Day 3 - Holyrood, Leith and the Royal Mile

It has been cooler and more cloudy today.  We had a lay in this morning and then went down for breakfast.  We are staying in a Wetherspoons hotel so I had my favourite of Mushroom Benedict.  Our room is very spacious and clean.  We have the same mugs in the room that they use for their unlimited hot drinks and we can go down anytime the pub is open to get a complimentary drink from the machine.  This is very useful because I can get hot chocolate 

We first made our way to Leith which is a port town.  The bus was diverted from its normal route as one of the main streets is shut off for road repairs so we got a good tour around the town.  It looks to be quite a lively area with lots of restaurants and cafes.  We went  to see the Royal Yacht Brittania.  We saw the front of it from the viewing platform but there was nowhere to see it side on as it is moored alongside a massive shopping centre in a small bay that only has industrial sites and no paths to walk around.  The best place to see it would have been from the cruise ship that was docked a little way out with tender vessels ferrying passengers to the terminal.  

 
Royal Yacht Brittania

 
Herring Gull who perched very close to us at the viewing area

We then made our way up to St Andrews House, the seat of the Scottish Government, and then to the Palace of Holyrood and the very modern Scottish Parliament building, first used in 2004. The Palace of Holyrood is the official residence of the Royal family in Scotland.

 
St Andrews House, seat of Scottish Government.  
The offices of the First Minister and deputy First Minister are here.

 
Monument to the poet Robbie Burns

 
 
Scottish Parliament Building at Holyrood

 
Scottish Parliament Building at Holyrood

 
The Palace of Holyrood

 
The Kings Gallery (recently renamed from the Queens Gallery)


We had our picnic lunch in a sensory garden near the palace before walking back to the city along the Royal Mile and through the eastern part of Princes Gardens.  We expected the gardens to be more colourful but there are no flowerbeds and little colour except for the Rhododendrons and Azaleas.

 
Sensory Garden at Holyrood

 
 
One of the "Closes" on the Royal Mile

 
One of the "Closes" on the Royal Mile

 
Looking up the Royal Mile

 
Museum of Edinburgh, Royal Mile

 
White Horse Close on the Royal Mile

 
At the end of White Horse Close

 
Azaleas at Princes Street Gardens, East

 
Walter Scott momument from Princes Street Gardens East

 

 
Sir Walter Scott monument

 
Livingstone statue with Scott monument behind.

We tried to find a cafe but they were all full and had people waiting for tables to become free so we got the bus back to the hotel, retrieved our mugs and had a coffee in the pub instead.

We cant use our bus passes in Scotland but Edinburgh buses do have a good system whereby if you pay for your trips with a single contactless card, you will be charged a maximum of £5 per day. 

After a rest at the hotel we took a walk around Corstophine, the district of Edinburgh that our hotel is in.  We are on one of the main roads into Edinburgh and there are a lot of hotels along this road.  We saw signs to a heritage walk around the Old Village of Corstophine.  It was very nearby but very different to where we are staying.  There was a heritage centre, park, pub, library and church all within a small area where the old houses were made of stone.  The pub has a restaurant and we have booked to eat there tomorrow evening.  

 
Corstophine Heritage Centre in St Margarets Park

 
Village Pub

 
Houses in Corstophine village

 

 
Corstophine Church



 

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