Scotland Day 1.1 - The Royal Mile

I woke at stupid-o'clock, and despite moving slowly, was out and about by 7am. Disappointingly, the only cafe open within cooee appeared to be the Starbucks, but at least they do tea. Two cuppas, and a ham and cheese toasted sanga (sorry, toastie), and I headed off towards the bus stop to take me to Old Town. Except there was no bus so I walked to the next stop, and the one after that, and I soon found myself at Holyroodhouse Palace. Of course, it was way too early to be admitted, but I peered through the gates, as one does.

This wee building, named "Queen Mary's Bath House" probably never housed a bath, but may have had some kind of other function. You can see the footings of the boundary wall that connected it to other buildings, and which once enclosed a private garden.

Across the way from Holyroodhouse is the Scottish Parliament, a frankly rather unattractive building complex. Apparently, there's all sorts of symbolism built into it, and trying to replicate an earlier style wouldn't have worked either, but, well, it wasn't all that photo-worthy.

The lower stretches of the Royal Mile are a major thoroughfare, with trucks, buses, taxis and cars jostling. I wandered into various closes (courtyards of varying sizes, accessible by a narrow lane (horse carriage width, not car), and then into the churchyard of Canongate.

Amongst other luminaries buried in the surrounding graveyard is Adam Smith ("Wealth of Nations"), whose final resting spot was found by a Russian economist I encountered there.

In Melbourne, the impressive sandstone buildings are few and lauded. Here, they're cheek-by-jowl, reflecting the time when Old Town, was one of the most densely populated cities in the world. One which had/has a propensity for turrets.

  

  

Do you think "Fleshmarket Close" is akin to "Gropecunt Lane"?

(Disappointingly, it seems to refer to the actual, not metaphorical, meat market that used to operate here.)

Further up the Royal Mile, I encountered St Giles Cathedral (strictly it is the High Kirk of Edinburgh, as it is not a bishop's seat), where John Knox ministered (he was the a leader of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland).

St Giles, to the right; bulbous Fringe Festival advertising bollard in front.

At that time of the morning, it was more likely that the organist was there to practice than perform, but it was still beautiful to hear.

  

By 9:20, I had reached the top of the Royal Mile, and encountered a crowd of people. I guessed they were queuing to get tickets to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, but no, this was the pre-pre-queue for Edinburgh Castle. Just as I arrived, this queue was released to progress to the actual pre-queue for entry to the Castle. Fortunately, I had acquired (bought and printed) an Explorer Pass, and so could join the "Fast Track" pre-queue for entry.

Despite the rather extraordinary queues, it moved fairly quickly, and the site is large enough to cope with hundreds (possibly thousands) of people on site at any given time. (I've never 'done' Europe at peak times, so these crowds were a new experience for me.)

I'll upload some pics of Edinburgh Castle in the next post; however, uploading is a tedious process, so I may not be so generous with pics as I go forward.

Shout out to The Black Fox for keeping me plied with drinks, food, and wifi while I prepared this and the previous post. But my arse is getting sore, and I need to elevate my aching calves, so I'll settle my tab, and see if the hostel wifi will allow me to upload a second post about today.