The drive from York to Edinburgh, our stop for the night included about four hours of driving time through the back roads of northern England and southern Scotland. About half way to Edinburgh, we turned off the back road onto a little country road that runs parallel to Hadrian's Wall. The wall was constructed in about 122 AD for a still unknown purpose and stretches about 80 miles from coast to coast across northern England.
We followed the Wall for several miles before arriving at a visitors center nestled in between two hills in the absolute middle of nowhere. We talked with the nice lady in the gift shop for a few minutes; then, we drove up to the trail head for a nice hour-long hike along the wall.
The walk was a little more of a hike than we had anticipated. Turns out this part of England has plenty of steep hills. Grateful for a seat, we jumped back in the car and headed north just a short way to the border between England and Scotland. Who could pass up the chance to stop with a sign like this located next to a convenient parking lot?
About two hours later, we rolled down another sleepy little street to find our B&B for the next two nights. We were greeted by a sweet couple who showered us with restaurant and sightseeing recommendations in heavy Scottish accents. We ended up at a restaurant just down the street for dinner. It was here that we discovered our new favorite beer and
The next morning, at the recommendation of our hosts, we took a scenic nature walk from our B&B into downtown Edinburgh. The walk afforded us a great view of the city and was the perfect way to start the day.
We started our tour of the city at the bottom of the Royal Mile near the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the home of the Royal family when they are in town, and the Scottish Parliament building.
These buildings are situated directly across the street from one another. Nothing like a little architectural discord. We slowly made our way up the Royal Mile stopping in shops and detouring down side streets.
Just over half way up the hill, we came to St. Giles' Cathedral. The towering cathedral spire is one of the most recognizable fixtures of the Edinburgh skyline (scroll back up a few pictures to see what I'm talking about).
The cathedral itself is hodgepodge of construction ranging in age from four interior columns from the early 1100s to a facade constructed in the 1800s. The interior of the cathedral is decorated with beautiful stained-glass windows and really impressive organ.
Making our way up the hill, we took a few block detour to check out the National Museum of Scotland. This place was massive. We did our best to make it through the highlights but after several hours we had hardly made a dent in the impressive exhibits spanning the entire history of Scotland from prehistoric times through modern space travel and everything, every-thing, in between. We even had a little fun playing dress-up in the kids section. Isn't he handsome?
On our way back to the Royal Mile, we made a stop at a statue dedicated to Greyfriars Bobby, a terrier who watched over his master's grave for 14 years after he died.
Our last official stop of the day was Edinburgh Castle, located at the very top of the Royal Mile. The original fortified castle was built on the top of a high rock some time in the 11th century and has served as a castle, fort, and military garrison ever since.
The highlights of our tour were the Scottish National War Memorial, a solemn reminder that the British sent Scottish soldiers to all corners of the earth to protect the Empire,
and the dog cemetery for the solders's dogs. Talk about a room with a view.
Chris also thought the cannons were pretty cool.
We made our way back down the hill just in time for it to start drizzling - the first less-that-perfect weather we'd experienced so far. We dug our trusty rain coats out of the backpack and trudged back down the hill to our bus stop. Back at our B&B we asked for another dinner recommendation. This time, we wanted some place we could try hagus because my brother had requested a picture of my trying it as his souvenir for this trip. Who am I do say no to that?
I actually turned out to be really good... kind of like breakfast sausage. Breakfast sausage and beer; sounds all right to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment