Day five - Wednesday- Edinburgh - Grey friars Bobby and would you rather live above ground or below?
woke at 5am with the birds chorus. Closed the curtains and went back to sleep until 545. Got up dressed and walked in the garden. Saw some very cute little bunnies. Sprinkled M&D in the woodland path among the daffodils. The black angus cattle in the field across the road from the hotel were up and grazing, disappearing into the mist.
Back inside for breakfast. Margie and I went for a wee walk after breakfast around the garden. We left at 8 for the tour of Edinburgh. Peter handed us over to Shonagh our Edinburgh tour guide.
The history of Edinburg is really very interesting.
The earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area is from Cramond where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp-site dated to c. 8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have been found on Castle Rock (saw that), Arthur's Seat (saw that), Craiglockhart Hill and the Pentland Hills.
When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, they discovered a Celtic Britonnic tribe whose name they recorded as the Votadini. At some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its exact location has not been identified, it seems more than likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock or Arthur's Seat or Calton Hill.
In 638 AD the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria, and around this time control of Lothian passed to the Angles. Their influence continued for the next three centuries until around 950 AD, when, during the reign of Indulf, son of Constantine II, the "burh" (fortress), named in the 10th-century Pictish Chronicle as "oppidum Eden”, fell to the Scots and thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction.
The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, though the precise date is unknown. By the middle of the 14th century, the French chronicler Jean Froissart was describing it as the capital of Scotland (c.1365), and James III (1451–88) referred to it in the 15th century as "the principal burgh of our kingdom". Despite the destruction caused by an English assault in 1544, the town slowly recovered, and was at the centre of events in the 16th-century Scottish Reformation and 17th-century Wars of the Covenant.
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, situated in Lothian on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth (which is I believe the large river and bay). It is the second most populous city in Scotland (We mostly saw tourists and people from other countries working at the tourist shops) and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom (we haven’t seen those yet except for london 1 day). Edinburgh has been recognized as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century but political power moved south to London after the Union of the Crowns in 1603. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England in a personal union known as the Union of the Crowns, though Scotland remained, in all other respects, a separate kingdom. In 1638, King Charles I's attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Subsequent Scottish support for Charles Stuart's restoration to the throne of England resulted in Edinburgh's occupation by Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth of England forces – the New Model Army – in 1650.
In the 17th century, the boundaries of Edinburgh were still defined by the city's defensive town walls. As a result, expansion took the form of the houses increasing in height to accommodate a growing population. Buildings of 11 storeys or more were common,
and have been described as forerunners of the modern-day skyscraper. Most of these old structures were later replaced by the predominantly Victorian buildings seen in today's Old Town. By the first half of the 18th century, despite rising prosperity evidenced by its growing importance as a banking centre, Edinburgh was being described as one of the most densely populated, overcrowded and unsanitary towns in Europe. Visitors were struck by the fact that the various social classes shared the same urban space, even inhabiting the same tenement buildings; although here a form of social segregation did prevail, whereby shopkeepers and tradesmen tended to occupy the cheaper-to-rent cellars and garrets, while the more well-to-do professional classes occupied the more expensive middle storeys.
In 1706 and 1707, the Acts of Union were passed by the Parliaments of England and Scotland uniting the two kingdoms into the Kingdom of Great Britain. As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with the Parliament of England to form the Parliament of Great Britain, which sat at Westminster in London. The Union was opposed by many Scots at the time, resulting in riots in the city.
During the Jacobite rising of 1745, Edinburgh was briefly occupied by the Jacobite "Highland Army" before its march into England. After its eventual defeat at Culloden, there followed a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the rebellious clans. In Edinburgh, the Town Council, keen to emulate London by initiating city improvements and expansion to the north of the castle, re-affirmed its belief in the Union and loyalty to the Hanoverian monarch George III by its choice of names for the streets of the New Town, for example, Rose Street and Thistle Street, and for the royal family: George Street, Queen Street, Hanover Street, Frederick Street and Princes Street (in honour of George's two sons).
In the second half of the century, the city was at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment, when thinkers like David Hume, Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph Black were familiar figures in its streets. Edinburgh became a major intellectual centre, earning it the nickname "Athens of the North" because of its many neo-classical buildings and reputation for learning, similar to Ancient Athens. In the 18th century novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett one character describes Edinburgh as a "hotbed of genius".
