Day 34 - Edinburgh Castle & Victoria Street
Last day in Edinburgh
July 25, 2023: We heard about Edinburgh Castle from Matt and Julie as well as from Sara fron our eating and walking tour. It is a large castle, so we did the skip-the-line tour with a guide. His name was Allister and he was very knowledgeable with a degree in English Literature from Edinburgh University. He also majored in history and medieval studies so he knew quite a bit about Scotland’s history and the castle. Some fun facts about Edinburgh Castle: 1) The castle, with its excellent defensive position sits on an extinct volcano. The hill it is built on is known as Castle Rock, a volcanic plug that was formed following an eruption more than 340 million years ago; 2) Edinburgh Castle is the most besieged castle in Great Britain that was attacked 23 times throughout its history. During the Jacobite Risings in the 17th and 18th centuries, the control of the castle switched back and forth several times between the British and the Scottish. The last siege of the castle took place in 1745; 3) In 1457, the Mons Meg, one of the most powerful medieval cannons ever made was given to King James II. Today it is considered to be the best preserved medieval gun in Europe; 4) Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI in the Royal Palace in 1566. He became the King of Scotland at 13 months old and united the crowns of Scotland and England; 5) During WWII, the Crown of Scotland was hidden from the enemy in David’s Tower, buried in a medieval latrine closet. They are on display in the Crown Room and are considered to be the oldest Crown Jewels in Britain that were made for James the V, who first wore them at the coronation of Queen Mary of Guise in 1540; and 6) Grim events are scattered across Scotland’s history, with one of the most chilling being the murder of the young earl of Douglas and his brother at the Black Dinner in November 1440. This dark event was said to be the inspiration for the infamous ‘Red Wedding’ in the Game of Thrones. If you want to learn more about this event, you can read about it at this link.
After the castle, we checked into the Apex Grassmarket hotel and made use of their pool and sauna. It was nice to sooth our tired bones! We were re-energized and headed out to do some shopping in the Grassmarket area and Victoria Street. Victoria Street was the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. In fact, Edinburgh is where JK Rowling was living while working on the first books of the series - as well as where she finished the last pages of the final one at Balmoral Hotel. Museum Context is one of the most famous Harry Potter shops in Edinburgh. It has three levels of various items for sale. This building used to be home to Robert Cresser’s brush shop which was established in 1873. Today, many believe it was the inspiration for Ollivander’s Wand Shop.
We had dinner at Howie’s on Victoria Street. It had great reviews so we thought we would give it a try. Jimm had more haggis as a starter and we both had our first steaks of the trip and a nice bottle of wine. Our flight to Oslo was early the next morning, so we headed back after dinner to finish our packing in preparation of leaving Edinburgh. We will definitely be back to explore more of this beautiful area.
Jimm’s rating for the day: ****