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Published: September 25th 2013
Having just arrived back in Edinburgh after my week long rail tour, I'm glad to have first arrived in Edinburgh when I did, as we have had a drizzly arrival back in Edinburgh.
Going back to my arrival on Monday 16th Sept, it was a nice afternoon and it stayed that way for the two full days I had in Edinburgh prior to the rail tour.
My hotel was conveniently located in the old town of Edinburgh, along a street called Cowgate. The old town of Edinburgh goes back centuries and the name Cowgate comes from the practice of herding cattle down the street in the market days of the old town's medievil past.
There were so many attractions to choose from around Edinburgh that early on in my stay I decided not to try to see too much in one day, as I have done in the past, and just to walk around admiring the city and soaking up the atmosphere. I did end up seeing lots though and enjoyed every minute of it.
As I was walking around the town early the first morning, I walked across the bridge into the new town and came
across the Balmoral hotel. Someone in Ireland had recommended the high tea at the Balmoral hotel, so I took the opportunity to book for 2:30pm before I got on with the day.
Tourist information was not that far away from the Balmoral so I was able to organise my bus ticket for the day and the same time I booked into the highly recommended Double dead tour that evening, a ghost tour that would take me into the apparently haunted city vaults and Greyfriars graveyard.
I needed to sort out a minor issue with my camera at the Sony store, just to the south of the city centre. Conveniently located, as I could catch the bus back across town to the Royal Yacht Britannia display. The Sony shop happened to be just near some lovely little shops where I picked up a few trinkets along the way! I escaped the shops after 30 minutes and caught the bus across town to see Britannia.
This yacht, apparently the last in a large family tree of royal yachts, was well worth the visit. After Britannia sailed for the last time into Portsmouth in the south of England in 1997,
Queens dining room on Royal Yacht Brittania
This room is available for hire, for a hefty sum no doubt. All proceeds go back into preservation and maintenance of the yachtvarious cities across the UK submitted an application to have the yacht on permanent display. Edinburgh was the successful city and having the yacht on display has given a much needed boost to the city's historic port of Leith. The entrance to the Yacht included a free audio guide which helped to explain each room on this large yacht.
When it was in operation the ship had well over 200 shipping officers and royal staff on board. The hierarchy that was on board in its day was evident but it was funny to hear some of the fun to be had on the ship. The royal staff best enjoyed being invited to the petty officers mess for drinks and in the officers wardroom there was fun to be had with Wombat tennis, a game of tossing a stuffed wombat into a fan...the wombat had been passed on to the officers to be held for safekeeping! Or there was the daily game of hiding a Danish gift of a wooden monkey around different parts of the ship. Its permanent resting place is hanging in the cabinet that sits behind the bar in the wardroom.
Throughout the ship there were
many pictures of the Royal family and it was nice to see pictures of the royal grandchildren when they were all young children. It doesn't see that long ago that they were. My visit to the royal yacht Britannia finished with an obligatory sample (and purchase) from the homemade fudge kitchen on board the yacht.
Then it was time to head back into town to the Balmoral for my high tea. High tea at the Balmoral is located in a lovely cafe softly decorated in a tropical scene..the cafe was called Palm court. The service was excellent and along with a complimentary newspaper, I was treated to some servings of tasty savories, cakes and chocolate with the choice of various flavours of tea. There was live cello music coming from the upper balcony. I relaxed in the cafe for a good hour and a half and in hindsight perhaps I should have booked a treatment to match as it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.
Instead though I headed off to the National Museum of Scotland to view the Mary Queen of Scots exhibit, exclusive to the museum in Edinburgh. It was a well put together
exhibition which highlighted the turbulent life of Mary Stuart with her becoming queen of Scotland at 6 days old, her upbringing in France, her association with the Jacobite (catholism) movement, the quest to have the Stuart family return to rule in England and her ultimate demise through execution after suspicion over the murder of her estranged 2nd husband and plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth (a cousin).
It was the end of the afternoon then so it was time to rest up at my hotel nearby before dinner and meeting our Double Dead tour guide.
We met for the evening tour along the famous Royal mile, Edinburgh's main street and as it was approaching dark close to 8pm, it was great to see the old town lighting up including Edinburgh castle tower.
Our tour guide commenced the tour with a quick history of the city. Edinburgh old town goes back centuries but as the population grew it was decided more housing was needed and so in the late 1700s construction on the new town commenced. The new town looks quite historical in its own right with most of the original buildings in tact and is as nice to
walk around as the new town as well.
The evening tour was called the Double dead tour as it covered the haunted vaults, under the South bridge and the ancient Greyfriars graveyard, home of the Mackenzie’s Poltergeist! When Edinburgh was just the old town they needed a place to house people but a couple of the vaults were also used as prison cells. With the inevitable crowded, diseased and then crowded conditions it is no surprise that the vaults are likely to be haunted. We learned of unexplained 'attacks' by what the tour guides call the entity on tours where participants received unexplained scratches or bruises or suddenly felt uneasy, well over 100 reported to this tour company alone...this did not happen to me BTW. We then moved onto the Greyfriars Graveyard where were learnt of its part use of an early prison and the persecution that took place there. Our tour took place under an almost full moon on a clear night which added to the atmosphere. A couple of my pictures of that area have a ghostly hand appearing but nothing else. I think it was probably me getting used to the night shots with my camera,
but the effects in the shot are certainly location appropriate!
We then learnt about the Mackenzie’s poltergeist. McKenzie was an autocratic judge in the 1600s who persecuted over 1000 prisoners in the former local Covenanters prison, which was located in the corner of the graveyard we entered. Mackenzie’s crypt is located on the other side of the graveyard. Sometime in the late '90s a homeless person, drunk, broke into the crypt and since then some weird disturbances have took place. The council locks the graveyard now but is happy to grant tour companies a key for a fee! The tour was quite informative and entertaining and not without one spook on the group when were cornered in one area of the graveyard and we were surprised by a 'jumperouterer' with an loud arrrggh. It was another tour company employee who pulled that trick..I was in the front of the group and we all got the required surprise but also a good laugh out of it. Our tour finished with the story of Greyfriars Bobby, the character that the graveyard is most famous for. Bobby was the name of the loyal dog who allegedly sat on his master's grave for
14 years. The statue of this little dog is just outside the graveyard and not surprisingly is the most photographed statue in Scotland.
After a move the next morning to my tour hotel on the Royal mile and after a recommendation by the reception staff I headed off in the direction of Calton gardens on the new side of town. But along the way I was distracted by the St James shopping Centre and a couple of lovely local wool shops (mum stop reading now!). This detoured me for about 40 minutes but then it was finally off to Calton gardens where I enjoyed lovely views over both the old and new towns of Edinburgh as well as the Port of Leith at the edge of the large bay whether the river Forth enters the ocean. I took the opportunity to climb the Nelson Monument and look at the exhibition, dedicated to Commander Nelson by the Scots after being fatally wounded but achieving victory against the French at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Then it was onto the nearby Palace of Holyrood house where I looked at the historic house of the medieval queens and royalty of Scotland including
Greyfriars Bobby
The statue of the loyal little dog who sit on his masters grave for nearly 14 years Mary Queen of Scots and Bonnie Prince Charlie who we were to learn more about later on our Railway tour. The house was lovely to see with its original furniture and tapestries and the floors and steps seemed to be in original condition with a few creeks here and there..all perfectly safe though. The gardens surrounding Holyrood house were lovely too.
In conjunction with the visit to Holyrood house I also took in the Queens gallery where a short exhibition on Leonardo Davinci's sketches - The Anatomy of Man was shown. I found this exhibition both interesting and informative as I never new about Davinci's study and intricate sketches of the human body prior to seeing this exhibition. The detail and explanation of these sketches of the human body are apparently not that far away from the thinking of modern anatomists today . The exhibition even comes with access to a free app from the apple store with more explanation of Davinci's anatomy work.
Next to the Queens gallery and Holyrood house is the Scottish parliament, outside which there was a large queue. I asked what it was about and apparently a large tapestry was on display for
Edinburgh castle at night
I stood for several minutes after our ghost tour, looking up the Royal mile towards a lit up Edinburgh castle. The colours changed each minute free. It was put together by various groups around Scotland and shows the history from land formation of the Scottish mainland and isles, historic events until today and the tapestry of a number of famous Scots. The total length of the tapestry is 143 meters. As the exhibit was only on until September 21, I joined the line and took in this colorful and well put together display.
From there it was time to walk the full Royal mile up to Edinburgh Castle, my last stop for the day. Being a lovely afternoon I passed a number of bagpipe buskers playing outside the numerous Scottish souvenir shops along the way. Tartan souvenirs and Kilt makers along the Royal mile are as common as souvenirs of Kangaroos and Koalas along the streets of Melbourne. I finally reached entrance to the castle where my camera view was obstructed by cranes to one side. Apparently the huge temporary seating for the August military tattoo display was being taken down. Today our hotel has the castle in view and 7 days after first being here the seating is still being dismantled. Once I got into the castle though, there were more good views
to be had of Edinburgh but as well as that there is a nice war memorial inside as well as the castles various historical features. I finished my tour of the castle via the rooms housing the Scottish crown jewels. No cameras were allowed and I did not get a very close look as this must have been the most crowded location in Edinburgh (aside from the 30 min queue outside Scottish parliament to see the tapestries).
After leaving the castle I stopped at Starbucks, about the only food chain cafe along the Royal Mile (no McDonalds thankfully) before going back to my hotel to meet the tour group.
I've finish my tour today with a walk around part of the new town as well as getting ready to leave for Dublin tomorrow morning. The only other thing I would have liked to have done was climb Arthurs seat, the extinct volcano overlooking the city. But the weather was not great and besides I had had many great views of the town in my earlier stay.
i head to Dublin tomorrow for 2 days. my next installment will be the Scottish highlands railway tour which I will
Tapestry of Scottish history
A 143 meter tapestry of Scottish history was on display at Scottish parliament. The tapestry had been put together by many groups across Scotland post in the coming days.
I've kept up with the news at home, particularly that of the brownlow and AFL final. The AFL final is in the thoughts of some here too, as I walked past a pub today with chalkboard news of the AFL Hawks vs Freo final telecast from 10am local time. That is probably delayed as I am sure it will be very early morning in the UK/Ireland at the first bounce but good to hear of a local AFL celebration..
Until next time. Alison
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david thomas
non-member comment
your travels
Hi Alison we do enjoy reading about your travels....you must be due for new footwear....you are doing so much walking. Continue to have fun We are home again after 6 months caravanning. We are off to Hawaii for 15 days on the 15th October. Jenny is really keen to see flowing lava from one of the volcanoes. Love from both of us.....David and Jenny