SCOTLAND is a Country north of England. The population is a little over 5 million people. The currency is the pound.
EDINBURGH:
Edinburgh is the Capital City of Scotland. It is also Scotland’s largest City so there is a lot to see and do.
We came to Edinburgh to see their famous ’Fringe Festival’ that is the largest in the World, (Edmonton, Alberta in Canada has the second largest ’Fringe’). We enjoyed moving around the City to the different venues to see the performances. The plays are written and performed mostly by armatures and they are often as enjoyable as Off-Broadway Plays. Half the fun is standing in line waiting to get into the venue. You meet people from around the World.
Edinburgh Castle was built on a dead volcano, (it’s called Castle Rock), it’s an imposing structure, looking a bit mysterious and giving a theatrical air to the whole town as it looks out on the city. With it’s tiny St. Margaret’s chapel, built in the 12th century, and inside the castle, the States apartments, particularly, Queen Mary’s bedroom where Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to James VI, later James the first of England. The Crown chamber, which houses the Crown, the Scepter and sword of Scotland. You can also visit the French Prisons. Great storerooms turned into a prison in the 18th century, these prisons housed hundreds maybe thousands of Napoleons soldiers during the nineteenth century, many of them made wall carvings or carved their initials in the walls, where you can still see them today.
The Palace of Holyroodhouse is end of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. It is the official residence of the reigning King or Queen when they visit Scotland, (you can tour here only if the Monarch is not visiting). It has much mysterious room and an Abbey. Our Guide told us all the mysteries, murders and intrigues that went on here throughout the Centuries. The Palace is surrounded by 7 acres of gardens. The 450-acre Queen’s Park surrounds the palace on three sides with natural wilderness that provides the Royal Family with a feeling of isolation from the city. On the fourth side is the new Scottish Parliament.
The Royal Mile runs from the Castle to the Palace and passes the Parliament House that is now a Courthouse. The John Knox house, (it was built in the 15th Century), and is now owned by the National Trust of Scotland. Our Guide told us about a legend called the ’Death coach’’. There are many records of a ’ghostly wagon’ that is pulled by drawn by headless horses with flashes of fire coming out of their nostrils. They believe it appears before a disaster strikes. They see this apparition on the road from Holyrood to the Castle.
At Mary Kings Close our guide told us that more people died here, (per square yard in 1645), than any other area of Edinburgh. The Plague was called ’the back death’ and it ran rampards through the old tenement buildings. The poor always seem to suffer more than anyone else does.
The Tolbooth Museum once was the administrative center for Canongate Burgh and later it became the Prison. Today the Museum’s exhibits provide shows you the life, work and death of the people of Edinburgh from the 18th, 19th up to the early part of the 20th Century.
We enjoyed seeing the Camera Obscura. This is a giant camera that sweeps around the city and shows the images on a large tabletop screen.
At the Writer’s Museum we view items that belonged to Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson.
We ate at the Witchery Restaurant after we walked through medieval looking Ramsay Gardens. After lunch we visited the Scotch Whisky Heritage Center. After that my Husband helped me back to the hotel!
GLASGOW:
Glasgow is in the western part of Scotland. It has been a commercial and industrial City since the time of the tobacco and cotton trade with Virginia in the 18th Century.
The City is in the beautiful Clyde Valley on the Clyde River. It is known as the ’cultural capital’ of Scotland.
The Burrel Collection has over 8, 000 items that range from Chinese Ceramics to French Impressionist paintings in the Pollok Country Park.
We went shopping at the Italian Center and Princes Square. We ate most of our meals at the pubs and restaurants at Princes Square.
ALLOWAY:
from Glasgow we drove to Alloway is the village where Robert Burns, (Scotland’s great national Poet), was born. We went there to see the Museum, (that displays letters, manuscripts, first editions and his family treasures). We then crossed the auld brig o’ Doon (the old bridge over the River Doon), to see the Burns Memorial.
We ate lunch at the Brig o’ Doon Hotel and walked around their beautiful gardens. Before we left Alloway we walked along the banks of the River Doon.
SOME THOUGHTS:
We hope to return to this beautiful Country some day. The people are jolly and the land is beautiful. I know I must come back because I did not see the Loch Ness Monster, eat haggis and visit many other places I want to visit.
To see what I told you about and what I missed please visit:
https://visitscotland.com
©LL