Edinburgh, Scotland: The Castle and Parks

The best advice I can give to anyone traveling to the United Kingdom is be prepared to walk and use mass transit. As an American I can appreciate this, I do not have the luxury of mass transit, I do a lot of driving (I'm not being sarcastic, I really wish there were a bus stop closer to my work, I would use it). As far as walking, I know a lot of people here do it for health, but in Scotland I noticed a significant number of people just walking, as if they are actually going places other than to their cars. Imagine that.

 There is a lot of walking to be done and there are paths, gardens and amazing walking tours everywhere. In Edinburgh there is double decker bus tours if you don't feel like walking. Scotland is more than walking. Honestly the entire place looks like magic. Green, rocky, castle-filled magic.  It's as it the entire land is made of mountains just under the surface that want to rise up. God's personal pile of rocks. There are mountains (or maybe just large hills "Highlands") that you can see far off into the distance when you are in Edinburgh. These are visible from the top of the castle. So is the sea.



The Edinburgh Castle

When visiting the castle be sure to purchase the audio walking tour. There are stops along the way to explain the history of certian spots and history of the Scottish monarchy. I was facinated by Queen Mary, her life fell apart quickly. If you don't know google it. You can see the entire city from the castle. It's not a very big city, but it's an odd mixure of old and new.

The views in the rooms of the castle are lovely and it's crazy to imagine that people lived there. They walked down the narrow staircases and ate at tables, they lived here. Eating, breathing, sleeping, and going about their daily routines. They have their own Scottish Crown Jewels, including the Stone of Destiny (Stone of Scone). This was returned to them in 1996, but it started out traveling to Egypt, Sicily and then Spain. It landed in Ireland for 140 years and was taken when the Scots invaded.  Anyway, it's a very large stone with the purpose of being placed under the throne when a new King is crowned.  Scotland is still part of the United Kingdom so if a new King or Queen is crowned, it will be moved there for the cornination.  The St. Margaret's Chapel in the castle is the oldest surving structure. It was a tiny little alter and Gospel books on display. I can only imagine they were made of vellum paper and inks from local plants. They were very old and under glass.

Other parts of the City

If you are an ambitious walker you can go pretty much anywhere within the city with out transportation. The hills around the park grew tiring, but the walk was amazing because everything was so green. I walked the entire park, it seemed safe, there wasn't anything remotely dangerous about it. I've never been somewhere so placid. The streets are pretty consistetly cobble stone and I found some of stones are loose. Not enough to make a person lose balance, but it was noticable. When I visit places I always think about the how it would be to live there. The cobble stones must have created interesting adaptations in foot wear over the years.  

The Park 

Up and down the streets there are a ton of vendors selling various souviners. I bought a really spectatcular faux fur hat. They have regular souvieners as well. The street vendors only take cash. There are actual souviner shops as well. I do not recommend the fudge. Other stuff, like the candy and of course the Walker's Shortbread Cookies, are good.  Actually the Walker's Shortbread cookies may be my undoing someday. I only see these around Christmas time and I'm glad it's coming, I've already polished off the twin packs I bought from this visit a month ago. 

The Street 

Overall, it's a beautiful city to visit with lots of things to do which I couldn't possibly have covered in this blog.