On the second day of my trip, I took the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh. It’s about an hour-long trip and the train was fairly comfortable. Still being a bit jet-lagged, I may have napped a bit on the way. Upon arriving in Edinburgh, I dropped my bags off at the hostel I had booked. I couldn’t check in yet since it was still morning, but they agreed to store my suitcase for me until check-in. I had cut it a little close for the bus tour I had scheduled at 12:00, so I grabbed a very quick bite to eat at a cafe before heading to the bus stop for the Rabbie’s City Tour of Edinburgh. Although the tour can be up to 16 people, it was just me and a couple from England. The tour was about 2 hours long and drove us through the various parts of Edinburgh, providing history and interesting tidbits.
The bus tour started and ended along Princes Street, and when I got off the bus, there was an old cemetery right by the stop, so I decided to check it out. From there, I walked a short while to the hill where Stewart Monument, Nelson Monument, and the National Monument. The Stewart Monument was built as a memorial to Dugald Stewart, who was a Scottish philosopher. The monument overlooks the historic part of the city and the views are absolutely stunning. The Nelson Monument is a tall tower built to commemorate Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar. You can pay to walk up to the top, but I chose just to view it from the bottom. The National Monument was meant to be modeled after the Parthenon in Greece, but was never completed due to lack of money.
From there, I walked back down Princes Street, which is the main road in Edinburgh, and walked past the Princes Street Gardens and the Scott Monument. This monument was built as a memorial to the writer Sir Walter Scott, and is referred to by locals as the “gothic rocket” because it does, indeed, look like a rocket built during the Gothic architectural period. It’s a stunning memorial, and the largest memorial in the world dedicated to a writer. There’s the option to pay admission to walk the 287 steps to the top, but I chose not to.
I headed over to the Royal Mile, which is the road that stretches between Edinburgh Castle on the hill and the Palace of Holyrood down below. It’s actually longer than a mile and is the main street of the “Old Town”. This is the oldest part of Edinburgh, and the first buildings in this section of the city were built beginning in the 12th century. The buildings are built side-by-side, with “closes” between them. Closes are small alleyways between the buildings that functioned as small streets for those that lived in the buildings. The world’s first buildings above 4-5 stories were built here, and by 1645 there were buildings as tall as 14 stories and over 70,000 people lived within the royal mile.
After walking up and down the royal mile for a while, I decided to see if I could get a ticket for Real Mary King’s Close. This tourist attraction takes groups underground to see where Mary King’s Close once was. The buildings above where the tour goes were rebuilt for government buildings, but the underground parts were kept intact. The closes along the Royal Mile were named for various prominent individuals. What makes Mary King’s Close so unique is that it is named after a woman. Mary King, following her husband’s death, became a prominent businesswoman in the 1630s. The tour gives a glimpse into what life was like along the Royal Mile in the 1600s. Photos aren’t allowed, but it really was an interesting tour!
I had dinner along the Royal Mile, and admired the sunset over the buildings of both the Old and New Towns.
The Oke Den 