Edinburgh Castle: Edinburgh, Scotland

Number 13 - Edinburgh Castle

We visited Edinburgh castle while on a little mini break to Scotland to do some castle exploration. It was our third and final castle of the holiday (we'd already done Bothwell and Stirling) and we tried to leave a good half day for it, as we knew it was huge!

Walking up to the castle through the Royal Mile is really atmospheric. Though it wasn't festival season when we rocked up, I've been to Edinburgh Festival once and would certainly recommend it. It's like nothing I've ever done before or since, absolutely buzzing and such a large variety of shows, arts and food. Really great.

Anyway, back to the castle, it's massive. It sits on top of a giant hill that I've discovered was created out of volcanic rock. We discovered the structure was a castle within a castle; so you had two sections, an outer and an inner one. The outer section had lots of high walls and cannons, to protect the fortress. I guess they hoped no enemies would ever make it to the inner bit.

 

You accessed the inner castle by climbing some rather steep steps.

The inner part of the castles had palaces and rooms filled with art. As well as more museums and some beautiful flower beds.

 

Edinburgh castle started being built in the 9th century but has had new bits added over the years. In the 16th century it was nearly all destroyed, apart from the chapel, so we made sure we went in and had a look round there.

The views over the city were really breath taking, the castle was certainly in a good position to see everything all around it. A lot of people clearly work tirelessly to make it look spic and span as it was in great condition. We had a slice of cake and some juice in the tea room/cafe which was all very nice. 

We spent a rather large amount of time watching some of the guards keeping watch outside the interior palace. They have to hold these gun/sword weapons and stand there for hours protecting the palace. 

One of them had clearly been their ages as his arm was shaking - we felt very sorry for him, I almost offered to take over so he could grab a sandwich. I'm not sure how long they have to stand there, but eventually they marched around and swapped over. There was also a wedding party at the very inner most part of the castle. What an amazing wedding venue it would have been - if only we'd known before we each got hitched. I have to say, the bride's dress was a little revealing, but each to their own.

 

There was a military museum with lots of information about the battles fought and lost at the castle, and in Scotland in general. There was also a little cemetery just for the soldier's dogs.

We stayed as late as we could, but then our stomachs started rumbling, so we decided it was time for dinner. We walked about fifty miles to find a Chinese restaurant that tripadvisor told us would be good, and it was (though we moaned about having leg ache throughout)! I can't remember the name of the eatery, sorry about that...

Cost: £16 per adult to get into the castle

Hints and tips: Edinburgh is a great place to visit in it's own right, so why not go for a mini break and then spend a whole day at the castle, there is so much to do, we were rushed with only half a day.