My last day in Edinburgh, and I'd saved the Castle visit for this one. If nothing else, one should visit Edinburgh Castle for its views. The hill (Castle Hill) was formed millions of years ago by volcanic activity. The castle was built in - if I've got my facts right - the 12th century and went through lots of changes, tearing down, rebuilding, renovation and all that sort of thing. It really is quite impressive, and it's interesting how whenever you look up from somewhere in the Old Town you can see it brooding high above you on that sheer cliffside.
Entry isn't cheap - tickets cost GBP 14 but if you're going you might as well go for the audio guide, so you'd pay GBP 17. The audio guide is really good, and gives you the option of listening to as much or as little of the history as you want to. I spent a long time going through each and every story and narration, a morning well spent. There are also guided tours by castle staff at fixed times if one is interested. But really, why would you want to traipse around in a huge group being shepherded by a guide when you can do it all on your own and at your own pace, pausing when and where you want to listen to more background and take some pictures?
Margaret's Chapel was stark in its simplicity; the Great Hall felt familiar - been watching too many movies of that time maybe? The war memorial was quite moving. Overall, worth the visit and gave me a much better idea of the history of the country.
Above: 1. View from the Castle. 2. The 1 o'clock gun which is fired at 1pm daily - used earlier to synchronise times with the observatory or harbour or something to that effect. Used to be fired at noon till a canny Scotsman realised that they could save ammo by firing it at one pm!!
Below: Castle as seen from Princes Street Gardens
After the Castle visit I took a bus ride out of town to the Ocean Terminal. Instead of finding a seaside promenade I found out that this was just a big mall, next to which lies the Royal Yacht Britannia. Not my cup of tea so I took another bus back, this one had a pretty nice route and went for a bit past the shore/harbour.
This evening Amanda, Melissa and I met up and went looking for somewhere nice to eat. Finally settled on a pubby kind of place called The Last Drop, in the Grassmarket area. Tried out Irn Bru, veggie haggis and sticky toffee pudding. Nice.
Entry isn't cheap - tickets cost GBP 14 but if you're going you might as well go for the audio guide, so you'd pay GBP 17. The audio guide is really good, and gives you the option of listening to as much or as little of the history as you want to. I spent a long time going through each and every story and narration, a morning well spent. There are also guided tours by castle staff at fixed times if one is interested. But really, why would you want to traipse around in a huge group being shepherded by a guide when you can do it all on your own and at your own pace, pausing when and where you want to listen to more background and take some pictures?
Margaret's Chapel was stark in its simplicity; the Great Hall felt familiar - been watching too many movies of that time maybe? The war memorial was quite moving. Overall, worth the visit and gave me a much better idea of the history of the country.
Above: 1. View from the Castle. 2. The 1 o'clock gun which is fired at 1pm daily - used earlier to synchronise times with the observatory or harbour or something to that effect. Used to be fired at noon till a canny Scotsman realised that they could save ammo by firing it at one pm!!
Below: Castle as seen from Princes Street Gardens
After the Castle visit I took a bus ride out of town to the Ocean Terminal. Instead of finding a seaside promenade I found out that this was just a big mall, next to which lies the Royal Yacht Britannia. Not my cup of tea so I took another bus back, this one had a pretty nice route and went for a bit past the shore/harbour.
This evening Amanda, Melissa and I met up and went looking for somewhere nice to eat. Finally settled on a pubby kind of place called The Last Drop, in the Grassmarket area. Tried out Irn Bru, veggie haggis and sticky toffee pudding. Nice.