Rose early for breakfast and then met our driver and guide for a trip to the Roselynn Chapel. Built in the 1400’s this gothic style church was intended to be a huge cathedral, but construction ended with just the small chapel that is there today. It had fallen into disrepair for many years until Queen Victoria fell in love with it and restoration was started. Conservation really took off when it was made famous in the Dan Brown story “The Davinci Code”. Tom Hanks was not there.
We then returned to the city and stopped at Calton Hill, overlooking Edinburg. While there are beautiful views of the city from here, there are also several monuments. One in particular, The National Monument of Scotland, a set of Grecian columns is a memorial to the Scottish soldiers and sailors who died fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. It was left unfinished and as such it is referred to as Edinburgh’s Disgrace. Next to the National Monument is the towering Nelson’s monument.
From Calton Hill we drove into the city and were let off at the head of Victoria Street. It is said this street was the inspiration for Digone ally in the Harry Potter series.
From here we stopped at the National Museum of Scotland for
a look around. We continued our exploration of the city walking to the “Royal
Mile” where there were several street performers associated with the Fringe
festival that goes on through August throughout the City.
Our next stop was the National Gallery and a look at the “Monarch of the Glenn”.
We continued our walk ending at our hotel for a rest before dinner at The Kitchen where we had a 5 course tasting menue that included Grouse, the first of the sesason!