Edinburgh & Stirling

Tour Day!


We woke up after a great sleep in the comfortable hotel dorm beds, and we headed out for breakfast. Since we were in Edinburgh for only one day we decided we would just buy something prepared for breakfast rather than make something. We had some breakfast subs at subway, that only cost £0.99, which we were greatful for.


We then walked out to Old Town, which was right up behind Edinburgh Castle. Paved with cobble stones, and full of great shops, it was a great place to explore for a bit, so we did. We explored around a bit, but then came to our tours starting point, which was already teeming with people waiting. Right behind the tour there was this great sight, once again wowing us with the artistry in the city.

Captain Jack Sparrow

This man had decided to dress up like Captain Jack Sparrow, and played tunes on his violin. As well as some classical pieces he played many recognizable peices from the movies, and many people in the tour were amazed. Including myself. Our tour started promptly after that and we got to learn some of the history of Edinburgh, and the origins of the Scots.

Mercat Cross

Our first sight to see was the Mercat Cross which was in the heart of the Old Town. Our tour guide asked for a volunteer and I just had to go up. I was staged in the 1600's, and I had stolen an onion... unfortunately I was not fast enough in my getaway, and was caught. My punishment? I had a nail driven through my ear and then I had to stand at the door for 24 hours, being humiliated... It was not the best time for me :) Luckily it was only a play. The Mercat cross was also where the new king of queen would be announced after they were crowned in England.

Trip Steps

Next we went to a courtyard which was through a small close (which is a bit like a small ally), and we were right by the Writers Museum, where many great Scottish works were kept from great scottish authors. Also our tour guide showed us an old burglary defense system called the trip step. On the staircase in the house, there would be a single step that was about an inch long, and the people of the house would know about it, but those who don't in the middle of the night would fall over it. Instant noise, and that way home owner could go and... beat the thief to submission? or something.

Edinburgh Castle

We then went up to the outside of the castle just to get a bit of history on it. We learned that one time with the castle was taken the Scots reclaimed it by climbing the hill pictured above, and climbed in through the window for a very efficient victory. Me and Daniel did not end up entering the castle because there was an entrance fee of about £15.

Edinburgh Castle

This is a picture of Edinburgh castle from the North western side. The castle was actually quite massive, and an amazing sight. After Edinburgh castle, we went over to Victoria Street, which used to be the old Red Light District, but its cleaned up its at now. We had a coffee in a short break, and then we headed over to the Greyfriar's Graveyard. Our tour guide pointed out to us that the entire graveyard was bodies upon bodies. He told us that the last count of bodies was near 500,000 which is a figure larger than Edinburgh's current population.

Grave Cages

This picture is of a cage that was used to keep body snatchers away. Those who could not afford this cage would have to keep vigil over the body, so that no body stole the cadavers to make a quick buck form the university. Our tour guide was also kind enough to tell us the story of Burke and Hare, who killed people so they could sell cadavers to the university.

Greyfriars Kirkyard

In Edinburgh the graveyards are very public places, and many people also treat them like parks. According to our tour guide there are people who like to have picnics, lie down and read on a nice day, and just have a good time in general in graveyards. Both me and Daniel were a bit ... surprised to hear that.

John Gray's Grave

The final sight we saw in the graveyard was the grave of John Gray. John Grey was a bobby who had a dog named Bobby. After two inseperable years with his dog, he unfortunately died of tuberculosis. Many people were amazed that his dog would come and sit on his grave, and he did that until he died, every night.

Bobby, John Gray's Dog

This is a statue of Bobby, that was in the road just outside of the Greyfriars Kirkyard. After this we had a few more stories of Edinburgh's past told to us, and then our tour was over. We had not yet booked our train yet, so we went over to the train station after grabbing something for lunch, and got our tickets to Stirling, a small town outside of Glasgow.


We arrived in Stirling without anything booked, and we found a nice hostel that was just a couple minutes from the train station, so we decided to book it, and stay there for the night. We were interested to find out that the receptionist in the hostel was a Canadian as well, and had moved to Stirling after he fell in love travelling through the Scottish highlands a couple of years ago. We were quite tired after carrying our bags around all day, so we took a little while to take a break after our long day, but then we headed out again.

The Blue Skies

Just as we were leaving the skies cleared up once more and we got to see the clear blue skies again. We started with making our way to Stirling Castle, which was the castle that separated the Highlands from the Lowlands. We did not end up going in because the castle was not open, so we continued on our walk about Stirling.

Stirling

Next we decided to see the Wallace Monument which was a large tower that was made in commemoration of Willy Wallace, who defended the Scottish Highlands from the English. He defeated an army while being outnumbered by intelligently using a bridge to funnel the Englishmen down. Using a map we saw that it didn't seem too far so we started walking. Of course somewhere during that walk we learned that the map was not to scale, and 1 hour later we reached the monument. When we reached the hill that had the monument on it we were quite tired, but we then began our hike up the 100m hill. After reaching the top we were able to take this great picture of Stirling.

That night we were quite tired but we were able to find out that we walked a total of 5 miles or 8km on our trek to find the monument, except this 8km was almost all uphill, so we were quite tired. Well I am tired, but I think I have to write another post, I must catch up before I start forgetting these things... But tomorrow maybe...

Thats all for now,

- Kamaljot