From the 1770s onwards, the professional and business classes gradually deserted the Old Town in favour of the more elegant "one-family" residences of the New Town, a migration that changed the social character of the city. According to the foremost historian of this development, "Unity of social feeling was one of the most valuable heritages of old Edinburgh, and its disappearance was widely and properly lamented."(our tour bus ride took us through part of it New town built by the well to do to get away from the overcrowding and disease of old town.) Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town are now jointly listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Although Edinburgh's traditional industries of printing, brewing and distilling continued to grow in the 19th century and were joined by new rubber works and engineering works there was little industrialization compared with other cities in Britain. By 1821, Edinburgh had been overtaken by Glasgow as Scotland's largest city. The city centre between Princes Street and George Street became a major commercial and shopping district, a development partly stimulated by the arrival of railways in the 1840s. The Old Town became an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high mortality rates. Improvements carried out under Lord Provost William Chambers in the 1860s began the transformation of the area into the predominantly Victorian Old Town seen today.
More improvements followed in the early 20th century as a result of the work of Patrick Geddes, but relative economic stagnation during the two world wars and beyond saw the Old Town deteriorate further before major slum clearance in the 1960s and 1970s began to reverse the process. University building developments which transformed the George Square and Potterrow areas proved highly controversial.
Edinburgh is rich in associations with the past and has many historic buildings, including Edinburgh Castle, (saw that inside and out) Holyrood Palace ( the once home of Queen Mary of Scots and which is now Queen Elizabeths official residence when she is in town and we saw that from the outside at a distance), St. Giles cathedral , (beautiful old cathedral) Greyfriars Bobby (we saw the statue of that lovely little dog).
The city has long been known abroad as a centre of education, particularly the fields of medicine, Scots law, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2014. The city is also famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the largest annual international arts festival in the world. In 2004 Edinburgh became the world's first UNESCO City of Literature, an accolade awarded in recognition of its literary heritage and lively literary activities in the present.
They dropped us off at Edinburgh Castle with instructions on where to be to be picked up at 530 sharp or we would could catch a city bus or taxi back if we missed the tour bus.
The Castle is lovely perched high up on the hill with the royal mile between it and Holyrood castle where Queen Mary of scots lived.Some more interesting history talks by Shonagh as we entered and walked up the road within the castle walls and she left us in the courtyard to make our own way around the interior of the castle and then Edinburgh. It was lovely all that history put into perspective.
We saw Margaret’s chapel and Margie could join the saint Margaret society as her name is Margaret. It is a lovely little chapel that is said to be haunted. oooooo.
We saw the crown jewels and were a little disappointed as they consisted of a couple of sceptres and only three crowns. Very pretty crowns granted, but still only three. Once we were finished looking at the castle as much as we wanted, we wandered down the hill and out of the castle onto the royal mile which is a mile long road of souvenir shops, cafes, churches and tours of different sorts. Haunted Edinburgh, drinking Edinburgh, underground Edinburgh. We opted for the historical and underground Edinburgh.
after we bought a few souvenirs and had bite for lunch we went into the St Giles cathedral there, very impressive and I took lots of photos after paying a pound (they gave me a sticker to wear to prove I had paid and therefore could take photos) to the person in charge to be able to take photos. It seems fair and they use the money to help maintain the church and I am sure that maintaining a 5 hundred year old church would be quite costly. most of the sweater shops had all the same sweaters , most of the kilt and tie shops had all the same kilts and ties. We did go down a few of the little side alleys to find great little tshirt and souvenir shops where we picked up quite a few things. Our ghost underground tour began at three at the cathedral and we were there on time.
After nearly three centuries of unitary government, a measure of self-government returned in the shape of the devolved Scottish Parliament (we saw that building by the Holyrood castle) which officially opened in Edinburgh in 1999. (they were having an election in september this year to decide whether or no to leave Great Britain or stay status quo. Huge conversations over there… turned out that they voted to stay but only by the narrowest margin)
Back inside for breakfast. Margie and I went for a wee walk after breakfast around the garden. We left at 8 for the tour of Edinburgh. Peter handed us over to Shonagh our Edinburgh tour guide.
The history of Edinburg is really very interesting.
When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, they discovered a Celtic Britonnic tribe whose name they recorded as the Votadini. At some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its exact location has not been identified, it seems more than likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock or Arthur's Seat or Calton Hill.
In 638 AD the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria, and around this time control of Lothian passed to the Angles. Their influence continued for the next three centuries until around 950 AD, when, during the reign of Indulf, son of Constantine II, the "burh" (fortress), named in the 10th-century Pictish Chronicle as "oppidum Eden”, fell to the Scots and thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction.
