Want to come on a touristy adventure with me? How about a trip to Edinburgh’s centerpiece, the Castle! Isn’t it loverly? It looks exactly how you imagine castles to look in fairy tales. There isn’t a moat (at one time there was a loch), but it sits up on a tall mound. Squint hard enough and you can almost see legions of shiny knights (or maybe that’s just more tourists?) cantering on horseback up to the gates.
The castle walls enclose a number of large and small stone buildings: a chapel, a war memorial, regimental museums, old prison cells, the old great hall, etc. It’s more like a little village, some of it dating back to 600 AD.
Here’s the view looking down from the Castle rock to Leith and the Firth of Forth to the north of the city:
Here’s a nice little cozy nook in the great hall:
My favorite bit is the reconstructed prison cells. They didn’t look as horrible and dungeon-like as you would think, and war prisoners were fed pretty well (the table shows weekly rations of bread, cheese, ale, and beef):
The prisoners dressed quite well, quite dapper in fact:
Here’s the view from the front of the castle look down the Royal Mile (Old Town’s main street). Follow it down to the bottom of the hill and you’ll run right into Parliament and the Royal Palace. I LOVE the Palace even more than this lovely castle. The Palace has Mary Queen of Scots intrigue and a gorgeous canopy bed, so that’s more my speed. But I still enjoy taking a stroll around the more masculine castle whenever I can (especially when the tickets are free as they are for St. Andrew’s Day).
As you can see in the photo above, Edinburgh is incredibly tourist-friendly even during the Scottish winter! Get on a plane, already! I’ll take you to the Palace when you get here!
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Dear Kitcath,
Did we even go to the castle when we were students? It might have been less pricey for us because of the Historic Scotland passes. I definitely remember the palace more vividly but again that’s probably due to the whole gorgeous interiors thing it has going on.
I can’t wait! Do you realize we have 2 weeks today until we’ll be in Paris together?!! Yippppeeee!!!
Good luck on your paper this weekend! Hope we can skype tomorrow!
LOVE you,
Larbar
Edinburgh Castle looks amazing through your photography and I’m inspired to now go there someday! Love the hat and boots, btw. =)
beautiful photos!!!
Ohhh cool! I love doing tourist things and seeing amazing places like this. Castles are definitely a thing for me. My brother goes to amusement parks, my mum to all the modern art museum, and my boy to all the local food places; but I’m always looking for the oldest, grandest pile of bricks to trot around in. I love your furry hat, Lar. And wooo your hubby is such a well-dressed tourist!
are you gonna go see the 2 new pandas at the edinburgh zoo??? i just saw a story about them on the news this morning. 🙂
Yes! I love pandas, Diane! I feel kind of sheepish not having really heard about the zoo before, but we are tres excited about our new Chinese friends living here. I hope they like snow!
Such beautiful pictures and I love your hubs outfit and yours too of course. You stylish couple you!
Annnnnd that got added to my list of places to go as soon as I can afford it!
Lar, I wanna go visit! The castle looks gorgeous with the stone walls, the halls with the gorgeous stained windows with the crests, the velvet cushions, and all the old prison “decor” (heehee). I’ve never been to a castle before, so I may be a little over enthusiastic. 🙂
Your hat is a bundle of furry awesomeness.
♥ laura
the blog of worldly delights
what a fun day at the castle. That view looks spectacular.
How fun!!
Loving this travelogue. My favorite part of the Castle was the little cemetery for officers’ dogs.
http://tinyurl.com/6of9kjj
Cameron, I’ve completely missed this every time I’ve gone! How wonderful! Thanks so much for the link!
That hat looks super cosy! I really love this post. I need to visit Edinburgh castle one day, totally need to visit that city!