Edinburgh

We flew straight from Dublin to Edinburgh, which is the capital of Scotland, and I have to say, both Jordan and I were pleasantly surprised. If you would have asked me a month ago, I would have thought I would have liked Ireland much more than Scotland, but it turned out the opposite!

Edinburgh is such a majestic city with so much character. The Edinburgh Castle sits on top of a big hill overlooking the entire city. Actually, it's almost as if there are two cities in one because the castle and all of the older, more historical-looking buildings and shops are up on the hill (which is called "The Royal Mile"), and then down below in the valley are the more modern buildings and shops that make up the city.

This is up near the castle where the Royal Mile actually begins. It is a full mile from the top to the bottom, hence the name. :)

The first thing we did when we got to Edinburgh was tour the castle. Out of all the castles we've seen so far, I think this one takes the cake, hands down! 

Here are a few shots from inside the castle walls...

Did I mention that the castle overlooks all of Edinburgh?! :) It is absolutely beautiful from up there, and as you can see, we had a gorgeous day!

Not only was it neat to see the castle itself, but there was loads of history about Scotland inside as well. Everything from Mary Queen of Scots, to the Crown Jewels of Scotland, to old war weapons...

A few reoccurring themes we continued to find in Scotland included: Scotch Whisky, West Highland Terriers (which is the same breed that our dog, Maggie, is!), a lot of kilts and bagpipes, and an undeniable pride in their national hero, William Wallace (aka: "Braveheart"). 

Yeah, apparently Braveheart and I are friends. Try not to be too jealous... :)

Here is a view of the "lower" part of the city of Edinburgh. The older buildings all had a gothic look to them, and they all looked charred or blackened, for lack of better words. We never found out what this was caused by, but it gave them a very historical and ancient look.

I simply could not get over how amazing the Edinburgh Castle was. It is literally built into the mountain -- not kidding, it goes right from rock to the castle walls. Things like this and how they were possibly built actually hurt my brain to think about, so I prefer not to!

Here is a view looking up at the castle from a park down below.

Looking down into the city from a hillside near the Edinburgh Castle...

This is one of the main cathedrals in Edinburgh up on the Royal Mile, called St. Giles' Cathedral. The architecture is completely unique and absolutely stunning.

Our favorite thing to do while we were in Edinburgh was to grab a warm drink from Starbucks and just walk up and down the Royal Mile looking at different shops and sites. Let me tell you though, it was much more fun walking down than it was walking back up!

One of the days we were in Edinburgh, we decided to take a day tour to see Stirling Castle and Loch Lomond ("loch" means "lake" in Scotland). The lake was a little disappointing, but getting to see the Scottish Highlands and countryside on the way was so worth it! Our driver pulled over on one of the back roads, and we were able to get up close to these Scottish Highland Cows!

I love them! It's almost as if they are so ugly that they're cute!! :)

We finally arrived at Stirling Castle, which was definitely worth the trip. The castle was kind of similar to the Edinburgh Castle since it was built up on a hill overlooking the whole countryside. William Wallace actually fought here to defend the castle, so it was neat to see all that Scottish history.

Either Scottish people back in the day were short, or I am HUGE!! I'm hoping they were short...

I love this picture of Jordan looking out over the castle walls into the countryside. 

I fell in love with this tree that was inside the castle walls in one of the gardens. 

On our last day in Edinburgh, we decided to hike up one of the main hillsides at the end of the Royal Mile overlooking the whole city. It was such a magnificent view!

All in all, we LOVED Edinburgh! To see all of our pictures from Edinburgh, click here.