We have finished our tour of Scotland in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital city. We stayed in the old town area along what is called The Royal Mile. The mile between Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace, the Scottish home site of King Charles.
We walked the Royal Mile multiple times through many more tourists then we have seen anywhere else our our trip. It is obviously a popular place to visit for people throughout the world.
We toured Edinburgh Castle and the Nation Portrait Gallery on our first full day. The castle was over run with tourists, but we managed to work our way through it and see the Scottish Crown Jewels worn by many Scottish Royals, including Mary Queen of Scots. The portrait gallery included all of the Scottish Royals and famous people of Scotland’s History, including King James, Mary’s son and the King James of the King James Bible, The Jacobite Leader; Bonnie Prince Charlie and of course Mary Queen of Scots.
We finished our day at a local Pub off the Royal Mile called Captain’s Bar, where we enjoyed music presented by local folks from Edinburgh in a session. They were all wonderful welcoming people toward us and serenaded Joan with several Celtic songs.
On our second day we toured the Scottish Parliament, a new structure added when the Scots voted to have their own Parliament separated from London to decide matters & laws of Scotland except for a few areas, like defence, which are decided at the British Parliament.
We finished our second day at Holyrood Palace, Scottish home of King Charles. We were able to walk through the Palace and see all the elaborate State rooms and walk through the private rooms where the ancient Kings & Queen Mary of Scots lived. This included the secret passage to her bedroom, where a group of her husband’s supporters invaded her room and murdered her personal aid that her husband wanted dead. Palace intrigue indeed!
We have enjoyed our time here in Edinburgh and all of Scotland. It is a beautiful country and well worth a visit, especially if you have Scottish heritage.