The weather was brisk and a bit less rainy this day, so I set out to walk the city.
I didn’t really have much of a destination, I just picked a direction and started walking. Below is the Elephant House, probably best known as one of the coffee shops where J. K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter novel.
A bit further away, I found myself near the University of Edinburgh – this place was beautiful. Students wandering from place to place, studying in the little cafés and chatting away on benches.
A few wrong turns out of this area and I ended up behind the Edinburgh Castle – which is actually a bit of a distance away from my starting location – so I decided to take a tour. 😊
This photo is actually of the backside … I had to trek up a side road to get to the entrance.
The view of Arthur’s Seat alone was worth the walk.
I even made it in time to see the firing of the one o’clock gun, which takes place every day of the week with the exception of Sunday.
After about few hours touring the Castle, it was time for a change of scenery. I had passed by St. Giles Cathedral earlier in the morning and decided to rerun to take a closer look inside. There was a charge of £2 for a photography license, so I ponied up the coins for some amazing images. I did a full post on this St. Giles Gatherdarl here, but here is one of the stained glass windows that I took with my iPhone.
On the way back to my hotel for a bit of a rest, I walked down the Royal Mile taking in the streets, people and performers. Every few streets there was a ‘close,’ basically the Scots word for alleyway. There are these narrow pathways that head North and South, typically between residence entrances.
This one had a bit of an ominous name … “Fleshmarket Close”
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