The Royal Treatment, Our Ireland and Scotland Journey, Part 8

Day 9 

Breakfast.  Judging by our hotel in Edinburgh  Kim and I both prefer the Irish breakfast.  However there's not a huge difference.  It may just be how the hotel handles it.  We'll see over the next few days.

Our plan for the day was to head to Calton Hill first to see the Nelson Monument and city view, and then proceed across the street to the reformers' monument.  From there it made sense to head downhill to the Royal Mile and Holyrood Palace before slowly making our way uphill for 12:30 entrance to Edinburgh Castle and 2:00 tea.

Here we go. 

Calton Hill View

From the very beginning Kim was having pain in her right foot from another bone spur.  For the most part one couldn't tell it.  She was a real trooper, following me around the city to the tune of about 18,000 steps today.

We got to Calton Hill and it started to rain some so I primarily snapped some phone pics of the view and of the Nelson Monument (that's Admiral Lord Nelson to you) and we moved on. 

Nelson Monument

It was windy and cold on top of the hill.  View of the city was nice but a bit dull with the rain and low clouds.

On to the local reformers' monument.  

My bad.  I'm telling on myself here.  The nearby monument, called the “Martyrs of Reform Monument”,  was actually a monument for some political reformers, not religious reformers.  It's also called the Political Reformers' Monument.  Now I know.  It was raining.  I took no pictures.  However, within just a few feet of this monument was another one I was quite surprised to see, The American Civil War Memorial, dedicated to Scots who died in The Civil War.  Pretty cool.

Civil War Memorial

I got my head around being wrong about the monument, did some quick research, and located the right monument near Greyfriar's Kirkyard, already on my list to see so that was good.

We hit The Royal Mile just downhill from Mercat Cross and St. Giles' Cathedral

John Knox House

which was just right (see previous day) and shortly came upon the last residence of reformer John Knox.  We didn't actually take the house tour but ducked (literally for me) into the visitor centre briefly to read some information.  Apparently he lived there for about the last 18 months of his life.

On to Holyrood Palace.  The exterior of the building was nice but not special.  I'm fairly certain that Kim liked the china in the gift shop more than anything

Holyrood Palace

else there.  With a long walk to the other end of The Royal Mile ahead of us, all uphill, and Kim having foot issues we decided to skip the palace tour so we had more time to slowly walk uphill.  And Kim wanted to shop some.

So we walked the Royal Mile to Edinburgh Castle.  More-or-less.


We did take a detour to Greyfriars Kirkyard and the other reformer’s monument,

called the Covenanters’ Memorial, in The Grassmarket.  Also in Greyfriars

Covenanters' Prison

Kirkyard is the Martyrs' Memorial which commemorates some 18,000 covenanters who died for their faith.  Unfortunately it's under much-needed repair and we couldn't view it.  Also, Greyfriars Kirk was closed for the day for a recording session.  

Also on the grounds of Greyfriars Kirkyard is the "prison" for the covenantors, essentially a walled and gated area where up to 1,000 of them were kept at the same time with no shelter and only 4 ounces of bread per day each.

The Covenanters' Memorial is located in the Grassmarket, a former marketplace and an open area where the public gallows were located and where many covenanters were executed in the 17th century.  It is a very simple memorial with a circular inscription that reads:

"Many Martyrs and Covenanters died for the Protestant Faith on this spot"

It was a special moment.  Reading that inscription and standing there suddenly made their sacrifice more real than just reading about it.  Kim and I both had this visceral reaction and were quite emotional for some time.

Some song lyrics come to mind here from a Steven Green song.

The chorus of The Faithful by Steve Green:

From under the altar the voices are crying

"How long Lord, till you come judge the earth?"

But He'll wrap and redeem them in robes of pure white

For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church

For the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church

Contrast this memorial (to over 100 covenanters who stood firm and were hanged for their beliefs) to the Sir Walter Scott Memorial on Princes Street (see yesterday's post), one man who wrote poetry and stories.  

I think the covenanters would approve of this memorial.

Back to The Royal Mile.

And bagpipes.  It's a little trite perhaps but still really cool to hear the bagpipes on the streets of Edinburgh.  Que the video. (eventually.  tech problem)

In front of Edinburgh Castle

From here we quickly climbed the hill to the open esplanade in front of Edinburgh Castle. 12:20.  Really good timing.

National War Museum

We explored the castle grounds. They are very large and complex.  Some great museums, The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum, Museum of The Royal Regiment for Scotland, and perhaps the most impressive thing and moving building we saw, The National War Museum, a memorial for WWI.  What a great memorial.  Super.  Also the Great Hall and the Royal Palace.  There's a ton to see.

With one eye on the time, we headed over to have 2:00 tea in the tea room just off the castle's square.  I think Kim liked it.  You'll have to ask her.

After our tea we walked back to our hotel with a slight detour to Princes St. Gardens for a view of the castle.

After a quick break in our room we tried to eat at a local restaurant and it was packed.  Grabbed food in a store again.

Started packing to leave the city in the morning.

Game over.  

Both of us were beat.  

Foot sore.  

But it was a great day. 


Randy