12 Oct 2023

 Got out fairly early this morning for our 9.30 entry to Edinburgh Castle. 

Interestingly, Edinburgh Castle is strikingly similar in layout to Bamburgh, but obviously more intact. It's also more used still by the military and royalty. So much military museum stuff. Some beautiful uniforms and weapons and flags and things. Interesting dungeons for prisoners of war and military prison. Oldest bit was a chapel from 11 hundred ish?

So many tourists though. We didn't bother lining up to see the crown jewels. There were just far too many people.

We went to find some lunch. I had haggis bonbons with neeps and mustard sauce, and cullen skink soup. The soup was awesome, the haggis bonbons were meh.

We walked around, saw the Scott Monument (amazing gothic structure), some of the royal mile then went to our 3.15 tour of the Real Mary King Close. So the closes are narrow streets that run down the hill on either side of the royal mile where they originally met the city wall or the Norloch. In the 17th Century they were like 15 stories high of dwellings with market stalls and stairways cluttering up the little streets below, plus animals and excrement (gardez l'eau/gardyloo). So of course, plague etc. Mary King Close was chopped off at (royal mile) street level and the exchange building just built on top. The tour went through some of the old dwellings (skipping ones that had cyanide wallpaper and too-delicate structures). It included some dramatic scenes of manequines with the plague and mary queen of scotts who stayed there before escaping to england only to be jailed there and then beheaded.

After that we walked more of the mile, down to Holyrood. I bought a scarf and a poncho. The poncho is kinda frivolous, but it's beautiful and I can aspire to be like mrs mcgonagall.

We had a coffee and pie/cake then went to our 6.30 ghost tour which went through some more underground vaults on the other side of town and then to the Caonongate Kirkyard with lots of ghost/historical/tall tails on the way.

Marilla's friend's band was playing in a pub nearby so we stopped in there on the way back to the apartment and watched a few songs. They were old dudes playing blues. It was actually a really nice atmosphere.

So much walking today!

24,535 steps

16.49 km