Edinburgh Castle

(Ned) On 12/28/09 (or 28/12/09 in the UK) we went to Edinburgh for the day. We bought a membership to "Historic Scotland," which entitles us to "free" entrance to about 300 historic sites in Scotland. Edinburgh Castle is one of them, and after buying the membership we spent the balance of the day there.

Edinburgh Castle is just huge. Really HUGE. In fact it might be too big to really appreciate. This view is approaching the entrance.

One of the interesting things about the castle is the firing of this cannon at exactly 1:00 p.m. every day. You can set your watch by it and businesses downtown do. Today was interesting as it just wouldn't fire - too COLD?? Don't know, but it felt like it. With the high humidity, the cold really penetrates. We were glad to go through castle exhibits that were inside buildings within the castle. There were lots of them.

There is so much inside of the castle walls that you need street signs to direct you (10 o'clock from Sis. I.). It could almost be a little city in itself. There are a couple of museums, a church, several exhibit halls (including one we visited that houses the Crown Jewels of Scotland), souvenir shops, and cafes ( and several "toilets" :-)).

An overlook of Edinburgh looking north from the Castle wall. The Firth of Forth is in the background, not too visible, but below the horizon. The Firth of Forth is the entrance of the Forth river into the North Sea. This creates a port, which was vital for the early development of Edinburgh. The Castle's location, on the top of one of seven ancient volcanic mounds around Edinburgh, made it hard to successfully attack. The view of the city is even prettier than this picture.