April 24, 2024

As we made our way into the Firth of Forth, the river that takes us into Edinburgh, we saw, as we h ave in many places on this trip, long rows of wind turbines. It seems that many parts of the world are way ahead of us in the US when it comes to harnessing wind power.

Here are some other shots of our approach. There are three bridges here, one red metal railway bridge that dates back to 1890 and two others built in the 1960s and 1990s. We went under all three. We learned later that the 1960s bridge is only used for buses and trucks which explains why we didn’t see any cars on it when we passed under the bridge. It is supposed to be renovated but things are moving slowly. In the meantime it is used to test our self driving trucks!

Here are some other sights we saw as we were arriving.

Our tour today is called “The house and the castle”. Of course we were greeted by a bagpiper as we left the ship.

Our guide was Emily.

Our first stop was the Edinburgh Castle. But on the way, Emily told us a lot about Edinburgh and Scotland. Scotland has a population of 5.5 million and there are 6.5 million sheep, so, more sheep than people! We passed through a very wealthy area where J.K Rowling of Harry Potter fame lives. She is the second richest person living in Edinburgh. First is Richard Scott.

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and has a population of 550,000 but Glasgow is larger, population 800,000. Edinburgh is known as “The Athens of the North” due to being built on 7 hills like Athens.

There is a yellow ground cover lining the roadways, it is called gorse and it provides cover for small animals like rabbits.

Many companies here Such as JP Morgan and Lloyds provide for large salaries and these rich people send their children to expensive private schools which can cost up to 40,000 pounds/year. One out of every 4 children goes to private school. Taxes are high, 40% of salary for anyone earning over 44,000 pounds a year and 21% for anyone earning less. Edinburgh is known as the greenest city in the UK.

Here are some of the buildings we passed on our trip. The smaller homes were built on one floor modeled after Indian style homes, with second floors added later.

Many of the houses and other buildings are made of yellow sandstone which is from the area. Some are red sandstone which means they were built earlier, mostly in the 16th and 17th centuries.

We arrived at the Royal Mile and the Castle. Edinburgh Castle is perched atop Castle Rock. It dates back to at least the 12th century, and has served as a royal residence, military stronghold, and symbol of Scottish power. The Royal Mile, which leads from the castle gates down to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, is a bustling street lined with historic buildings, shops, and pubs.

The Castle took us about 2 hours to see and we didn’t even cover it all.

Emily took us to 4 main sites and gave us lots of information about the many buildings and their use over the years. Here are a few highlights.

They have few Crown Jewels to display but there is an area you can walk through to see the crown and swords but no pictures were allowed. The last time the Crown Jewels were used was the early 1600s.

Before we left the Castle area, we did have a whisky tasting. It was whisky with elderberries. We liked it but didn’t buy any.

After our visit, we walked down the Royal Mile where there were many shops and restaurants. We wanted to find a place for a quick lunch and decided to stop here.

I had a delicious soup that warmed me up and Norm had an amazing sandwich with halloumi cheese and many other additions.

The woolen goods are in almost every shop and are just beautiful.

Some buildings near and along the Royal Mile.

We met Emily near this coffee place!

On to our next stop, the Hopetoun House and Grounds.

This house is on 100 acres of beautiful landscape. It is widely considered to be Scotland’s finest stately home and was used in many films most notably Outlander seasons 1, 2, 3 and 7. We got a brochure to tell us which rooms were used in each scene. They were filming Downton Abbey while we were there.

We had 2 hours to explore the home and grounds and enjoyed it all.

The family still lives in one wing of the house.

We walked one of the garden trails.

We were so lucky to have a sunny day. The house guide said last week was cold and rainy all week.

We returned back to the ship just before it was time to leave the port. Tomorrow we visit Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands of Scotland. We will take the shuttle and to our on our own.