We left the hostel this morning before dawn and headed for Holyrood Park. About an hour later we were standing atop Arthur’s Seat, taking in panoramic views of the city bathed in the morning sunlight. The skies were mostly clear and the park looked especially green. We could see that some of the surrounding trees are starting to show their fall colors, so hopefully there will be pretty displays of foliage when we go north tomorrow. During the ascent I did not fare very well without breakfast, so I had to pace myself. At one time I felt like I was going to be sick and I was angry at myself for not eating something beforehand. After taking a few pictures we walked down the other side of the park along the Salisbury Craigs. We spotted a plant that looked like raspberries but did not eat any until we saw a local eat some of the fruit, just to be sure.
Parliament in the early morning light
I was mocked by a raven on the way up, but eventually I made it to the top!
Good viewing of Calton Hill from afar (bottom right)
Wandering the empty crypts in the church yard
Upon returning to street-level, breakfast was found at a charming tearoom on the Royal Mile. Feeling refreshed, we set off to explore the Old City. The cemetery we spotted on our first walk last turned out to be part of Calton Hill Church. We walked the grounds and took a few pictures. There were many wisteria vines with blooms that had not faded yet. In many places High Street appears to have suffered from a tartan explosion, the souvenir shops are so thickly dispersed. But the tall buildings, closes, and courts are still exciting to look at. A stop at St. Giles’ Cathedral took longer than expected because I struck up a conversation with one of the volunteers, an elderly lady from the western side of Scotland, and she ended up giving us a private and interesting tour of the Thistle Chapel. The building’s stained glass was remarkable and the detail in the wood carvings was excellent. This cathedral also had a bare-stone ceiling in stead of plaster, a look that I really like. We eventually made it to Edinburgh Castle, but upon seeing the long ticket line, decided to come back first thing tomorrow morning.
The Thistle Chapel ceiling at St. Giles
Warriston's Close (over 100 steps, ouch)
Princes St. Gardens, view from the roof of the Museum of Scotland
Victoria Street
Royal Mile at sunset
We walked down a steep stairway to the base of the castle hill and walked around it until we came to the Princes Street Gardens, a former medieval waste lake site that is now filled with sprawling great green lawns, large trees that provide shade, and a multitude of benches for visitors to sit and gaze up at the back of the Old City. We fought our way around the Princes Street construction to Boots for a bottle of shampoo and some sodas and returned to the gardens. After resting on the grass and listening to a bagpiper up on The Mound, we went to the Royal Museum of Scotland, which contains 7 floors of very interesting historical artifacts and a rooftop terrace. Did I mention that admission is free? You could easily spend an entire day there.
We had a few hours to kill and so wandered the Grassmarket neighborhood and had dinner with a few pints on the patio at one of the pubs. At one point we walked by the famous Elephant House cafe where J.K. Rowling spent a lot of time writing her first Harry Potter novel. Next, we took a tour of Mary King’s Close, a series of underground streets and dwellings that were abandoned during the plague and eventually built over to make new buildings. Our tour was guided by a very entertaining actor and we saw some impressively-preserved painted plaster that was over 300 years old. No cameras were allowed and if your cell phone went off you would be “burned at the stake”.
The walk back to the hostel took about 30 minutes and by then we had very sore feet. Tomorrow is our last full day in Edinburgh and we plan to make the most of it (but maybe a little more slowly).
Cutaway dioramas of the underground neighborhoods
Nighttime in the old city
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