On our first full day in Scotland, we toured that big old castle on the hill, Edinburgh Castle. It wasn't a single solid structure like I thought—we were out in courtyards a lot of the time. It's an amazingly old and cool place, and the views of Edinburgh and the sea are the best.
Walking into the castle grounds (the castle keep?)...
I liked how the castle was built right into the hill. You can see why they would have done that. Defense!
It was built on an extinct volcano, and the hilltop has been fortified in some way since 900 BC! 😮
Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to the future king (James the Sixth, oops, I mean James VI) in this castle.
Codpieces make me giggle. 😄
I would have enjoyed adding one of these royal bears to my souvenir teddy bear collection, which is currently somewhere in a box, but I didn't have the luggage space for it, so I settled for taking a picture instead.
This armory was pretty cool. There was way more to it than this.
The view 😍
St. Margaret's Chapel is the oldest building on the castle grounds. It dates back to the 1100s.
Hiiii!
We ate lunch in a cafe there. (I personally think they should name it the Castle Cafe. 😄) My salmon, salad, and lemonade were very good. The millionaire's shortbread in Scotland is delicious and was my favorite dessert over there.
The castle has various museums that we toured. Here is one picture:
War libraries!
At 1:00 every day, there's a cannon shot that lots of people gather for. It was a historic practice that helped ships set their time.
More pretty views 😍😍
This cathedral was stunning and dramatic every time I saw it!
Touring Edinburgh Castle was one of my favorite things we did on the trip. It was my first European castle, but not my last. There was a castle (and a palace) that we saw a few days later that I liked even more. Stay tuned!
