The Royal Mile

What a day we have had.  After a leisurely start to the day at 9 am, we met our tour guide in Edinburgh.  His name was Bill and he was a low lander, and we knew this because he was wearing trews.  I would have been very disappointed if they weren't tartan, but they were, with matching waistcoat and tie. It was the Blackwatch tartan which is a military tartan not a clan one. Not sure about the other guy, except to say he must have been a highlander, because he was wearing a kilt.  Not sure if  i mentioned yesterday that you are technically in the Highlands if you have crossed the River Forth, and thats where we are staying. 

After an excellent orientation, they let us loose.  We decided that we would have a go at seeing both castles in the four hour time slot. We were dropped off at Waterloo Place, and then crossed the North bridge to get onto The Royal Mile.  At the top end is Edinburgh Castle.  This is an absolute spectacle on the skyline.

Inside is even better.  

Just amazing how it is built into the rock.  We had a look at a couple of the museums, the Royal Scot Dragoon Guards, there were also the Scottish Crown Jewels on display, and just wonderful history lessons.

This was the chapel which was the oldest part of the Castle, i wish i could remember the dates, but there is so much to take in, in a short time .

This is one of the canons which are really only for decoration.  They do have one modern gun which they fire once a day at 1pm.  You can see through the window, views of the city below.

Some more views from the top out to sea.

Though we would have loved to have stayed longer, we needed to push on if we wanted to get to Holyrood as well.  So again back to The Royal Mile,  we went downhill to the other end where Holyrood is.  This is where the Queen comes to stay for a while in the summer.

This was the residence of Mary, Queen of Scots spent much of her life, well at least before she ended up in The Tower of London.

This was inside the gates, beautiful Georgian architecture.  No photography is allowed inside the palace.  

This was an abbey which was built in the 1100s at the order of KIng David the First, after he had a vision of being attacked by a stagg, and holding onto a cross protected him.  in fact rood is gaelic for cross, so thats what Holyrood means - Holy Cross.

These are the palace gates.  On the top of the pillars is a Lion which represents England, and on the right is the Unicorn which represents Scotland.

Edinburgh is definitely a highlight of our tour.