Edinburgh Castle

Went up to Edinburgh Castle today with Haley, one of my roommates. It was a gorgeous day out, sunny and actually warm enough that I didn't need a coat (though I of course unnecessarily brought one anyways).

Portcullis! There were way more tourists at Edinburgh castle, so there are way more of them in my pictures. Stupid tourists. Ruining my photos.

Looking down from the castle, in the bottom left corner you can see the Scottish National Gallery, and in the top right, Calton Hill.

What am I doing with my arms? Why am I so awkward?

Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century, when the medieval defences were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The most notable exceptions are St Margaret's Chapel, which dates from the early 12th century and is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, the Royal Palace, and the early-16th-century Great Hall. The castle also houses the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish National War Memorial, and the National War Museum of Scotland.

Yes, that entire paragraph is directly from wikipedia, leave me alone.

Foog's Gate. Great name.

So much stained glass and statues!

The Stone of Destiny (OMG I got to see the stone of destiny!) and the Honours of Scotland are both housed in this building (no photography permitted).

Chambers of Mary, Queen of Scots, including the room where she gave birth to King James.

The great hall was the chief place of state assembly in the castle and is still sometimes used for ceremonial occasions.

Hey-oh! Shout out to Canada! If you can't read it - during WWII the Scottish Crown Jewels were buried in David's Tower in case of invasion - four people were entrusted with the Jewels locations - King George VI, the Secretary of State for Scotland, some other dude, and the Governor General of Canada.

Princes Street and Princes Street Gardens can be seen at the bottom of this photo.

The dog cemetery has been used since the reign of Queen Victoria for regimental mascot dogs and officer's dogs.

Princes Street Gardens, and the train lines.

That is one seriously big canon.

Can you imagine one of those shooting towards you?

Saint Margaret's Chapel is the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, having been built during the reign of David I, who ruled from 1124–1153.

Saint Margaret's Chapel from the outside - it is a very tiny building.

Parish Church of Saint Cuthbert from above.

While Edinburgh Castle certainly provides an impressive view of Edinburgh, and I'm happy I went to it, I have to say I enjoyed my visit to Craigmillar Castle a lot more. As was mentioned earlier, few of the buildings predate the 16th century, and many of them were built in the 18th and 19th centuries. Most of the medieval parts of this castle are gone, and built on top of them are buildings which reminded me a lot of the Citadel in Halifax - you just didn't get the same sense of (medieval) history. Probably the only part when you really got that sense was going down into the ruins of David's Tower, which weren't really much to see (and mostly inaccessible to visitors).

There also just wasn't as much to explore. And there really was *way* more people. So overall, while I'm glad I went, its definitely not topping my list of "must see places in Edinburgh".

Its still really cool to see when walking around Edinburgh though.