Day8
Friday,
August 23
Day 8
is a sea day…..finally we can just sit back and relax the day away. We have been on the go for 2 weeks with
siteseeing adventures every day. Time
for a break!
Day
9
Saturday,
August 24
We are
back in Edinburgh, Scotland today. The
ship actually anchors off of South Queensferry, which is about 20 minutes by
train across the Firth of Forth. And the
train is how we are going to travel to Edinburgh on our own today after we
tender to shore.
Finding
the train station after tendering ashore was interesting. We climbed up the hillside on 120 steps and then
followed a dirt path through the woods for about 800 meters. We could purchase our tickets at a machine
alongside the tracks and then waited for the train to arrive to take us into
Edinburgh.
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| Scottish band entertains at the tender dock |
Our
plan for the day was to tour Edinburgh Castle, walk down the Royal Mile, and
then perhaps tour the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen’s home away from home.
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| The castle sits high upon a hill over Edinburgh |
Since
we had a prepaid ticket voucher, we could skip the long line forming for
entrance into the castle. Upon entering
we picked up an audio guide and then joined a live guided introductory tour
that was free with admission, which was informative as well as entertaining.
The
castle is the birthplace of the city 1,300 years ago. While the castle has been both a fort and a
royal residence since the 11th century, most of the buildings today
are from its more recent use as a military garrison.
The Portcullis
Gate was built almost 450 years ago.
There
is a six-gun battery built in the 1730’s.
The views over the city are spectacular.
The cannons here were made in about 1810 at the time of the Napoleonic
Wars with France.
The
Lang Stairs were once the original entrance to the castle.
The
Crown Jewels are not as impressive as England’s, but they are older and
treasured by the locals. Oliver Cromwell
destroyed England’s jewels but the Scots managed to hide theirs. They were longtime symbols of Scottish
nationalism and made in Edinburgh in 1540 for a 1543 coronation. When the Act of Union was forced upon the
Scots in 1707, dissolving Scotland’s parliament into England’s to create the
United Kingdom, part of the deal was that the Scots could keep their
jewels. They were hidden for more than
100 years.
The
Stone of Scone sits next to the jewels.
This big gray chunk of rock is the coronation stone of Scotland’s
ancient kings (9th century).
Stolen by the English, it sat under the coronation chair at Westminster
Abbey in London from 1296 to 1996. Queen
Elizabeth finally agreed to let the stone go home, on one condition: that it be returned to Westminster Abbey in
London for all future coronations. Our
guide joked that when it was time for the next coronation, the Scots would
attach a note and a long string to the stone for assurance they would get it
back this time!
There’s
not much more to explain about the castle. It’s truly amazing and there is lots
and lots to see. We didn’t spend as much time there as I thought. I was
expecting to have lunch there and drop a good 4+ hours but honestly I think we
felt we had seen it all in about 2 hours.
We went inside some of the mini-museums but then were ready to move on.
Once we
were finished with the castle, we headed down the mile-long stretch of the
picturesque tourist trap known as The Royal Mile. It is filled with stores and
restaurants, all carrying about the same tourist attraction stuff.
 |
| Way too many people for our liking |
It’s
called the Royal Mile because the castle is at one end and the Palace of
Holyroodhouse is at the other end of a mile long stretch of street. August is a very busy month in Edinburgh with
the festivals bringing in hordes of tourists.
And they were all there on the Royal Mile. This old part of town is kept pretty much as
it looked in the 18th century. We gave
up trying to walk through the crowds of people about half-way down the
mile.
We saw
St. Giles’ Cathedral and headed in to escape the crowds for a few minutes. This is Scotland’s most important
church. Its ornate spire—the Scottish
crown steeple from 1495—is a proud part of Edinburgh’s skyline. As the church functions as a kind of
Westminster Abbey of Scotland, the interior was beautiful.
Stopped
for lunch at a cute little café and then decided we had enough of the crowds
and made our way back to the train station.
The
train station in Edinburgh is massive (like a small airport) and there are
electronic signs everywhere for trains going all over the country. It was a bit confusing trying to find the
train headed to Dalmeny Station as only the final destination of the trains was
listed. But the very helpful employees
all over the station directed us to the right platform and soon we were on the
train headed back to the ship.
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| Back at our station by the ship |
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| Signs always seemed to have the English spelling as well as the Gaelic |
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| South Queensferry from the dock |
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