Weekend in Scotland

April 13 – Castle, Whiskey, & Arthur’s Seat

The trip to Scotland was moved up due to weather, it was raining in the rest of the country but the forecast for Edinburgh was warm and sunny.  And Saturday was absolutely gorgeous.  The day started a little gray as we headed down to Edinburgh Castle, hard to miss since it sits on a rise in the center of the city.  The castle is quite literally built into the mountain and is not easy to get to, even today.  There is only one gate into the castle, and only one road that goes up to the gate, meaning an uphill climb down the old road referred to as the Royal Mile that runs from Holyroodhouse Palace to Edinburgh Castle.  Once up to the castle gates you have an amazing view of Edinburgh on all sides, as well as the sea and the mountains in the distance (when it is clear).  When we first arrived at the castle, we could barely make out the faint outline of the mountains and couldn’t see the water at all, but as the day progressed it cleared up and got very warm so we could see for miles in all directions.

Entrance to Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle from Princess Street (in the City)

Edinburgh from the Castle in the morning

Main Entrance to the Castle

Edinburgh through a cannon port of the castle

Edinburgh from the Castle in the Afternoon

 When we first got into the castle we took a short free tour from the gates up into the center of the castle, with a brief discussion of the history and architecture of the castle.  It was the sight of multiple battles from before Scotland was a nation, a huge battle during the Scottish Civil War when Mary was deposed in favor of her son James VI of Scotland (later James I of England), and acted as a prison during WWII when bombers would come from the mainland into Edinburgh to try to cut off supply routes to the English fighting on the continent.  It is also currently home to the Scottish Crown Jewels, supposedly the oldest in Europe since the English Crown Jewels didn’t survive Cromwell.  The Scottish Jewels were supposedly smuggled out of the castle by servants before Cromwell arrived and were rediscovered in an old wooden chest hundreds of years later.  Sorry, but I don’t have pictures of the Crown Jewels, no photography was permitted there.  There are extensive pictures of the castle however.

Mons Meg:  Largest Cannon in Scotland

Scottish Emblem in Castle Wall

The castle also houses the Scottish War Memorial and the Scottish War Museum.  While we did not go into the war memorial, we did visit the war museum, looking at the various weapons and medals on display from when Scotland first became part of England, through the Victorian Era wars in India, and up to WWII.  Some of the traditions that the Scottish soldiers hold on to even to this day are interesting and not something you really see in the US or other countries.

Uniform of Air Force Piper 1938

Uniform of Leopold, Duke of Albany (4th Son of Victoria

)

Military Flag flown before Ireland became part of the UK

Medals awarded to Commander after a Campaign in India 1799

Tapestry sewn by a soldier serving in India 1895

After leaving the castle (and taking more pictures of the city view since the sun had come out while we were inside) we went down the road to the Scotch Whiskey Experience where you learn about how they make whiskey in Scotland and get a free tasting.  There are apparently five types of Scotch, each with a slightly different flavor and slight alterations to how it is made when you get to the final steps.  Highland whiskey has a slight vanilla flavor, Lowlands is more citrusy, Islay has a smoky flavor, and Speyside tends to have a hint of fruit.  Even within these regions there can be a lot of variation, and there are a lot more little things we were told about them from what you can learn from the color, the smell, the viscosity, and how long the burn lasts but I don’t remember most of it.  I do remember that I tried a Lowlands and a Speyside scotch and I much preferred the Speyside.  They also had the largest Scotch whiskey collection in the world, none have been opened and no two are the same.   Some of the bottles are so old they had to be resealed and so much of the alcohol has evaporated off that it is no longer drinkable.

One wall of the Scotch Whiskey Collection (there were 8-9 sections like this)

After a couple glasses of Scotch we decided to head over to the park behind the palace, doing a bit of shopping along the way.  On the maps of Edinburgh the park looked huge, a bit surprising considering the size and growth of the city over the years.  After getting to the park we weren’t so surprised anymore, the ground is not exactly conducive to construction with the Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat (a small mountain) taking up the bulk of the park.  We decided to climb up to the top of the crags, so we headed up the steaper of the two trails we could see (there were no signs) and after climbing up a rather steep slope and along the crags for a ways, the path started going down again.  When we looked ahead we realized that the path we were on doesn’t go to the top, the other path that had a more gradual incline must, so we turned around so we could take the other path.  That other path starts more gradual but then you fork off to a rather steep (and not very clear) path up to the crags.  Once up there it is another amazing view of the city, the mountain, and an amazing view of both the palace and the castle.  Matt was all set to go climb Arthur’s Seat as well, but considering it was nearly 5pm and it had taken us a few hours to get up the crags, I convinced him we would never make it up the mountain and back down again before it got dark, nor would we have time before catching our train the next day.  We did however get a lot of great pictures of Arthur’s Seat and the city below.

View of the Park from the Salisbury Crags

Path up the Crags

Holyroodhouse Palace from the top of the Crags

After climbing back down the mountain, we went in search of food.  We went down to a small pub near the hotel that served an appetizer of haggis, neeps, and tatties.  This seemed like a good opportunity to try haggis without ordering a large amount and potentially not liking it.  For those of you that may not know, haggis is “a wee sheep stomach” (in the words of the Queen from Brave – yes the Disney Pixar movie) but it is mixed with some barley and traditionally served with neeps (ground turnips) and tatties (mashed potatoes).  It wasn’t horrible but it is not something I’m likely to ever get again, the first few bites were okay but it seemed to get worse with every successive bite and after a while I was mixing my haggis with my tatties.  At least it was only a starter and not my entire meal.

Haggis, Neeps, & Tatties

April 14 – Holyroodhouse Palace

Sunday wasn’t as nice as Saturday.  After breakfast it started to rain so we got the umbrellas out, but they didn’t do us much good since the wind was so strong I nearly lost my umbrella once and later it buckled and tried to close around my head.  After that I gave up on the umbrella and we just took a path through the city where there were buildings to provide some protection from the wind as the rain slowed down.  The rain itself was pretty mild until we got to Holyroodhouse Palace, the queen’s residence in Scotland.  Just as we paid for our tickets and got to the gatehouse it started to pour, and we still needed to cross the courtyard to the actual palace.  This meant we made a mad dash through the courtyard in the pouring rain to get to the front doors.  Once inside it was a bit cold since we were pretty wet, but at least we were away from the vicious wind we could frequently hear screaming outside the windows.

Courtyard of Holyrood Palace (taken as we left)

The inside of the palace was very interesting, being a residence of the current queen, and once the home of Mary Queen of Scots.  We heard some of the history and saw various artifacts and elaborate decorations, but they do not allow photography inside the palace so I have no pictures of the elaborate ceilings or the small rooms where Mary lived her life.  Originally the palace was apparently a monastery and chapel, only the foundations of which remain today.  The palace has also been added to over the years, especially during the reign of Charles II of England, taking after the French styles of the time (around the reign of Louis XVI and Versailles), but parts of the original palace still remain.  Here is a picture of what remains of the chapel and we did go through the gardens since the rain had let up some by then.

Chapel at Holyrood & the Crags

After the palace we also went to a gallery of photographs taken when Prince Albert (son of Queen Victoria) visited the Middle East, so very early photographs of the area.  Some of the photographs were taken while they were excavating some areas that are now major tourism sites (no I don’t remember exactly which ones).  When I think about the equipment available at the time, they are some very amazing pictures and part of the collection that led to photography becoming a more accepted profession in England.