The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, though the precise date is unknown. By the middle of the 14th century, the French chronicler Jean Froissart was describing it as the capital of Scotland (c.1365), and James III (1451–88) referred to it in the 15th century as "the principal burgh of our kingdom". Despite the destruction caused by an English assault in 1544, the town slowly recovered, and was at the centre of events in the 16th-century Scottish Reformation and 17th-century Wars of the Covenant.
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, situated in Lothian on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth (which is I believe the large river and bay). It is the second most populous city in Scotland (We mostly saw tourists and people from other countries working at the tourist shops) and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom (we haven’t seen those yet except for london 1 day). Edinburgh has been recognized as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century but political power moved south to London after the Union of the Crowns in 1603. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England in a personal union known as the Union of the Crowns, though Scotland remained, in all other respects, a separate kingdom. In 1638, King Charles I's attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Subsequent Scottish support for Charles Stuart's restoration to the throne of England resulted in Edinburgh's occupation by Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth of England forces – the New Model Army – in 1650.
In the 17th century, the boundaries of Edinburgh were still defined by the city's defensive town walls. As a result, expansion took the form of the houses increasing in height to accommodate a growing population. Buildings of 11 storeys or more were common,
During the Jacobite rising of 1745, Edinburgh was briefly occupied by the Jacobite "Highland Army" before its march into England. After its eventual defeat at Culloden, there followed a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the rebellious clans. In Edinburgh, the Town Council, keen to emulate London by initiating city improvements and expansion to the north of the castle, re-affirmed its belief in the Union and loyalty to the Hanoverian monarch George III by its choice of names for the streets of the New Town, for example, Rose Street and Thistle Street, and for the royal family: George Street, Queen Street, Hanover Street, Frederick Street and Princes Street (in honour of George's two sons).
In the second half of the century, the city was at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment, when thinkers like David Hume, Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph Black were familiar figures in its streets. Edinburgh became a major intellectual centre, earning it the nickname "Athens of the North" because of its many neo-classical buildings and reputation for learning, similar to Ancient Athens. In the 18th century novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett one character describes Edinburgh as a "hotbed of genius".
From the 1770s onwards, the professional and business classes gradually deserted the Old Town in favour of the more elegant "one-family" residences of the New Town, a migration that changed the social character of the city. According to the foremost historian of this development, "Unity of social feeling was one of the most valuable heritages of old Edinburgh, and its disappearance was widely and properly lamented."(our tour bus ride took us through part of it New town built by the well to do to get away from the overcrowding and disease of old town.) Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town are now jointly listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The city has long been known abroad as a centre of education, particularly the fields of medicine, Scots law, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2014. The city is also famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe, the latter being the largest annual international arts festival in the world. In 2004 Edinburgh became the world's first UNESCO City of Literature, an accolade awarded in recognition of its literary heritage and lively literary activities in the present.
They dropped us off at Edinburgh Castle with instructions on where to be to be picked up at 530 sharp or we would could catch a city bus or taxi back if we missed the tour bus.
The Castle is lovely perched high up on the hill with the royal mile between it and Holyrood castle where Queen Mary of scots lived.Some more interesting history talks by Shonagh as we entered and walked up the road within the castle walls and she left us in the courtyard to make our own way around the interior of the castle and then Edinburgh. It was lovely all that history put into perspective.
We saw Margaret’s chapel and Margie could join the saint Margaret society as her name is Margaret. It is a lovely little chapel that is said to be haunted. oooooo.
We saw the crown jewels and were a little disappointed as they consisted of a couple of sceptres and only three crowns. Very pretty crowns granted, but still only three. Once we were finished looking at the castle as much as we wanted, we wandered down the hill and out of the castle onto the royal mile which is a mile long road of souvenir shops, cafes, churches and tours of different sorts. Haunted Edinburgh, drinking Edinburgh, underground Edinburgh. We opted for the historical and underground Edinburgh. 
After nearly three centuries of unitary government, a measure of self-government returned in the shape of the devolved Scottish Parliament (we saw that building by the Holyrood castle) which officially opened in Edinburgh in 1999. (they were having an election in september this year to decide whether or no to leave Great Britain or stay status quo. Huge conversations over there… turned out that they voted to stay but only by the narrowest margin)
Needless to say there was lots to see in Edinburgh
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