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Wednesday 18 May, by bus through Edinburgh

Scotland 2005 - part XV

Elisabeth & Teije
2006-08-27 10:35:46

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After a nice breakfast we start walking towards the castle. We have already bought tickets for the 4 touristic busses that drive through Edinburgh on several routes, so we don't have to climb today. Our first tour brings us through the streets of the old town where we walked yesterday and we get out at Princess Street near the train station. Ann enthousiastic bagpiper is standing before the Scott monument and when we come around here again a few hours later, he is still there.

A visit to the tourist office doesn't give us any more information on the city than we already have, so it is time to have a coffee and read the paper. In Dutch Elisabeth's name is Lies, but you can understand why we call her Elisabeth on the English part of this website! Otherwise she would be in great trouble, as the headline of this paper says!

We have tickets for the Grand Tour Edinburgh, so we can take any of the busses of City Sightseeing, Edinburgh Tour, MacTour and Majestic Tour for the next 24 hours. Every tour visits a part of the old town, but some go further away from the center so we see more of Edinburgh this way.

One tour (Majestic) brings us to the botanical gardens of Edinburgh with also the highest palmtree of the UK. But it will be cut down in a few years since it has reached the roof which cannot be heightened further. Aftert that we go off the bus at the harbour where we can visit the Royal Yacht Britannia, another top attractions of Scotland. Personally, we don't really think it is worth viviting, but at least we have seen this part of the town now.

Back in the old town we sit on top of the open bus and see things on the houses in the Royal Mile that we missed yesterday when we walked here. It is a bit warmer than the last two days but still very cold on top of the bus. We must think of the time we took a bus tour like this through London at Christmas when we were really freezing and promised ourselves never to do such a thing again...

There are so many interesting places and buildings in Edinburgh that it is better to read a travel guide about it than that we mention them all here. For us the conclusion of this city tour is clear: we like Edinburgh very much and Glasgow is just not our sort of city.

The itinerary of the MacTour bus goes to the northwest of the city and shows us another part with lots of monuments, nice buildings and a view on Fife on the other side of the Firth of Forth, for a long time a kingdom, the only one in Scotland that wasn't conquered by the Normans. Now it is a paradise for golfers, we are told.

We have seen a lot today, like yesterday, but for some reason it is easier to remember and describe everything when we walk. Maybe it is because we got a lot of information in a short time and from a bus you only see things for a short time. We got out of the bus several times to visit some places but for some reason it is more fleeting. And maybe are having a sort of 'holiday tiredness'. Tomorrow we have to leave again and we are maybe preparing for that, mentally. Near the castle we get off for the last time and quickly make a picture of the Outlook Tower before we seek a dry and warm restaurant to get warm and have some food.
A last photograph of the castle when we walk underneath it, on our way back to the hotel. It started raining on the last bus tour and now it rains constantly, so we are glad when we reach our hotel after 20 minutes and turn on the heater in our room. Still, it was another rewarding day.
Now it is time to pack up our backs and turn in early since the alarm will wake us at 6 o'clock!