We wanted to start our tour by climbing up to Edinburgh Castle then working our way downhill along the Royal Mile. Hey, how do you like the Scottish Thistles in the foreground!
The Lonely Planet Guide mentioned a hiking path up the cliff so we decided to give it a try. We were almost at the top when we encountered a barrier and a notice that the path was closed. Why wouldn't you put the notice at the bottom??? Probably the same people that sign the parking areas.
We finally reached the castle and it was BUSY! We haven't encountered crowds like this in our time in Scotland and it is not Festival time until a week from now. It would be unbearable then.
Luckily we had our Heritage Scotland passes and avoided to queue to buy tickets and proceed into the castle. From the battery, there were some good overviews of the city.
We joined a walking tour shortly after entering and got a good overview of what to see.
This is the exterior of the War Memorial. Every Scott who has died in service in the last 300 years is listed in books within the memorial (no photography allowed)
The Great Hall... swords and armour.....
The little green patch is the pet cemetery... resting place of the Regimental mascots.
Mons Meg, a huge medieval gun....
By about 1130, the crowds were really getting too much for us so we decided to leave. I just can't tolerate some Oriental tourists. They are so damn pushy and rude. I did manage to nail a couple with a judicious Gordie Howe elbow. Not our most favourite castle experience.
The preparations are in place for the Tattoo starting next weekend.
We headed down the Royal Mile to take in the sights.
There were lots of street people and buskers, all looking for a handout.
Lots of small alley ways called "Close" leading to courtyards just off the main street.
Here is where you can get fish.
Not sure what you get here?
We found this "free" walking tour and joined in. The fellow was really entertaining and provided a humours history lesson of some of Edinburgh's famous inhabitants, including the inventor of the merkin.
Some more streetscapes of the walk down the Royal Mile.
At the bottom of the street are the new modern Scottish Parliament Buildings. Unfortunately they were closed as this was Sunday.
Across the street is the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
It was getting late and we decided not to do the tour so we headed back to our apartment. We walked down a side street that had some sanctioned graffiti on some construction hoarding. Nothing like what we saw in Melbourne but a few interesting graphic designs.
About 7 miles on my sore knee was just about enough so we walked back to the apartment to do more laundry before supper.
We had supper at a Jamie Oliver restaurant a block away from the apartment. A nice meal and we returned as the sun was setting to watch a bit of TV and finish drying the laundry.
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