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Published: April 12th 2008
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Stirling
View of Stirling from the Old Bridge A Tale of a Castle, a Jail and a Bridge
After returning from Dublin, I decided to embark upon another journey, but this one was much shorter and much closer to Edinburgh: Stirling. Stirling is about an hour from Edinburgh by train and has played an important role in Scottish history, which tied into many of the places that I visited while in Stirling. It also ended up being a very pretty area, so I thoroughly enjoyed the trip.
Looking for the Castle After getting off the train, I found myself at the Stirling train station with no idea where the castle was, but luckily, I soon found signs pointing the way. However, at the same time, my wonderful sense of direction kicked in and instead of heading towards the castle, I somehow ended up walking out of the city and away from the castle. When I finally realized that the city was ending and I probably wasn’t going the right direction (which took some time but not too long as Stirling is not a big city), I decided to ask for directions and found out that I was going the wrong direction and
had missed a turn a while back. I, therefore, made my way back into Stirling and towards the castle without any more problems.
Stirling Castle Like Edinburgh Castle, museums and exhibits on castle life have been incorporated into Stirling Castle. I decided to start with a short guided tour around the castle that would introduce me to the main aspects and history of Stirling Castle. Apparently, the castle has had a very important history, housing and being the place of baptism of the Stuart kings of Scotland and important in the Scottish Wars of Independence against the English, at which time it was besieged and held by both the Scottish and English. In 1314, Robert I of Scotland destroyed the defenses of the castle to prevent them from being used by the English after regaining the castle on the 24 June at the Battle of Bannockburn.
Stirling Castle Inside the Stirling Castle, I was able to see much of the city from above and many of the buildings of the castle itself. The different views of the area were my favorite parts but the different buildings had interesting displays as well. The Chapel Royal had
really pretty tapestries inside and there was even a recreation of the kitchen, complete with life-sized mannequins. Overall, I had a lot of fun wandering around the castle.
Walking around Stirling After the castle, I decided to take a stroll around the city. First, I happened upon a path that wound around the bottom of the castle and so walked around that for a bit until I got tired of that, having found nothing of extreme interest. Heading back, I then found an old cemetery attached to an important church. However, the name of that church escapes me for the moment, but I believe it was where James VI (I of England) was baptized (or it could be a different James, as I tend to get them confused sometimes). Scotland (as well as England and Ireland for that matter) is full of old churches and cemeteries; I think they all look very nice. Next, I decided to look for the King's Knot, which I had seen on a map of Stirling and looked to be very interesting: it was a park with raised concentric circles in the grass. Essentially, it looked more interesting on the map
Stirling
View of Stirling from Stirling Castle (Ladies' Lookout) than in person. Oh well, the walk outside was nice, although it was starting to get cold.
Old Town Jail My next stop was the Old Town Jail, which was exactly what it sounds like: an old jail. Inside, there were several exhibits on past jail life in that particular jail as well as a section on current jail life in the UK. While the exhibits were interesting (and thankfully, missing those mannequins--or at least, there weren't that many of them), I could also go to the top of the jail and see the city from above, giving a slightly different view than from the castle.
William Wallace and the Old Stirling Bridge As it was getting late (which means, after 6:00 at night when all the attractions tend to close), I decided to try to find the Old Stirling Bridge (which, being a bridge out in the open, wouldn't close) before taking the train back to Edinburgh. The Old Bridge was the sight of the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September 1297 when William Wallace (aka Mel Gibson in
Braveheart , who all the tour guides make fun of an
Old Bridge
Where William Wallace defeated the English allusions to) and the Scots defeated the English.
Finding the River Forth (over which the bridge crosses) was no problem, however, as I stared at the map and the river in front of me, I found three bridges all in the same area and was having a hard time deciding which was the Old Bridge. Therefore, to be on the safe side, I took pictures of all three, stared a bit more at the map and the bridges, and guessed which one was the correct bridge. Luckily, my newly acquired map-reading skills worked, and I guessed correctly (finding a sign at the other end of the bridge identifying it as the Old Bridge). By now, it was getting cold and I was running out of things to do, so I decided to head back to the train station and catch the next train to Edinburgh.
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