Day 124: More Edinburgh

Not quite as busy today, but still a lot happening! Out of the house fairly early again, heading directly for the castle this time and without Schnitzel in tow. Rather than do the 30-40 minute walk, we opted for a bus instead which was fairly quick and painless.

Very busy at the castle even though we arrived within 20 minutes of opening, lots of groups and a long queue at the ticket office (30 minutes!). After going in we did a free guided walk around the castle since it covers a fairly large area and has quite a few different bits to check out - good to get an overview first.

Great views across the city and a good sense of history, though most of the buildings again aren't that old. Mostly from the 15th century although a fort has existed there in some shape or another since essentially the bronze age. Visited most of the stuff up there, including the Scottish War Memorial, the (Scottish) Crown Jewels including the Stone of Scone, the smallest room in the palace where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to King James VI (later James I of England, who inherited his throne from his aunt Queen Elizabeth I).

Also checked out the dungeons, the Dragoon Guards museum and a couple of other things as well. But around lunchtime we decided we'd mostly exhausted the place, and it was very crowded which didn't help. Lots of shuffling through rooms in a long queue. Headed down the hill back towards the bus stop, where we grabbed some sandwiches at the Marks & Spencer food hall and ate in one of the parks. Lots of parkland in this area which is nice!

Hopped on a bus back to our apartment where we chilled out for a couple of hours then headed out again, this time with Schnitzel. Our destination this time was Arthur's Seat, a rocky outcrop above the city with fantastic views, and conveniently located not far from our apartment. It's only 250m high and a 60 minute walk, but it was still reasonably tough going what with the constant climbing.

Eventually we made it, and were rewarded with great views of Edinburgh and a bunch of noisy Spanish schoolchildren. Finally they left and we were left in peace to take some photos and finish filming, though wind noise made it very difficult.

Back down to our apartment where we grabbed 2-for-1 pizzas at the nearby pub and then headed home, ready to head into the countryside of Scotland!Read more