A Right Royal Day

Our last day in Edinburgh was very gloomy and rainy to start so out came the raincoats again and I even went for the umbrella as there was a slight breeze blowing the rain straight into my face as we set off. 
We walked to where the hop on hop off bus goes as we were going to the Royal Yacht Britannia and it was a far way away from the middle of town and we had the tickets as part of our package so why not use them. We got there and made our way through to the yacht, as usual Peter wandered on his own for much of it and I had an audio guide which explains about each room similar to when I did the Buckingham Palace tour. As you would expect it was very busy but people seemed to flow through really well and I could take photos of the various rooms. 
We started on the Bridge where the only seat in the place was for the captain everyone else had to stand. Everything is still shiny and looks as if it has only just been left except for the fact that I doubt whether the ship’s bridge would look so old fashioned. 

The Bridge

As we made our way through each room we were given a detailed description of what each room was and its function within the ship. We also got to see all aspects of how the Royal family and the crew lived while on the yacht. Some of the crew areas were just as nice as the Royal areas. It is furnished with all the furniture that was originally bought with a few updates as the Queen wasn’t into refurnishing the ship to keep up with the fashion of the time. At one stage she actually changed some of the furnishing because they were a bit too much (my words not hers). It is also interesting to see some of the family photographs that are on the walls. Having been to the Childhood Memories exhibition at Buckingham Palace earlier in our holiday we could now see where some of those memories had been made especially the one of the Queen and Princess Margaret dancing on the deck of the Royal Yacht.

Sun Deck

Ship's bell

A couple of the rooms that I liked the most were the dining room and the drawing room. They were both presented like they were ready for guests any minute.

State Dining Room

State Drawing Room

 Another couple I also liked were the officer’s dining room and recreation room. Like all ships the crew quarters were quite cramped but they haven’t taken down any of the stickers memorabilia etc that the sailors had around their bunks so it gave it a personal feel about it. 

Officer's Dining Room

Chief Petty Officer's Mess

Chief Petty Officer's Mess

We had a lovely coffee and some cake in the tearooms on the Royal Yacht and made our way to the bus to head to the stop on our journey for the day.

It was a great experience and one which I would highly recommend as it was an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours seeing how the other half live.

By the time we had arrived at our next stop the rain had stopped and the skies were clearing. Our next stop was The Palace of Holyroodhouse which has been an official residence for Kings and Queens since the 16th century. The Queen stays here for one week at the beginning of every summer to attend official duties in Edinburgh. It is at the opposite end of the Royal Mile to the fortress of Edinburgh Castle. It is an impressive entry way into the castle one side of which dates from the 16th century. It is associated with Scotland’s turbulent past including Mary Queen of Scots who lived there between 1561 and 1567 it is that part of the castle where she lived during that time that is open to the public. It was in these apartments that she witnessed the murder of her private secretary David Rizzio who was stabbed 56 times. It was quite amazing to realise that this happened where we were standing now.

North West Tower dating from the 16th century

Over time and several monarchs changes took place to extend the castle mainly during the 17th century and in 1854 the historic apartments in the north west tower were formally opened to the public.

Entrance

The house also has an impressive fountain in the forecourt.

Forecourt Fountain

After our visit we decided we would walk the Royal Mile back to our end of town. We at late lunch at The Half Mile Pub which as you would expect is halfway up the Royal Mile. We decide to take some photos of  couple of the places we had visited on the walking tour as the skies were a lot brighter. 

As we made our way back to the hotel we walked through The Princes Street Gardens which were full of people enjoying the sunshine after the last 2 greyer days. It was a nice walk and I tried to take some photos of some of the statues in and around the park.

One which dominates the skyline is a memorial to Sir Walter Scott the writer. It is enormous. This memorial is the largest monument to a writer in the world and I would certainly believe it. It is 61 meters high and has been made in the Victorian Gothic style. You can climb it but it is not something we wanted to do as there are a total of 287 steps to the top. 

 

                        The Sir Walter Scott Memorial form 3 different angles on the same day.

Everywhere we went there were statues of significant people in parks, in the middles of intersections everywhere!

 

Before we walked back to the hotel we tried to find somewhere to have dinner and even though it was still early afternoon every place we tried couldn’t fit us in. So it was back to the hotel again and dinner there.

Our next stop is York!

Edinburgh

Today was our first full day in Edinburgh and one of the things I wanted to do was a walking tour as I feel they give you a good sense of the place and also help you to get your bearings. We started the day by getting our Edinburgh pass tickets which gives us entry into a number of the tourist sites around town. It is a bit drizzly so we needed to get out the raincoats! Not for warmth but to actually keep the rain off. It is unbelievable the weather we have had so far so we are not complaining at all. After getting the Edinburgh pass we try and find where the free walking tour leaves from. We eventually found it and I unintentionally jump the queue which I am bit embarrassed about as I hate people who do that. It’s all good and we get divided into 2 groups and head off with our guide Dave. These free tours are in a lot of cities and can be recognised by the guides in red shirts. We did a similar one in Prague and it was great so I hope Dave can live up to our expectations.

We started our tour in the courtyard of the Council Chambers on the Royal Mile where the statue of King Alexander the first King of the Scots is, he unified the 3 tribes of the time, Picts, the Scotties and the Britains. Dave gives a very entertaining version of the early history of Scotland using some of the people on the tour as characters in history. He doesn’t divulge everything as he continues the story later in the tour. We have our photo taken for publication on the website and Facebook page which is a nice memento of the day. 

Dave our guide.

Our next stop is St Giles Church where Anglican services were being imposed on the Church of Scotland and the Book of Common Prayer revised for Scottish use was introduced. When the Dean of Edinburgh began to read from the new book of prayer there was rioting led by Jenny Geddes who threw a stool at the head of the Dean which lead to more stools being thrown and general disarray ensued. A very interesting story.

St Giles Church

St Giles Church

As we walked up toward the castle Dave takes us through an alleyway to tell us the story of Deacon Brodie the carpenter who became a thief and was hanged on his own gallows. As we find out lots of infamous people have pubs named after them and Deacon Brodie is no different. The courtyard shows the way many houses in the Old Town developed with many storeys as space was tight.

The Writer's Museum

Examples of the high rise tenements

As we walk towards the south side of Edinburgh Castle we realised what an imposing site it is rising up out of the mist. Dave talked about what was happening at the castle at the moment which was the dismantling of the temporary structures used for the Edinburgh Tattoo which had just been on.

Edinburgh Castle

We walk further down into the town and come to The Grassmarket which was a typical market where corn was bought and sold. It is now a place with lots of coffee shops and restaurants but still has a market on the weekend. As we are walking Dave points out lots of different places of interest along the way. 

Next stop was Greyfriars Kirkyard where we heard some stories of the amount of bodies that might  be buried there even though you can’t see all the tombstones and he likened it to being like layers of lasagne! At this point he referred to a building which had an old furniture store sign on the side of the building. We all thought so what, but it turns out it is the back wall of The Elephant Castle where J K Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books. A great thrill for quite a few people on the tour.

Back of the Elephant Castle Cafe

 As we move further into the graveyard we saw the school which was the inspiration for the Hogwarts School and also find out that J K Rowling used to walk around the graveyard for inspiration and some of the names of the characters are actually names from headstones there. 

We continued our walk to a small headstone at the front entrance to the churchyard and it is of Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye Terrier who became known in the 19th century for supposedly spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until his death in January 1872.

Just a bit further down is the statue of the Greyfriars Bobby and also a pub named after him. We finished our tour outside the National Museum. It was a very entertaining tour with lots of information and a great walk around the city.

Next is some lunch and a sit down after 2 1/2 hours of walking around.

We continued our day with a tour of Edinburgh Castle as we were quite close to it at the end of the walking tour. What an impressive site! This castle dominates the skyline of Edinburgh from where it stands on Castle Rock. It was built as a fortress and there has been a royal castle since the 12th century until 1603. By the 17th century it was mainly used as military barracks. While few of the present buildings date back this far there are a couple that can be dated back quite a long time, St Margaret’s Chapel from the 12th century which is regarded as the oldest building in Edinburgh, the Royal Palace and the 16th century Great Hall are the other two. 
It is the site for the Scottish National War Memorial and the National War Museum of Scotland. The British army is still responsible for parts of the castle and it has a starring role in the Edinburgh Military Tattoo every year.

Entrance to the Castle

I decided to do a quick half hour guided tour while Peter walked around by himself. While we were in the Crown Square the guide noticed an unattended suitcase at the doorway to an area called the Royal Palace where the Honours of Scotland or the Scottish Royal Jewels are housed. Our guide excuses himself to let someone know it is there. In these days of heightened security anything suspicious is noted and I understood why. It turned out to belong to someone so nothing else was done. Our guide leaves us there and I now wish I had an audio guide to explain things properly but never mind I just enjoy walking around and reading and taking photos.

The things I enjoyed the most were The Great Hall which had suits of armour in it, the Royal Palace and just  walking around realising just how long these buildings had been standing and what they represented in the history of Edinburgh. We spent over 2 hours walking around and looking at the many displays and exhibitions that are housed there.

Great Hall

Great Hall

Peter at Foogs Gate

After a long day of walking we go back to the hotel but not before walking quite a way to get the car which has been parked at a parking station as there was metered parking outside our hotel Monday to Friday but now we have the weekend upon us Peter can park it outside until we leave on Sunday.

View form the top of the Castle

Dinner is at a local pub which is close to the hotel. We are looking forward to tomorrow with visits to Royal Yacht Britannia and HolyRood House and Palace.

Pitlochry to Edinburgh

We set off on our journey to Pitlochry around 8.30am for the drive to Edinburgh. The scenery is lovely as we made our way there as all along the highway are beautiful fields leading up to mountains in the distance. 
At the moment in Scotland there is to be a referendum to ask the people whether they want to become independent from Westminster or stay as part of the UK. There are lots of Yes banners placed in very unusual places and one of these we spotted along the way was on a hillside which had the ruins of a castle at the top and to boot it was shrouded in mist as well. we managed to stop and take a photo of it. I will also post one of the other places we have seen the Yes banners. 

