Edinburgh - Old Town and New Town

Edinburgh - Old Town and New Town

11 Nelson St - with the blue door

Our third morning started of the Northern adventure on the very top floor of a 5-storey house in New Town in Edinburgh. Our next B&B at ’11 Nelson St’ was a lovely and large town house occupying the top 2 floors. We were at first very confused. We entered the flat through a door that had only 2 names on the front - and was right next door to the others on either side (we could have leaned over the railings and knocked on their doors instead just about). In the door we had the choice only of immediately up the stairs or down. It wasn’t till we’d climbed 4 floors that we came to a single door - and at this level we found both of the 2 doors advertised at the front. This meant that the 2 flats entering by this door occupied only the 4th and 5th floors. The people occupying the 1st, 2nd and 3rd must have entered by the doors on either side of the street facing front door. Neither of us had ever come across such a complicated way of arranging apartments, and it occupied much of the breakfast conversation between us the next morning as to how they must all be laid out. 

The beautiful wallpaper in the bathroom 

The top of the stairs

11 Nelson Street was beautiful, however, the rooms large, ceilings high, wallpaper stunning and art quite interesting. When we arrived they were in the process of switching the dinning room and lounge rooms (something Mum used to delight in doing when Dad went out - so he would come how to find the house completely swapped over and all of us behaving as if everything were normal). We breakfasted in what had been the lounge, which made for an extremely spacious and rather grand dinning room, and I am determined to have similarly large rooms in any house I build in the future. 

Edinburgh Castle

We ventured from New Town to Old Town on foot, passing the Old Mound, and gaining an excellent view of the castle on the way up (and a good appreciation of the exhaustion of any attacking army at trying to ascend the hill - although we weren’t wearing any armour). Lonely Planet had recommended a walk through Old Town that seemed to assume that everyone would be staying at the foot of Edinburgh Castle. By the time we had huffed our way to the top of the walk we realized that the Castle was in fact only 50m to our right, and that the walk proposed to take us back down to the bottom of the hill again (and have us then ascend the hill to the Castle). We decided to abandon the suggested walk and head instead to the Castle. 

The view form the castle forecourt

The views of Edinburgh from the Castle are pretty spectacular, and you can see how tribes in the Bronze Age would have chosen it as a place of protection (although windy). We arrived just in time for a tour and so wound our way to the top with the assistance of a lovely Scotch guide who explained interesting details of the various previous uses of the castle, and the history of its defenses. The castle is still used today by the Army, and so we saw some chilly looking men wandering around the castle in their ceremonial uniforms (kilts!) who were apparently going through some sort of graduation ceremony. After a walk through the great hall, a peek at the Scottish royal jewels and a quick lunch, we descended the castle hill to the sound of the bagpipes being played and caught in the wind. Our timing was excellent. 

The steep ascent for any attackers

One interesting part of our tour was the very recently returned Stone of Destiny. It had been the cube of stone on which all Scottish kings had been crowned for 400 years until Edward I conquered the north, stealing the stone and taking it down to London. It formed part of the ceremonial chair in Westminster used to crown the kings and queens of England (and Scotland since James I of England and VI of Scotland) for the last 700 years. Only recently did the current Queen decide that it ought to be returned to Scotland (on the promise that it be returned when the time comes for the next coronation).

Tony preaparing to wander the city on his own

Tony spent the afternoon exploring the Old Town on his own while I curled up in our room suffering the effects of the ‘Edinburgh Epidemic’ of gastro bugs apparently sweeping the city. Much rest would be needed for my birthday the following day.