a priest who converted to Protestantism under Martin Luther, preached in this same Cathedral when Mary, Queen of Scots took the throne in the 1540s (and who was a staunch Catholic), against Catholicism and vowed to have Mary removed from the throne. Ultimately Mary was forced to abdicate in favor of her son, James VI (James I of England), who was taken from Mary shortly after birth and was raised as a Protestant.

Up Close at Saint Giles Cathedral. The Cathedral was founded in 1124 on this site. We could find no evidence as to when this specific building was built; however, we do know that it predates most of the city.  The intricate stone carvings over the entrance to the Cathedral have stood the test of time, and erosion, very well.

Saint Cuthbert's Church, behind Edinburgh Castle.  It is unknown exactly when the church was founded, but the first record of it appears in the year 1128. The building in this picture was built in 1892. This is still a functioning church. 

A view of Edinburgh Castle as seen from the graveyard at St Cuthbert's Church. The graveyard is a very peaceful, calming place in the middle of the bustling city of Edinburgh. Most of the stones along the walking path commemorate people who passed away who were buried in other places. 

The peaceful graveyard of St Cuthbert's church

A bagpiper playing on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh

We had dinner here one evening. Deacon Brodie is famous for....being a thief. We learned that he was a cabinet maker and would make keys. He would make copies of the keys of the wealthy so that he could steal from them. His most famous burglary was when he made a copy of the keys for a bank, then used those keys to steal 800 pounds (quite the sum for the 1700s!).

A picture of Jeff standing on "his" street!

Our traditional Scottish Breakfast. Beans on toast, bacon, Haggis, potato scone (also called a "tattie") and an egg. We didn't realize the dark stuff was Haggis until after we'd eaten it and someone told us what it was. It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, but we don't think we'd order it again.

When one goes to a city with ancient architecture, one does NOT expect to see a door with a nose above it. This was on Victoria/Bow Street near our AirBNB.

Edinburgh's Mercat Cross - Mercat is an old term that means "merchandise" so this was the central place for merchants to display their wares for sale. This was also the place where public proclamations were made and where a new monarch was announced to the people of the city.

The door at Mercat Cross in Edinburgh. We learned that people who were accused of foul or blasphemous language would be dragged through the streets by their tongue and would then have their tongue nailed to the door for 24 hours. During that period of time city residents could hit, kick, or do anything else to the offending person. At the end of the 24-hour period the person would be taken by the shoulders and pulled off the door - ripping their tongue and giving it a forked appearance. Children as young as 8 would be subject to this punishment. We were also told that children as young as 5 could have their ear nailed to the door for certain offenses.

We finally learned about the significance of the unicorn. It is the symbol of the country.

John Knox's house on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. I've read where he sat at the top window as he watched Mary, Queen of Scots enter the city and wrote a sermon on the evils of Catholicism. John Knox was a very heavy influence on the conversion of Scotland from Catholicism to Protestantism. By the end of her reign Scotland had converted.

The Witches Well, near Edinburgh Castle. This obscure memorial near Edinburgh Castle commemorates those Scottish people (mostly women) who were burned at the stake from the 15th through the 18th centuries for being witches. More women were murdered at this site than in anywhere else in Scotland.