Day 5 - Monday,June 17, 2024 - Edinburgh Scotland

By Ellen Outten

 

Our welcome in Edinburgh as we disbarked for our tour this morning.

Our ship at the dock.

Our bus tour left at 8:30 this morning and headed for the historic Royal Mile in Edinburgh.

From the ship terminal, we drove across one of the longest suspension bridges in the world at over a mile long, The Queensferry Crossing Bridge.  


The typical houses as we drove.

One of their private parks, that you need a key to get into.  You also need to live across the street in houses that cost £7 million.


Sir Walter Scott monument.   Victorian memorial  with a great spire, straight out of a fairy tale built in honor of the writer Sir Walter Scott, with 287 steps to the top.  He wrote Ivanhoe and is believed to be the first writer of historical fiction, weaving fictional characters into historical settings.

The entrance gates of the Palace  of Holyroodhouse

From there the bus wound its way through the old city streets to the famous Royal Mile, the most famous street in Edinburgh. 

Our bus let us off there and we were able to have an hour and a half to wander.



The Royal Mile is the route that connects Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and has been the site of many important events in Scottish history including the ratification of the Act of Union between Scotland and England in 1707 where they joined their two parliaments into one.

The Royal Mile is home to many ancient buildings, including St. Giles Cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh, and John Knox House, which dates back to 1470.  This "Scots" mile is longer than an English mile mile and has cobbled closes (streets), narrow stairways, and passageways that looks over the city's medieval architecture.







Tollbooth Kirk (church)

Churches and taverns seem to go together in Edinburgh, side by side 

David Hume, one of Scotland's famous philosophers

St Giles Cathedral 
Gothic medieval building & Presbyterian Kirk (church)

Scotland, known for its whiskey

And lots of them


A city government building on the Royal Mile 

A close look at the top of St. Giles Cathedral 

Adam Smith, an 18th century philosopher and father ofodern economics 

Everywhere you looked, tartans, kilts and bagpipes 

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