Edinburgh Again

Previous (Sterling)

We have arrived safely in Edinburgh at our AirBNB. We don't have as good a view at this one, but it is a bit bigger than the last one. Ultimately, we found that we didn't like the location or the AirBNB itself as well as the one we had at the beginning of our adventure.

This road appears to be the main thoroughfare for all emergency vehicles.

This morning we took a tour called the Real Mary King's Close and learned more about the city, living conditions and lives of people who lived along the Close in the 1500s, 1600, and 1700s. Photography was prohibited during the tour. Apparently we didn't even take a picture on the outside. We're such slackers!

When finished with that tour we walked across the street and went in St Giles' Cathedral. We were hoping for an in-depth history of the church but that wasn't offered (as far as we could determine). The church has been around since 1124 and was originally Catholic but was stripped of its Catholic symbols and stained glass windows in 1560, about a year after John Knox was elected minister. St Giles' is considered by many to be the mother church of Presbyterianism.

A window of the saints affiliated with Scotland. From the top: St Columba, St Andrew and St Cuthbert. One the bottom: St Margaret, St Giles and King David I (he's not a saint, but he authorized the building of the Cathedral)

This evening we had a lovely dinner at a nice restaurant here in Edinburgh. It was a gift from our daughter. Thanks wonderful oldest daughter of ours, the evening meant a lot to us.

We started our wanderings this morning by heading to Dean Village. It is a small community in the middle of Edinburgh that has a river flowing through it. We snapped a few pictures then walked along the path for a bit, where we saw our first Scottish Thistle. Since this is the national flower of Scotland, we thought we'd see more of them...or maybe we have and just didn't recognize them.

Scottish Thistle

Next we went to Calton Hill, one of the 3 highest points in the city. Calton Hill is home to the Nelson Monument, the unfinished National Memorial, and the Politician's Clock. By this time the sky started clearing and the sun started shining. Once we left here we grabbed some lunch at a little Italian eatery and headed to our next stop.

This is the Observatory House built in the 1700s. It was originally built as a residence for the family of the observatory; however, it is now available to rent during a visit. One has the option of renting only 1 floor, or the whole building.

Nelson's Monument. Constructed from 1807 -1816. The tower wasn't open on our visit so we couldn't climb to the top. Bummer.

The unfinished Scottish Monument. Construction started in 1822 and was halted in 1829 when funding ran out. It was to commemorate Scottish soldiers who fought in the Napoleonic Wars.

A few of Holyroodhouse Palace from Calton Hill.

After our tasty Italian lunch we ventured over to the John Knox House. So named because he was the most famous person to ever live there, though he was not the original owner. We learned that this is the oldest surviving house of the medieval Era in Edinburgh, which was evident on the upper floors. If you are interested in the Reformation and the creation of Protestantism then this is a place you certainly want to put on your bucket list!

Though the very bottom has changed from the Medieval Era, the upper floors look exactly as they did in the 1500s.

Medieval people loved to decorate their houses. This ceiling art dates from the 1600s - and yes, it is original to the house and is NOT a recreation. Though the colors have long since faded.

This is the traditional place where John Knox is believed to have sat to write his sermons and books proclaiming the Catholic faith to be wrong and that Mary, Queen of Scots should be removed as sovereign - both because of her Catholic faith and because John Knox felt that Royalty itself was wrong.

Our last adventure of the day was to do an audio walking tour Jeff found online of the Closes and Wynds in the city. We learned a lot of interesting things...such as a lot of the buildings that are on the Royal Mile now are not as old as they appear to be. An example given is the Radisson Hotel(not pictured). It was built to look hundreds of years old, but was actually built in 1996. At the end of this walking tour we decided to head back to our condo for the day. We need to rest up for our last day in Edinburgh.

This close was named after a child who was found in the rubble after the collapse of one of the surrounding buildings. His face and a summary of what he supposedly said to his rescuers are carved on the stone above.

This building shows 200 years of construction additions to this building by the different types and styles of stonework. If you look closely just above the 2nd windows on the left you can see what used to be the roof, before the uppermost floor was built. People still live in these buildings.

A garden on Dunbar Close. This was one of the Closes that had "secret" gardens which were hidden from view on the Royal Mile. Several years ago the city decided to re-create this to how it would have looked back in the 1700s-1800s

This was on White Horse Close. So named because this was the White Horse Inn. The original inn, built in 1630, fell into disrepair and had to be torn down. The current building was rebuilt, using stones from other buildings that had been torn down. This is why there is a stone that says '1623' - it was taken from a different building.

Good morning from sunny Edinburgh! Today is our last day here in Scotland as we fly home tomorrow morning. Today we will be visiting Holyroodhouse Palace, which is still a working Palace. No photography was allowed inside the palace but we got some pictures on the outside. We also have a scheduled tour of the city with a local comedian. After the tour we will most likely visit Tesco to get stuff to make dinner, come back to the condo to eat and pack our suitcases for the early morning (5:30am) trek to the airport.

The outside of Holyroodhouse Palace. This is the "official" residence of King Charles III when he visits Edinburgh. It is also used by other dignitaries when the Scottish Parliament is in session - we couldn't visit this on our first visit to Edinburgh as it was closed for this reason.

This is the only original part of the Palace still standing, and this was the place (2nd floor) where Mary, Queen of Scots lived.

The inner courtyard of the Palace.

This is the only remaining standing portion of Holyrood Abbey, which was the original structure at this site (the Palace came much later). This is the Nave of the Abbey.

The Abbey gardens and foundation stones of the Abbey.

The flying buttresses of the Nave of the Abbey. You can see the Palace on the left.

One of the last photos I've taken. This one is of Adam Smith. Most people don't have a clue who he was, so I'll enlighten you. He was a Scotsman who, in 1776 published a book called the "Wealth of Nations." He is considered the father of modern economics.

During our walking tour with the comedian, Daniel, (which was quite entertaining), he mentioned that Deacon Brodie (the thief I mentioned in an earlier post a month ago), was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." This was because Deacon Brodie had his 2 personas - the businessman and the thief.

Daniel's Dog - He comes on all the tours with him.

Stirling

We have arrived at our hotel in Stirling. It's too early to check-in but we are going to store our luggage & turn in the rental car. Our hotel, which opened in 1991 is in a building built in the 1800s as a high school. The restaurant, bar, and meeting rooms have names reflecting the building's heritage ( eg "The Scholar's Restaurant", and the "History" meeting room). Pretty neat!

This was the main entrance to the high school, but is the rear entrance to the hotel.

We had some time to wander about the city until our room was ready. We, quite accidentally, ran into the William Wallace statue (and right beside it was a Christmas shop that I had to visit :)). We also saw the Church of the Holy Rude, but didn't go in, instead we wandered through the graveyard and up to a lookout point. From the lookout point Jeff and I took a selfie with Stirling Castle in the background. We have tickets to get in the castle tomorrow. We did walk up to the entrance and took the picture of King Robert the Bruce who was King in the 14th century.

William Wallace

Robert the Bruce

Our selfie with Stirling Castle in the background.

Stirling Castle

This morning we spent an incredible 2.5 hours in Stirling Castle. We could easily have spent more time here immersed in its fascinating history, but alas, had to leave to get a bite to eat before hitting our next stop. This Castle has been in existence since the 1100s , however, Robert the Bruce had it pretty much destroyed to keep the English from occupying it. Thus, the oldest building dates to the 1300s. The castle has been in constant use since the 1300s and has been extensively modified for each purpose it has served. The organization that maintains the Castle are working to restore it to how it looked prior to its military occupation (by the Scots military) in the 1700s. The military left the Castle in 1964.

This was the Great Hall. The military covered the walls and kept the paintings hidden for 200 years. Once the military moved out the coverings were removed and the painting was rediscovered.

The cloth of estate. The monarch sat under this. This isn't the original throne.

This building is the oldest standing structure in the Castle.

We toured the old jail (which replaced an older jail) which was built in the Victorian Era and was a "reformed" prison...meaning that its prisoners were not punished but were rehabilitated and taught skills and reading so that, it was hoped, they could lead productive lives once out of prison. At least the male prisoners were. The female prisoners had to do the cooking, cleaning and laundry and were not taught to read as the warden determined that their work was too important to the prison (a little sexist, but this was the 1800s). However, any female prisoner that gave birth was allowed to keep her child with her for 6 months. Children were also imprisoned here. All prisoners were forbidden to speak and they were kept completely segregated from one another and were allowed outside (one at a time) for 30 minutes a day, regardless of the weather.

After our tour of the old jail we walked next door to the Church of the Holy Rude. "Holy Rude" was a medieval term for Cross of Christ's crucifixion. We were lucky to have a guide with extensive knowledge of the history of the church and she took us around for an in-depth tour. This church was built in sections, with the oldest being built in during the 1400s and still has the original roof. The newer section was built a century later. Mary, Queen of Scots worshipped here as a Catholic, then the rather violent Protestant Reformation happened and the church became Protestent. Extensive damage was done to the Church to remove symbols of Idolatry and Catholicism, but a few are still there. Mary's son, James was crowned in the church at 13 months old, and John Knox preached here. Also, this is the only surviving church in Scotland that has held a coronation.

This is the original roof of the Church. It is made of the wood of 300 Scottish oak trees. No nails or screws hold it in place, rather, oak pegs were used.

This was the original bell installed. It hung in the church from the 13th century until 1971 when it was removed and brought down into the church. It had developed a crack which could not be fixed.