Our UK Family Holiday - Part 7 - Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle in Scotland is the last photo-heavy post of my UK Holiday series! Any other posts will be via video/vlogs, so stay tuned for those. I must admit, I was starting to get a little fatigued with the posts - sooooo many photographs! I just did like someone suggested and didn't edit them... 2300 photos!

Anyways, thank God for a fantastic family vacation! We're trying to have an annual trip, and thinking next year will be in CUBA! We'll see sha.

Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, Royal Mile is sandwiched between Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh Castle.

The original plan for the day was to get on a sightseeing tour that would include the castle and at least the Royal Britannia yacht. Unfortunately, we were only able to do the castle. It is massive and we still had to rush through some of the exhibits!

Edinburgh Castle is situated on Castle Rock, and apparently there's been a royal castle there since the 12th century!

While there, you can practically see all of Edinburgh.

The castle was the royal residence up until the 1600's and thereafter was used mostly for military purposes. Research done in 2004 suggests that Edinburgh Castle has been in 24 sieges, making it one of the most attacked sites during various wars in the world.

When you walk in, the ticket booth is on the right and on the left side, I found the popular red telephone booths. I had begged for photos throughout our UK vacation, and I finally got some nice ones :)

I digress. Let's get back to the castle.

The story of the Scottish monarchy is so intriguing, and very long. I wish there were a mini-series about them. I think this trip opened my eyes to how interesting History is, and I wonder why I didn't really like the subject in secondary school.

One of the attractions of Edinburgh Castle is the One o' Clock Gun. It is fired every single day at 1pm, except Christmas, Good Friday and Sundays.

The purpose of firing the gun was to help ships set their maritime clocks, which aided in their navigation. I wonder where the cannonball lands though :-/

Check out this short video of what it's like.

Also on the castle grounds is St. Margaret's Chapel, which is regarded as the oldest building in Edinburgh. 

St Mary's Chapel was built by David I for his mother, and guess what... it's bomb-proof! The chapel is available for weddings and christenings. I wonder how much it costs.

Another building in the castle is The Great Hall, built in 1511-1512, and now houses armor and weapons.

The Scottish National War Memorial houses tributes to the fallen soldiers from the two world wars and of military campaigns since then. Cameras were not allowed inside, I believe because it's a somber, solemn tribute.

The Crown Jewels, also known as The Honours, are found in Edinburgh Castle as well. The timeline of the monarchy of Scotland is displayed too. Unfortunately, there were no cameras allowed in the room with the actual crown jewels - it was a magnificent sight to behold though!

We were allowed to take photos and video of the Prisons of War though. The photos below capture the prisoners' "beds."

Prisoners of war kept busy sha... some of them doing 419 things!

 They also made crafts...

If a soldier did something wrong, they were made to stay in isolation.

After spending a couple of hours walking up and down, and hitting my step target for the day, we headed over the restaurant for lunch. I had salmon, broccoli, hot chocolate and the best scone ever!

We then hopped on a tour bus to go around Edinburgh. The tour guide's accent was really thick, so we didn't hear half of what he was saying, but I was able to get some nice photos :)

I really wanted to tour the Royal Britannia yacht, which was once used by Queen Elizabeth. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time we got there. I would highly recommend you try it out if you ever visit Edinburgh, and tell me about it.

Overall, we had a lovely time in Scotland. Even though we stayed for a shorter amount of time, I think we preferred it to England. I don't know when I'll be back out that way. I think I want to see different places in our future travels, especially the Mediterranean.

I hope you enjoyed my posts from our UK vacation. Be sure to let me know! And if you ever want some suggestions or travel tips, come back here for some inspiration.

God bless!