Edinburgh Castle – Scotland

Edinburgh Castle - Scotland

Edinburgh castle is one of the most prominent edifices from Scotland. This famous castle is considered as an important national heritage of Scotland. This is situated at the heart of the Edinburgh city. This castle is built atop of a rock which is known as Castle rock (which is about 130 meter high from the sea level and formed due to the volcanic eruption). Although the area was occupied since the late bronze age, but most of the buildings from the castle are dated from the 12th century to modern time.

Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
View of the Edinburgh castle from the esplanade in front of it.

This Edinburgh castle is huge and offers lot of things to the visitors to explore. There are several galleries displaying different historical items. It should take around 3 hours to explore the castle. As most of the displays are indoor, that’s why even in a rainy day or in bad weather the castle could be a nice place to spend time with history. This castle requires an entry fee which is around 17 pound per adult. There uses to be a huge queue around the ticketing counters (which cost around 20-30 minutes). It is always better if you book the ticket from online so that you can beat the crowd.

Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
Edinburgh castle viewed from the roadside.

We have seen the Edinburgh castle several times from distance in last couple of days. But today we wanted to explore this magnificent castle. We started walking towards the castle from our hotel. It was a nice 10/15 minutes of walking around 11am in the morning. Then we had to wait in the ticket counter queue before entering the castle premise.

Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
Inside the premise of castle.

Despite of having a storm yesterday the sky was very bright and shiny. From the top of the castle the surrounding looked very beautiful, specially the Edinburgh city and the Scottish ocean. After having some pictures we’ve gone inside to explore the galleries. The galleries were having plenty of historical items like weapons, artefacts used by the soldiers, royal crown, diction of coronation, depiction of several wars, depiction of sandpipers and many mores.

Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
View of the castle premise from the top.

There are two sections for prisoners (one for the officers may be). I liked the normal prison where you could find how prisoners have spent their prison days in past. I could see the hammocks which used for sleeping. Also there were several artefacts which were used by the prisoners such as gaming dices, cards, etc. There was always an audio playing in background which was demonstrating the conversations of the prisoners (few were in French as well).

Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
A clock tower through other edifices. This building is known as royal palace.

From the top of the Edinburgh castle you’d be able to see the Aurther’s seat, Monuments of Calton hills, and the beautiful other edifices from Edinburgh. There is a cannon fire event happens at one o’clock everyday (except Sunday, good Friday, and Christmas day). We had a chance to observe the cannon firing. During that time all the visitors from the Edinburgh castle put their attention to that cannon fire event. But the event lasts only few seconds after the firing.

Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
Probably the buildings are stone-made, not sure!

Best time to visit Edinburgh Castle:

The good thing about the Edinburgh castle is that you don’t need any season for that as most of the activities would be indoor. Castle remains open for the visitors from 9:30am to 6:00pm everyday. If you buy the ticket from online then you’d save lot of time for the ticket counter queueing. Entry fee is 17 pound per person.

Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
You’d find lot of tourits taking their photos inside the castle premise.

Where to Stay in Edinburgh:

There are plenty of options around the Edinburgh city as a lot of tourists use to visit this city everyday. Look here for list of hotels from Edinburgh. I’ve stayed at the Ibis budget hotel for the first night, and Leonardo hotel for the next two nights.

Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
A nice Victorian walking path inside the Edinburgh castle premise.

Where to eat:

There is a nice restaurant available inside the Edinburgh castle. You could try that restaurant if you want. Also there are lot of other restaurants available outside the castle premise. I’ve tried some Indian spicy food from the outside as my lunch.

Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
Not sure what is the building is for, but it looks different than others.
Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
A nice look towards the building inside the castle premise.
Edinburgh Castle - Scotland
Probably a famous person riding a horse.
Edinburgh Castle during night
Far-sight view of Edinburgh castle during night.
An array of cannons are placed just after the entrance of Edinburgh castle. That’s why you’d find lot of visitors gather here for a long period.
View of the cannons inside the Edinburgh castle premise.
There is a regular cannon firing drill happens everyday at one o’clock using this cannon which event is one of the major attractions from the castle.
A cannon facing towards the Scottish ocean.
An old style cannon inside the Edinburgh castle. Hopefully it doesn’t function anymore these days!
View of the Calton hill monument over the cannons from Edinburgh castle.
This is the cannon that was used to do the firing during one o’clock.
A nice dome at the corner of the wall of Edinburgh castle.
View of the top of a lovely church nearby. We’ve visited that church later on.
A nice clock tower viewed from the Edinburgh castle.
Not sure what this building is. But the style and architecture of this was attractive.
Arthur’s seat is viewed from the Edinburgh castle. We didn’t climb the hill later (just went to the base of the hill).
Top portion of a church nearby.
View towards the esplanade and the buildings from the castle.
Beautiful Edinburgh city, Scottish ocean, and the Princes garden as seen from the castle.
Other corner of the Princes garden view from the castle.
sculpture Edinburgh castle
A nice sculpture made in the wall of a building inside the castle premise.
An eagle? probably known as Royal Scott sign.
Probably a famous saint depicted in the window of a chapel.
St Margaret depicted in the window of a chapel.
A wartime moment painted in a plate.
A dummy piper posed in front of the visitor information.
A wartime fight depicted with the dummy.
It was probably a famous war portrayed here. I forgot the exact event name.
Sword of an officer.
A leader with a majestic.
Probably it was written ‘a boy and the postman’.
A nice triple masted ship made by the prisoners.
These hammocks are for the prisoners.
The game objects which were used by the prisoners during their free time.
Few old guns are placed here around the round ring.
Regular soldier’s sword and the dress.
This is probably a knight’s sword and dress.
A nice depiction of coronation.
Some crown is carried by the people who are participating the coronation ceremony.
King James IV was accepting this present, probably.
Can’t remember what was this, but looked nice to me.
A blacksmith forging the weapon.
Not sure again, probably making weapon!
A dummy of a Royal crown in display.
Officer’s prison section.
A dress of a military official.
A statue of a horse in the cavalry gallery.

Edinburgh Castle,
Edinburgh,
Scotland,
United Kingdom,
GPS coordinate (55°56’55.0″N, 3°12’01.0″W)

This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://alonelytraveler.com/

Tuesday, 17 October 2017

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