We started our full-day by walking to the Holyrood Palace, the home away
from home for the Queen. She’s actually
visiting Scotland later this month, so I’m glad we are traveling when we are so
we miss all the extra crowds!
We then walked all the way to the top of this hill and to the top of the
tower in the middle. That was a trek!
While walking up the 400+ stairs, we were motivated by the walls to keep
going.
The views were spectacular!
Definitely worth the hike and climb!
We decided that we earned a much need lunch/scotch-tasting break, so we went
to a recommended bar that did both! Matt
enjoyed a scotch flight and was very happy to have purchased some scotch that
isn’t available in the states.
We then went to the National Museum of Scotland and had a look around. It was three levels, so that was quite
impressive. However, after a couple
hours there, we were ready for a change of scenery.
OK, so this next part will be better appreciated by Harry Potter fans. For those that don’t know much about these books,
JK Rowling, the author of the series, used Edinburg as inspiration for many
portions in her books. In fact, she
wrote her books in many different locations within Edinburg. Matt and I went on an author’s tour because I
read that it was a great way to learn more about the city’s history, while
incorporating many different JK Rowling tidbits.
The city has a brutal history in how the King tortured or killed anyone
accused of being a witch or warlock.
Since the books are about young witches and wizards, many have wondered
if that history was an influence from her time in Edinburg. It will at least explain to all my readers
why our guide was wearing a cape!
She was a great tour guide. Not over
the top at all and very knowledgeable about the city. She took us to a school that inspired Hogwarts
Voldemort’s grave – apparently she got a lot of her character’s names from
the cemetery’s residents’ gravestones. There
was a real-life Tom Riddle and son, so they will forever be immortalized as one
of the evilest characters in literary history!
Sucks for them!
One of the restaurants in which she wrote the books.
And her hand prints, similar to that in Hollywood. It was a fun tour, I’m
glad we checked it out.
And that was Edinburg! I’ll leave you with this very stereotypical (yet
very cool) image:
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