City Views

Today we planned to hike up to Arthur's Seat, which sits 251 meters (823 ft) above sea level and at the eastern end of the City. We walked to the eastern end of the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace- formally the Palace of Holyroodhouse- and, since the 16th century, the monarch's official residence when in Scotland. For those of us who know most of our British royals history from The Crown, Balmoral Castle, also in Scotland, is about 100 miles north and is a private property of the royal family. The Queen spent time at both places in Scotland: Holyrood was used for formal state occasions. 



We didn't plan to go in for a tour, a good thing because it was closed because some royal with about 8 words in his or her title is staying there today. Had we been able to go in, we could have seen Mary, Queen of Scots bedroom from 1566. The Palace name dates back to 1128 when King David of Scotland, hunting in the woods below Arthur's Seat had a vision of a stag with a cross (known as a 'rood') above its antlers and decided to build an abbey at the site. The ruins of the abbey are still standing behind the palace.

 

Holyrood Park sits behind the palace and includes the grassy and rocky slopes up to Arthur's Seat, the highest point in the park and the actual ancient volcano that formed the other high rock outcrops across Edinburgh. My limited internet research suggests there is no consensus for where the name comes from. On the way up to the summit, we passed near the ruins of St. Anthony's Chapel.


Jen on her way up the path to the chapel
 

The views on the way up were beautiful: green meadow grasses, reddish black exposed basalt, and a yellow plant called gorse that smells like coconut! 

 


After a strenuous for some (i.e. me) walk, we reached the summit. Wow!!


View to the Firth of Forth which connects Edinburgh to the North Sea



The trip down was a lot slower and a little dicey for some (i.e. me again!), but so worth it! Back on level land, we were ready for our first pub stop and then a few more stops later on. Today's our last day in Edinburgh, and it was a great way to spend it!

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