Edinburgh Castle

The city of Edinburgh lies just east of Glasgow. Buses leave from Glasgow to Edinburgh roughly every 15 to 20 minutes. Leaving by foot from the etap hotel from across the river, we caught the 9:15am bus in the city center. The ride was quick and upon entering the outskirts of the Edinburgh the views became intriguing as old structures from the past come into sight. These enduring relics litter our journey into the city center. I am teased with glimpses of all the history that Edinburgh has to offer. We arrived to Edinburgh just before lunch.

I asked a couple of smokers on break outside a nearby store. "Excuse me, do you know of any hostels near by?". The routine is by now second nature. Luckily one them knew of hostel of that sort. Europe has a ban on indoor smoking and because of that it has been extremely easy to find people to ask questions.

A short walk later we found Edinburgh Tourist City Hostel. For a 10 pounds a person we were able to have a 4 bed room to ourselves. Luckily enough there was a nearby wifi source which was open. This was incredibly good news as the internet has been difficult to come by recently. After dropping off our main bags we left to grab food and explore the city.

The hostel is located pretty much in the center of the city. Upon exiting the hostel, I was immediately able to see several historic buildings. Every direction I turned another uniquely distinct building towers up over the the other structures. The main attraction, Edinburgh Castle, is massive and sits atop of a mossy green cliff over the city center.

Gene and Nate stopped for lunch. And upon exiting the grocery store some how we lost Gene. Nate and I returned to the store to wait for him, but he never showed up. The park is directly across Princess Street, a main road in Edinburgh. The park dips below street level where skillfully groomed landscape flows along the rectangular shaped park. Instead the park there is a water fountain, church and even an amphitheater. I eventually met up with Gene inside the park while Nate ate his lunch on the bench. Reunited once again we walked towards the Castle.

Once we reach the Castle gates it became pretty obvious that this was a huge tourist attractions. Buses are parked all along the road leading up to the front gates. Eleven pounds later we entered the front door and explored the wide views of Edinburgh city below.

Below is an HDR image of one of the view points.

The Castle itself is composed of many different museums. Most of the exhibits are about the history of the Scottish Army. All the little entryways lead to another themed museum including weapons, history, medals, etc.


The cobble stone streets spiral upwards to flat terraces of the castle. Canons line the edges of the walls. Each circle brought us higher to the peak and rewards us with a much wider view of the city below. At the very top of the Castle is a square. A church surrounded by more plainly looking structures. The church housed much of the Castle's history and the building along side it were more museums capturing various roles of the castle; from housing prisoner's of war to sheltering wounded Scottish soldiers.


The main attraction in the Castle itself was the crown jewels. A brief walk through several rooms gives the history of the jewels, how they were smuggled, hidden and once again found. The last display houses the actual jewels. To our disappointment most of these museums did not allow photography, so most of our shots came from outside the Castle.