The Ecomodern Nomad: Exploring Edinburgh Castle

Good evening again, good evening :)

Its 10 pm here in Glasgow, I'm on my fifth cup of English Breakfast, and I'm finally ready to write. I find that I can't write until I'm mildly tired and the inspiration slaps me RIGHT in the face to write about my day. Sorry about the delay, everyone. This post will be about the day I visited Edinburgh castle last week!

So the day started out beautifully with a little gander over to the money machine. Man, I find it a miracle when my cards work properly when I'm abroad. I feel like no matter what I do, every time I go somewhere (even if I call ahead and give the poor bank a travel-banking interview before I leave), things go awry. But my bank card actually worked properly today!

So that was the first lovely victory of the day. The second lovely victory was finally being able to buy handmade Scottish goods at the Edinburgh International Festival. There's one particular place I really wanted to buy things since the day after I got here, which was a small kiosk selling natural skincare products (I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff). One thing a lot of people don't think to do when they're switching over to a more green lifestyle is the use of every day bath products, like soaps, creams, and oils. I'm not one to wear makeup (as you may have noticed already), but I absolutely love bath products and soaps of all kinds (I have like 1000 soaps and creams at home). So, here we are. More eco-friendly soap, cream and lipbalms for Kaella.

An essential oil blend that I bought for my grandma. Made in Edinburgh!

Anyway, after hitting up the Edinburgh International Festival for the 9128731th time (this festival is taking over the city, I swear!), we walked up to the old town and went into the Edinburgh Castle.

Upon entering, I was hit with another wave of that weird feeling I get when I think about the stories that the bricks have seen. Sounds strange I know, but what I wouldn't do for some sort of magical power where I could touch something and see/hear what it has seen/heard. Wouldn't that be crazy? This place absolutely dominates the city. It is the old regal lady of Edinburgh. She sees all and knows all.

In front of the Edinburgh castle, Edinburgh does shows of the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo in a large stadium.

First glimpse of the castle. :)

When we walked through the portcullis defensive gates into the lower level of the castle (there are three levels), we were greeted by a tour gudie who led us through the main parts of the castle and treated us to a wonderfully succinct description of what has happened in each of the areas and how each area came to be what it is today. I was impressed by this tour guides immense knowledge of the area.

The port cullis you pass through to get into the castle!

Our tour guide's name was Ewen. A very Scottish name. He really knew a lot about the area.

This palace is where the Crown Jewels (the scepter, the crown, the sword, and the rock of destiny, which I thought was interesting)

See that little black hole on the right? Apparently the crown jewels were hidden back there a little while ago when Scotland thought war was going to be declared on them. They were hidden for a few years until it was finally determined that there would be no war.

Entrance to see the Crown Jewels!

The inside of this place gives a long history of the jewels before you get to see them, from when they were made right up to how they were presented to the Monarch.

This was in the room just before the chamber where the jewels are kept.

Pictures of the memorial and the Crown Jewels was strictly prohibited, so I won't include pictures of them here. They were pretty gaudy though, as was to be expected.

I think it was proper not to have people taking photos, especially in the memorial. The memorial was built recently, in the mid 1900s after the World Wars to commemorate Scottish contributions to freedom for Scotland. It was really beautiful, and all the messages in the memorial were heartfelt. I thought it was brilliantly designed.

So, I will skip on to photos of the palace. Royal people lived here.

I thought these doors were kinda lovely. Old fashioned.

Apparently this small chamber was the room where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to her son, James VI, who became the king of Scotland.

Nice view of the old town from out the window of the chamber.

This was the outside of the Scottish war memorial.

The sqaure area of the highest level of the castle grounds. I thought it was beautiful here.

The great hall was used as a regular great hall until it was converted into barracks for a short time, and then turned back into a great hall.

It was very ornate. And there were a lot of antique war objects.

This was one of my favourite parts! :D

The soup was delicious. And you know me and tea. One of my favourite things about the UK is the afternoon tea culture. Theres usually a three tiered plate you can order with assorted sandwiches, cakes and other desserts, and it comes with a pot of tea. I typically order a pot of tea for 3 people because... I will drink the entire pot myself (don't judge).

This was my other favourite area of the castle. It is St. Margarets Chapel, built in the 1100s. Can you believe that? And its STILL THERE. Its a non denominational chapel, and anyone is free to use it apparently. People still get married in that tiny chapel.

This is a royal dog cemetery. Dogs were given as royal gifts back in those times.

This is Meg. She is the biggest cannon on site.

Meg's cannon balls.

I loved the sign telling people to respect old Meg. Shes a feisty old woman.

Going into St. Margarets! It was so small. You could only fit about 20 people in there, and even then it would be cramped.

Beautiful stained glass windows of St. Margarets.

That building behind me is a royal residence. It is used by the Governor of Scotland, who traditionally is a retired and decorated governor of the Scottish Military Tattoo.

Let me just talk about this picture for a minute. The Scottish people LOVE their dogs. There are treats for dogs everywhere. Which is good with me because I am also a crazy dog lady. I actually found a beautiful tweet coat and tie for my dog. There's a plethora of other things you can buy for your dog here.

Inside the weaving factory store! The wool and cashmere here is absolutely beautiful.

A selection of dog jackets and scarves (pretty normal in Scotland).

I bought myself one of these blankets. They're so warm.

Being lazy with my new blanket.

A huge loom. You can hire professionals to weave your tartan here.

Outside of the weaving mill.

Another street performer we came across. He was great, in my opinion. The Edinburgh festival was still in full swing when we visited the castle and the weaving mill.