I stayed at The Cameron Bed & Breakfast (http://www.thecameron.co.uk/), which is located in the outskirts of town but within walking distance of the major tourist sites. At the suggestion of the B&B hostess, the first item on the sight-seeing list in Old Town was The Real Mary King's Close (http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/). I didn't quite understand what this attraction was, but the hostess kept raving about it, so I figured I had to go there. I came to learn that a "close" is a sort of narrow alley/street. The Royal Mile, which sits on a hill, was lined with closes hundreds of years ago. Over time, most of the closes were covered, never to be seen again or becoming underground tunnels.
An example of what a close looks like from The Royal Mile.
To tour Mary King's Close, you need to buy an admission ticket and wait for your tour time. A guide, who dresses and speaks as if they came straight out the 17th century, will lead you through the hidden streets, houses, and rooms in Mary King's Close. Pictures are not allowed, so I don't have any to post from inside the close. I felt the tour was worthwhile since it offers a glimpse of old Edinburgh that you otherwise would not know existed, and the guide gives some interesting (and often horrifying) historical factoids.
After the tour, I continued walking up The Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle, which sits at the end atop Castle Rock. I was a little disappointed when reaching it, because some of the view of the city from the Castle Esplanade was blocked by bleachers put in place in preparation for the upcoming Edinburgh Military Tattoo during the Edinburgh International Festival in August. (I guess that means the view is blocked throughout the entire summer.)
On the way up, before reaching the castle you will pass The Hub. Once a church, and now the headquarters of the Edinburgh International Festival.
View from the Esplanade as you approach the castle.
The view of the city that wasn't blocked by bleachers.
The view of the city that wasn't blocked by bleachers.
Gatehouse entrance, with statues of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace.
The castle is built on top of volcanic rock, and they seem to blend right into each other.
The Portcullis Gate.
A paid admission ticket is required to view anything past the Portcullis Gate. In what I now regard as a dumb decision, I opted not to buy an admission ticket. After touring the castle in Inveraray a few days earlier, I figured I had seen enough of castles for the time being. I didn't realize at the time that Edinburgh Castle is actually a fortress containing many buildings. So take my advice, buy the admission ticket and check the place out.
It was now time to walk down The Royal Mile and stop at a few sights along the way.
St. Giles' Cathedral.
Is this the smallest outdoor seating area at any Starbucks worldwide? I thought so, but no. When I kept walking, I saw that it had another small seating area around the corner.
The Tron Kirk on High Street.
Edinburgh has several free museums, and I decided to check out a couple. The first was the Museum of Childhood (http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/Museum-of-Childhood). The museum is three or four floors, and has displays of toys, dolls, games, and other childhood relics. I love all things that remind me of my childhood and days gone by, so I though this was a great place to wander around. An hour is plenty of time to see it all.
Charlie's Angels dolls, pop stars of the 80s book, and classic handheld electronic games.
Reminded me of home.
Reminded me of my former home. A game from the late 1800s or early 1900s. I've never seen this before either.
Don't even ask. In this animatronic puppet show, the man belted down gets his head sliced off.
Continuing down The Royal Mile on High Street. View of Old Calton Burial Ground in the background.
The next museum I visited was The People's Story Museum. It is located in the Canongate Toolbooth, which was once where taxes were collected and people were jailed. Nowadays, the building is filled with displays and information about how ordinary people have lived and worked in Edinburgh since the 18th century. I thought this was an interesting place to visit if you have an hour to spare, though you could spend much more time here if you read all of the display boards. They must not have allowed pictures, because I don't have any from inside.
The Canongate Tollbooth.
Next, it was time to leave The Royal Mile for lunch in preparation for a long hike up Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park. As usual, lunch was a picnic in a park with Edinburgh's finest delicacies from Tesco Express. Then, I crossed the street to begin hiking.
Lunch in the park in front of the Our Dynamic Earth history/science museum.
I pretty much just followed everyone else, as I wasn't sure if there was a particular trail to take. The hike started off very steep, and I got very tired very fast. I had to stop several times to catch my breath, and wondered how other people were just flitting on by without a care in the world.
Are we there yet?
I hadn't even climbed that far, but already there was a great view.
Zoomed in view.
Zoomed in view.
I made a furry little friend along the way.
The grass is mowed to read "VOTE NO." (This was June, several months before the Scottish Independence vote.)
Still lots more to go.
Old Town and Castle Rock in the background.
Almost there!
At the top, or so I thought. Turned out this was the top of just one of many hills. So upward I continued, still not having a clue where exactly I was going to end up.
Officially at the top of Arthur's Seat, and boy do I look happy.
The views from the tops just kept getting better though.
As much as I complained, the climb up, and up, and up some more really was worth it.
Took a different way back down, and passed the ruins of St. Anthony's Chapel.
After the hike was over, it was back to walking around town. (I'm sure my feet were killing me.) I headed to the end of The Royal Mile to see what I bypassed earlier in the day.
The Queen's Gallery sits at...
the corner of Abbey Strand...
which leads to the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
Unicorns ARE real!
View with my camera peeking through the palace gate.
It was now very late in the day, and so the rest of my time was spent walking back toward my B&B and looking out for a place to eat dinner along the way. Unfortunately, the early closing time of restaurants was once again working against me, as all of the good ones seemed to be closing just as I approached them. (Or perhaps I just smelled after my long, sweaty hike, and that's why I was being turned away.)
Loved this doorway.
I'm sure this is an important building, but I can't recall at the moment.
I ended up eating dinner at a pub near the B&B that the hostess recommended earlier, called The Salisbury Arms (http://www.thesalisburyarmsedinburgh.co.uk/). Got there just in time, and good thing too, because the meal was great! I had some sort of vegetarian tart. Too bad there wasn't enough time to try the treacle tart for dessert. (Next time I'm ever in the UK, trying treacle tart is one of the first things I'm going to do.)
This is pub food.
Oh, and I had to take a picture of this. This is probably how I looked after my tiring hike.
The following morning began with yet another overly-filling Scottish breakfast. Not being in a huge rush, I chatted with the B&B hostess, and it was a lot of fun. I can't recall everything we talked about, but I learned a bit about the Scottish people, the Christmas Coca Cola truck (http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/about-us/heritage/christmas/coca-cola-christmas-trucks.html), which American TV shows she liked, and what it was like for her family to drive on the other side of the road while vacationing in Florida. (Answer: They had as much of a problem with it as us Americans have in the UK.)
Next up: York
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