Edinburgh

Our first visit to Edinburgh on Saturday was on the bus, which took about 40 minutes. First stop was the visitor centre by Waverly station, which was a very good source of information and very helpful staff. We then got another bus the number 22 to Ocean Terminal in Leith to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia. Cleverly they have built a huge shopping centre at the terminal which you have to walk through and escalate up to the second floor to get to the Royal Yacht!

It was very impressive and I recommend a visit if you are ever in Edinburgh. It has been kept up to a very high standard and so it is a real glimpse into the world of the royals. Josh of course was really excited by the engine room, kept in immaculate gleaming order and steam engines as well, he was in engineer heaven!

In the evening we got tickets for Micky Flanagan at the last minute and as a spur of the moment thing, as Josh really wanted to see him. Not really my cup of tea but Josh enjoyed it. We caught the last bus home at 11.05; it is a long time since I last caught the last bus. There was a long queue of young people h various back packs and suitcases, waiting for the 11pm bus to London Victoria, not sure how many hours that would take?

For our second visit we caught the “fast bus” which took 30 minutes and went on the by pass. We got talking to a very smart and sprightly 94 year old lady at the bus stop who had lots of tales to tell about her youth in Queensferry and her time serving there in the war for the army as a “radar girl”.

It started as a cold day so we went prepared with jumpers and coats but it turned out a lovely hot day but with heavy showers. We walked up the steep stairs via one of the many “wynds”. We found the tour of the hidden  town that has been discovered under the old town but decided to come back and do that later. (However when we returned later it was fully booked, so made a note to come back and do that one day and book in advance.) So we headed for the castle battling through the crowds of tourists who seemed to be mainly Japanese or American, the former seeing Edinburgh via there go-pro’s on sticks!. At the castle again very helpful staff and as members of English Heritage we got in for free, which was a bonus. We walked around and then of course the heavens opened so we went into the nearest building that didn’t have a long queue of tourists, and that turned out to be the Scottish War Memorial building. It was amazing, the whole church has been turned into a war memorial for each Scottish regiment, very evocative names such as the Queen’s Own Highlanders and the Black Watch. Each area of war service is also remembered, who would think of the Royal Veterinary Corps, obviously there to tend to the horses in WWI. Also the Land Army that Josh’s mum always had very good memories of and of  main interest to Josh the Merchant Navy. At the bottom of each memorial is a book with all the names of those fallen, so we were tracing Josh’s Scottish ancestors and it was amazing how many were listed as engineers in the MN memorial book, it obviously runs in the family.

 

We didn’t go into the Royal Palace as the queue was too long, and the tea shop was full, so we headed to the Grassmarket via steep steps down. This is an area that is below the castle and was the site of the market for corn, hay etc. hence the name. It was also the site of the public hangings; it seems to have been a regular occurrence.

One of the pubs is named the Last Drop, a play on words, so we had to go in and have a pint and a cup of tea for me. It is said that on their last journey to the gallows the prisoner would be allowed to stop for a last dram and hence the expression “one for the road”. Edinburgh is a very busy tourist destination but if you do the detour into the Grassmarket it is a welcome oasis of calm.

 

Deacon Brodie’s is another interesting pub as the eponymous man was the inspiration for Robert Louis Stephenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

We ended our visit by walking the Royal Mile to the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the new Scottish Parliament building which is opposite. What is striking is that at the end of the Royal Mile there is suddenly open countryside, it is quite stunning.

No time to do any shopping on Princes Street, which with the surrounding streets has every possible shop and designer label you can think of and there is Jenner’s, Edinburgh’s Harrods.  

Back to the bus station and our journey back to Port Edgar.