Pitlochry is classed  as the entrance to the highlands and it is a very pretty little town where stopped to have a coffee and some lunch. We walked around looking into some of the souvenir shops and as always Peter finds himself a shirt to buy. He is amazing I very rarely can find anything but he seems to have no trouble at all. I took a couple of photos of the street scape especially one which i saw on the way of Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber outside a shop. Very gruesome but added to the quirkiness of the place. Lots of people in walking gear as it is clearly a place to start a visit to the highlands and all it has to offer. Onward we go towards Edinburgh.

 

We arrived in Edinburgh in the early afternoon and made our way to our hotel which is in a lovely street of Georgian terraces in Stockbridge which is the part of Edinburgh called New Town. It is the part of Edinburgh that was built between 1765 and 1850 to prevent overcrowding inside the the Old Town city walls and also to prevent the wealthy citizens from leaving Edinburgh. As it developed the rich moved north from the Old Town from the cramped tenements in narrow streets to beautiful Georgian homes on wide roads. Peter is a little bit over Georgian architecture but it is everywhere in the UK and I love it.

Both the Old Town and New Town are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

We checked in and find that our room is at the top of 65 stairs which we are finding quite a lot that wherever we have stayed if it has stairs we always seem to be at the top!!! I am just glad that the young man at reception helps Peter carry the bags as it is a long haul up there. 

I desperately needed a haircut so that was my main objective for the afternoon and Peter went to find out about our Edinburgh passes. The hairdresser I found was very nice and she did a great job. Peter found me again and we went to have a drink in one of the local establishments before dinner in the restaurant at the Nira Caledonia. 

We had also arranged for Lysney a relative related to us by marriage to come and visit us at the hotel for a few drinks as she lives and works in Edinburgh. It was great to catch up and talk to her about what she does, Aunt Agnes and her time spent in Australia. We finally wound up around 10.30 which is quite late for us on this holiday. It was great to see her. 

Our first full day in Edinburgh tomorrow! 

Inverness

We make our way from Skye to Inverness where we are staying for just one night. We have decided to stop on the way and do a Loch Ness Cruise as we have the time before we arrive at our accommodation in Inverness. We arrive in Loch Ness and have some lunch in the cafe near where we are to get the cruise. But not before you walk through the most over the top gift/souvenir shop we have ever seen and believe me on this trip we have seen a few. There is so much kitschy stuff to do with “Nessie” it is unbelievable! Then factor in lots of other Scottish stuff and you have it, right down to clothes, scotch whiskey, jewellery and anything else you can imagine. It is an interesting walk around. I do see something here which I know Adam will appreciate but unfortunately I can’t get it in his size, so will have to keep an eye for it in other Scottish souvenir shops. 
We made our way down to the dock to board the boat and it is cold!!! I am so glad for my coat and my beanie which I threw in at the last minute as the wind is whipping up the loch and it is shrouded in mist. It is definitely the way I thought Loch Ness should look. 

We board the boat which is a very nicely appointed one, think something along the lines of Captain cook cruise boat in Sydney. We make our way to the top open deck because what can you see from the inside, not much. The sun is breaking through and it isn’t quite as cold now so the beanie has come off. We tried to take lots of photos along the way in the hope that one might have the mysterious Loch Ness Monster in it but alas it was not to be. 

Sun breaking through to reveal lovely countryside

Included in the cruise is a visit to Urquhart Castle on the banks of the Loch. It is another one which has held a formidable position over hundreds of years. It is quite an extensive site with a lot of great interpretation. The ruins that we visited today date from the 13th to the 16th centuries, playing a part in the Wars of Scottish Independence and came under control of Robert the Bruce after he became King of Scots. This is a name that we will hear more about in coming days I am sure. Urquhart is one of the largest castle sites and is visited by thousands of visitors every year. We wandered around the site and it had impressive views both ways up Loch Ness. While we are there some young men decide to climb on the walls which makes a couple of the guides there yell quite loudly at them and then have a few words with them. They are constantly keeping an eye on things as they walk around. I know exactly how they feel having had to do things like that myself when visitors get out of line. It has been in public hands since 1913 an impressive record of maintaining an important part of Scotland's history.

Urquhart Castle from the water

At the top of the Tower

The Moat

Where the drawbridge would have been over the moat

Back on the cruise and decided we would stay indoors for this journey back. All in all a pleasant way to spend a few hours that otherwise we wouldn’t have really known how to fill in. 

We continue our travels to Inverness and our accommodation for the Glen Moriston right by the river in Inverness. This is another lot of accommodation that we have changed along the way as the one that was booked was a bit dodgy when Peter researched it a bit further so it is much nicer than where we would have been which was also a bit out of town. 

We checked in and then went for a short stroll around the riverside and had a look at the outside of Inverness Castle as it is not open to the public just the grounds are. There were a lot of bunnies chewing on the grass verges leading up to the castle which was an unusual site being that it is in the middle of the city.

Inverness Castle

River Ness

Closeup of Inverness Castle

View from the Castle surrounds

Dinner is in the restaurant of the hotel as it is quick and easy. Tomorrow we are off to Edinburgh.