Day Seventeen Part One: Edinburgh Castle

On this our final day in Scotland we spent most of the day in Edinburgh castle. It was absolutely fascinating, and within the castle walls there were an additional three museums to see, so we could have spent even more time there than we actually did.

It was a lovely, sunny day, if a little cold, and the approach to the craggy castle on the hill was simply spectacular.

Castles in general seem to offer such spectacular picture taking opportunities that it is almost impossible to stop oneself, in fact, taking pictures there is half the fun.  (This is why I hit on my 'special feature' idea, so those of you less addicted to pictures can skip right over yet more pictures of the same monument/location/castle etc.). You enter first through this main gate below, and then through an additional portcullis that Richard is standing in front of.

Like most medieval castles, Edinburgh is built so that you have to pass through a series of gates and various defenses that can be sealed off one at a time during attack, requiring fewer and fewer men to defend successfully, up until you reach the stone tower that houses the primary apartments of the king/queen/ruler. Most seiges tend to end before this point, due to starvation, disease, and common-sense surrenders. Once past this gate, there is a narrow staircase that shortcuts you up to the main courtyard where the royal quarters are located, or you can take the long way around.

Being as how we were castle sightseeing, we took the long winding way around.  Stopping to take pictures of the view, peer down the famous well that enabled the castle to once endure a 5 year seige, and play with the cannons.

Richards favorite was Mons Meg, a gigantic 15th century seige canon gifted to the Duke of Burgundy by King James II.  It weighs 6 tons and fires 330 lb stone balls.

On the way to the top you also saw the absolutely beautiful stone structure that was erected within the castle walls to honor the soldiers of WWII, as well as the consquent armed conflicts.  It was breathtakingly beautiful inside as well, but photographs were not allowed inside.I look a little ethnic because I was FREEZING to death.

Across from this memorial is a small stone building known as St. Margaret's chapel. It is the oldest structure in the Edinburgh Castle complex, erected in the 12th century by King David I, who named it for his mother, a devoutly religious woman who had died in Edinburgh castle in 1093.  It's kind of amazing that it's still standing, having served as a gunpowder storage room at one point after it had fallen into disuse. Richard and I made sure we took the chance to touch the wall, as we definitely don't have any structures that old back in the States! 

 Finally reaching the top of the hill and the castle complex, you came into the courtyard of the buildings that housed the royal quarters, which today house the Scottish crown jewels. (Also no photography allowed).  There are some pretty crazy stories about how the regalia was preserved and passed down to this day, including various women sneaking pieces of it out of the castle in their skirts and corsets.

They had lots of interesting displays that included wax figures of Mary Queen of Scots, who was apparently almost 6 feet tall! This in an era where the average male height was 5'6"!

We also went into the main banqueting hall, where we were treated to a demonstration by an 'executioner' of all the various unpleasant ways they used to kill and maim those convicted of various crimes. Aside from the gruesome description of drawing and quartering, I found it interesting that using an axe to chop off someones head usually required multiple strokes as well as some chopping and sawing to fully sever the head. Yick! And, well, no wonder the French revolutionists publicized their new 'guillotine' as a remarkably humane way to die!

After the demonstration we had some more picture-taking fun inside the great banqueting hall, which had some very interesting displays of weapons, as wells as weapons used as decor. (see pictures below).  The high wooden beams that arched across the ceiling to support the weight of the roof are actually original to the castle, still holding strong after hundreds of years.

 Winding your way back down from the royal residences at the top of the castle you had the opportunity to walk through more castle structures that used to house the prisons. The prisons were at the height of their use during the Napoleonic wars, and held mostly French sailors.  However, there was a good contingent of American prisoners of war from England's conflict with the rebellious colony across the Atlantic. Unfortunately for them, they didn't get nearly as good of treatment, as they were considered prisoners and traitors, rather than actual prisoners of war, and thus were not eligible for exchange and other benefits.  Below are pictures of the recreated prisons as they might have looked during that time. This mini museum was especially fascinating because they had conversations playing over hidden speakers as you toured the museum of the soldiers conversing amongst themselves, with guards, with doctors etc. etc. (obviously re-enacted conversations) based on journals and letters of the inmates and the castle soldiers. Edinburgh castle was eventually discontinued for use as a prison because it proved embarrassingly easy to break out of, with several fairly significant escapes.  

Coming out of the prison there were some more spectacular castle-ish buildings, as well as some really nifty museums.  We especially enjoyed the seeing the ACTUAL French standard and golden eagle captured from Napoleon, as well as a captured German standard bearing the Nazi Swastika. 

All in all it was very difficult to tear ourselves away from the castle, but there was still so much we wanted to see and do in Edinburgh before we had to catch our evening train back to London! See Day Seventeen Part Two to hear about the rest of the day, and Special Feature: Edinburgh Castle for yet more pictures of this fascinating location.