Edinburgh: The Castle

Edinburgh Royal Castle, aptly located on Castle Rock, commands the city of Edinburgh. From the 12th Century it has stood over the town, serving both as a royal residence and a military barracks and undergoing several battles and rebuilds along the way. Today it's Scotland's biggest tourist attraction.

The Castle really does sit at the top end of town.

We arrived on a fine sunny morning right on opening time to help dodge the crowds. From the castle the view over the city was perfect. As the builders intended you can see for miles.

Inside the castle, like the Tower of London, you can find a village in miniature with rooms for the soldiers still using the castle as a military base.

The oldest building in the castle (and all of Edinburgh) is St Margaret's Chapel dating from the 12th century. It's still in use today for prayers and (small) weddings.

Near the chapel the famous gun Mons Meg was on display.

At the heart of the castle is Crown square. Around the square you can find the Royal Palace, the Great Hall and the Scottish War Memorial. The Palace contains the Scottish Crown Jewels (like the English ones they can't be photographed). The Great Hall where feasts used to be held contains a great display of weaponry and also features beautiful windows and a famous wooden roof (one of the oldest of it's type in Scotland). The War Memorial is fairly sombre. Books around the walls contain the names of the fallen from wars covering the last 100 years since WW1.

We had a quick look at the Scottish National War Museum and then watched the firing of the One O'Clock gun before we departed.

After our trip around the castle we skipped lunch in favour of early afternoon tea. It was a tough decision...

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