Roadtrek Travels: October 2, 2022 Edinburgh

Sunday, October 2

Sunny morning, yeah! We enjoyed a good breakfast buffet at the hotel - including haggis (tried) and blood pudding (passed), sausages, their bacon which looks like our thin ham, eggs and fruit as well as pastries and baked beans which seem to be a standard breakfast food (passed).

Set out for a day in Edinburgh. We walked back to the Grassmarket area and looked a little more closely at things. Nice blue skies which we will come to find are a bit rare.

Interesting looking pubs, most of which also serve food. Here's The Last Drop. Seems Grassmarket was a market and gathering area dating back to the late 1400's. In the 1600's however, it also became a site for executions by hanging. The Last Drop referred either to the last drink a prisoner had or to the place of his last drop through the scaffolding trap door! The last hanging was in the late 1700's.

Lots of folks outdoors today! We make our way back towards GreyFriar's Kirk which looks a bit better in the sunshine. The beginnings of some Fall colors.

Talked with a man here who explained that many of those killed in the Grassmarket were coventers who died for their Presbyterian faith - refusing to join King James' church of Scotland. He says he is a coventer still today.

There are lots of stories of ghosts, hauntings, witches and other supernatural stuff including closes (alleys) and underground rooms. This tour guide/witch is one of lots of guides in the area.

Next we visit St. Giles Cathedral which was founded in 1124 and has been through lots of Scotland's turbulent religious history, from a Romanesque church to Catholic, to church of Scotland, Church of England, to John Knox's parish church, to today's Presbyterian church and more. Over the years it has been attacked, pillaged, partially burned and renovated several times. Amazingly intricate stonework decorates the entrance.

Some beautiful windows, including one featuring the poet Robert Burns, and a magnificent organ are highlights today.

Next we walked to the National Museum of Scotland. Quite a lovely building with a mixture of old and new exhibits. We mainly wanted to see the Scottish history sections, but also enjoyed things like bicycle collections, a stuffed "Dolly" (the first cloned mammal), and several interactive exhibits. Glad we came early because it is getting quite busy by the time we leave.

This is a bute mazer (drinking cup) with Robert de Bruce in the center.

One of several carved panels from the 1600's, showing the unicorn which is a symbol of Scotland.

The Scottish history begins all the way back with traces of people living here in 5000BC. Then on to the early people, Pics and Celts, through the Vikings who began to establish towns, Normans, Roman and other invasions. Tis a long history, indeed, filled with invasions, conquests, battles and wars. Below is a copy of the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots.

We finish with a trip to the rooftop terrace for some nice views.

Below is St. James Quarters, a recently opened shopping mall which really stands out on the skyline. It has been dubbed "the golden turd" by some locals.

Next we decide to ride the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus which has a stop nearby. We are able to sit atop the outside section. The audio set is a bit difficult to hear half of the time, but the sites are fun.

We take this bus to St. Andrew's Square where we catch another that will take us through the New Town and to the coast. Have to smile at "New Town" which only dates back to the 1700's. Blocks and blocks of Georgian homes with beautiful fanlights.

I believe the blue door was where Robert Louis Stevenson lived.

We travel all the way to the coast where Vikings, Normans and others came to Scotland. Below is New Haven Harbor. The port of Leith seems mostly industrial. We pass by the Yacht Britannia, used by the British Royalty.

We've seen quite a few soccer and rugby fields. They also have some sports like hurling that are popular locally.

The Victorian Waverly Hotel has an added visitor. The Scots seem to have a sense of humor and a sense of whimsy.

Statues and monuments are all over the city. Writers, politicians, scientists, royalty, and many memorials to soldiers who served their country.

Must be careful crossing streets as we tend to look the wrong way for traffic. We see several cyclists doing food deliveries.

The statue of the Duke of Wellington almost constantly wears a traffic cone and when asked why, our tour guide says that he is considered a traitor to Scotland by many. Students often place the cone on his head. (He was British and even the British didn't much care for him, our British guide admits, though he did defeat the French at Waterloo.)

Another modern building is their Parliament, with modernist and abstract architecture, which opened in 2004. People love it and hate it.

Back to St. Andrew's Square and we walk a bit to see the Princess Street Gardens and National Gallery of Art. Lots of trails, benches and walkways with people outside enjoying the sunshine! We start at Waverly Place - a mall with surrounding gardens and several buskers playing music.

We also come across a group of chess players.

The gardens are green as can be with some flowers. We search for the floral clock we've heard about, only to find that it is in a transition state as they remove summer plants and change to cold weather.... so a little less than impressive at this stage...

We come upon the National Art Gallery and do a quick visit.

This is my favorite picture, by a Scottish artist named Sir Henry Raeburn, about 1795. Pleasantly, most of the museums are free entry.

Back to St. Andrews Square where we catch the City tour bus to finish what we'd begun earlier. We get off around Grassmarket and decide to find a pub for dinner before the walk back to the hotel. This time we choose The BeeHive Inn. We enjoy salt and pepper squid for an appetizer - much like calamari. Beth enjoys a steak and ale pie - excellent - while Greg opts for Hampshire Breed Pork Belly (a bit dry). Both are served with a wedge of charred cabbage.