Edinburgh
Castle
Home of the crown
jewels of Scotland
The castle commands a
spectacular view of Edinburgh. It
is not for certain when the hilltop was first used as a settlement but its use
is known to have predated the arrival of the Romans to Scotland.
Below, the Dog
Cemetery, where her MajestyÕs patriotic pooches were laid to rest
Here the walkway
through the castle is remarkably steep, highlighting the natural terrain of the
fortress.
Below is the chapel of
St. Margaret, where a wedding was being held. So, no pictures of inside the chapel folks, sorry. I hear that it is quite beautiful
inside. It has been dated as being
900 years old.
Below is a fireplace
in one of the buildings inside the castle. Check out the armor for scale (please pardon the
blurriness).
Below are stairs
leading down to the dungeon. This
shot was taken looking straight ahead, not much headroom at all.
Above is a re-created
portion of the dungeon, and below is the inside of one of the prison doors.
Yet, see below that
they have deciphered some of the carvings on the inside of the doors. Quite telling really, a lot of
revolutionary war soldiers were kept there and many pirates as well.
Like all grand
castles, it is armed with many cannon
Including a historic
one, called Mons Meg.
Made in Belgium, it
fired 330 lb. missiles over 2.5 miles!
It could only be fired 8-10 times a day.
All in all, an
impressive structure to behold.
The crown jewels can be seen there, but no pictures taken of them. You can learn more history there than
you will be able to take home with you.
