Primavera a Venezia: Exploring Edinburgh

Waking up to a Saturday morning in Edinburgh! The weather looked great and we had plans to visit the Castle on the 'mount' of the City. We drifted in for breakfast around 9:00 and were surprised at how busy it was. We thought we might be a bit late.......but not the case. It was a great combination of ordering off the menu and a great buffet. As usual we probably ate too much!

We gathered our energy back in the room briefly and headed out. We were really not sure what the best way would be to get there. We were within walking distance, but it was mostly uphill......significantly. We were feeling pretty good about tackling the walk, so decided to give it a try. The first 10 minutes was great......a very nice walk through a park past some museums and monuments. Then the trek got serious with several major sets of stairs. We took them slowly and rested often........but there was no escaping the fact that it was a major climb! We never could have done this without a few weeks of training in Venice!

The Castle was a lot of fun.......but it was also fairly crowded due to a sunny Saturday! Lots of fun and very informative. Nice to have the good weather continue! Lots of photos to show today!

ST. GILES CATHEDRAL EDINBURGH

What a surprise this church was. We were wondering back towards the hotel on the Royal Mile and decided to stop and take a look. It was really breathtaking.

St Giles’ Cathedral, founded in 1124 by King David I, has been a working church for almost 900 years. A backdrop to Scotland’s turbulent religious history, it has seen the seeds of civil war sown and been John Knox’s parish church during the Reformation. It is still an important centre for civic services such as the Kirking of the Parliament and services for Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle.