Shelby's Travels

Today we travelled from Dublin to Edinburgh. Ireland to Scotland, United Kingdom.

SO MANY PHOTOS TODAY! This place is unreal. It looks like it came out of a movie. Matt says it feels very moody. We really just did a ton of walking today. We only have two days here so we are trying to see as much as possible!

Starting with Edinburgh Castle, this castle is about 900 years old. There has been a royal castle on this hill since the 11th century and was a royal residence until 1633. The castle had been resigned numerous times in the 17 and 18th centuries. Mary Queen of Scots also lived here for 45 years.

The castle sits on a hill (inactive volcano) in the middle of the city. So it has excellent views!

Edinburgh Castle is at the West end of a one mile street called the Royal Mile. At the other end of this street is the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which we visited later in the day. The Royal Mile is the Main Street of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh. It’s also historically served as a processional route for significant events and royalty visits.

We also learned that most of the these older buildings have this dark, black color to them because the original SandStone is now covered in soot. By the 1950s, most of these kind of buildings had this black grime because of the legacy of household coal fires and factories. They tried cleaning some buildings in the 1970s to restore their original color, but it actually damaged the limestone and it accelerated the weather of the stone and caused some to crumble.

We got a lunch recommended from our taxi driver to the airport in Dublin, The Witchery.

The next few streets are of Victoria Street. This is supposed to be where JK Rowling got inspiration for Diagon Alley from The Harry Potter Books. I’m also reading the series for the first time and have never really seen the movies so it’s pretty cool to be in Scotland, where the movies were filmed and inspired! I’m on book 3 of 7 so no spoilers!

Continuing down The Royal Mile.

Now we finally made it to the end of The Royal Mile, and decided to tour The Palace of Holyroodhouse.

While we couldn’t take photos inside the building, we learned a lot about what went on there. The castle is currently property of The Crown. The Royals stay here when they visit Edinburgh.

Mary Queen of Scots once lived here, and her rumored side fling was murdered here by her husband.

The walls were covered in tapestries and royal portraits.

On the back side of the palace is a beautiful and large garden!

The garden also backs up against Salisbury Craigs (Cliff in Scotland). This hill/ cliff is covered in this yellow wildflower that gives the land an orange tint. More pictures to come!

After the tour, we continued walking to Calton Hill. Calton Hill is home to numerous monuments and incredible 360 views of the city.

More walking! The views and buildings are so incredible. I can’t get over it!

Wow! Gotta say, I really enjoyed Dublin but Edinburgh has made a greater impact on me so quickly! Maybe that’s because of the whole Harry Potter thing and I’m actively reading v the books. But it really feels like another world (the wizarding world?🤷‍♀️) Super cool! Excited to see more tomorrow!