Edinburgh

Another sunny day! Our excursion today was a walking tour of the Royal Mile. We walked a mile just to get to the starting point of our tour, the Mercat cross. It was a market hub, located in the heart of the old town, where announcements were made to the community.

Mercat cross

When Queen Elizabeth died, that was announced from the Merkat Cross. The monument itself, like much of Edinburgh,  is a 19th century replacement of the original 15th century cross. Our tour took us down the Royal Mile and a few side streets, where we learned about Edinburgh and some of its quirks and highlights. We heard about Wynds and Closes, historic, narrow medieval alleyways and passageways in Edinburgh's Old Town that branch off the main Royal Mile, the city's main street. Many if not most are very steep and are stairways: 

Achor Close

There are so many long, steep stairways, it's best to visit Edinburgh prepared and in good shape. It seems like many of the oldest buildings in the city have been replaced with 19th century copies. Edinburgh has placed bronze markers in the road to show where the actual old buildings were. 

We visited St. Giles Cathedral, begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 16th century. Significant alterations were undertaken in the 19th and 20th centuries. The exterior is almost entirely from the 19th century.  There are some interesting modern stained glass in the church, and the 19th century ceiling is beautiful. 

Our tour also took us up to the castle, which dates from the 11th century, and sits high up on a rocky outcropping. Research shows it is one of the most besieged strongholds in the world, with 26 attacks over its history. We can't figure out why. It really looks formidable. Inside the gates, we enjoyed an amazing city view, and visited the great hall which dates from the 16th century. The ceiling is made from oak taken by boat from Norway. It is made without the use of nails and is in the shape of an inverted ship's hull. Beautiful. 

After the tour, we walked over to the Scott Monument, a 200 foot tower that celebrates Sir Walter Scott. It's covered in centuries of soot now, making it look black. In depictions from when it was erected, it was white/light colored. Many/most historic buildings in Scotland are like that.

It's hard not to be impressed with the history of this place, but much of what you see in the city was actually constructed in the 18th to 20th centuries. Buildings have been torn down and replaced, or reconstructed, added to or changed over the years. Even the city's oldest buildings are original in core or foundations only. What you can actually see is newer.

Photos here

The Kelpies and airline issues, September 30, 2026

 We've decided that on any further travel, we'd prefer to stay at B&Bs. It is great to be able to chat with other people and the proprietors. Hotels don't give you that opportunity. The people who run the Spindrift, our accommodations for last night,  are trying to sell it, and move to the States, specifically near Penn Yan, NY, about an hour from Rochester. I thoroughly enjoyed our short stay in this Victorian era home. 

The day started out as expected, rainy, windy, and foggy. But the weather forecasters got it right today, and as we headed toward our first stop, the rain stopped and the clouds

The Kelpies

lifted. We're heading for the Kelpies in Falkirk, 98 foot high steel horse heads to honor Scotland's horse-powered industrial heritage. They're set in a lovely park by a canal.

Today we drop the car back at the rental place. After way too many roundabouts, Ray was happy to do so. We took an Uber from the car rental to our hotel in Edinburgh.

When we got settled in our hotel room, I checked email, to find an ominous one from KLM, our carrier (through Delta). Our flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam on Friday (2 days away) had been canceled. They would try to rebook us. Try?? For 2 hours, I phoned and chatted online with KLM and Delta to resolve this. I was really surprised that Delta, which normally has fabulous customer service,  said they couldn't do anything to help, even though  the original booking had been made with them. Their suggestion was to speak with KLM. After 2+ hours, I did get an email from KLM with arrangements to fly into London on British Airways, then back to Toronto (from which we had originally flown) on Virgin Atlantic. We're not happy with seat assignments. On the transatlantic flight, we sit in the 2 middle seats of a row of 4. Delta will hear from me. And I want a refund for the premium seats we originally had.

With that situation addressed, we walked down to the Grassmarket, an area of old town Edinburgh filled with shops and restaurants, and had dinner at a brewhouse situated in a former church.

Photos here

Another day that beat expectations

St. Andrews Cathedral 

 I had expected that our walking tour of St Andrews would be golf related. After meeting our genial guide, I realized this would be much more than that. 

St. Andrews is, in fact, the birthplace of golf, but it is so much more. He explained we'd be learning about golf, religion, and education, not necessarily in that order. We started at the Old Course at St. Andrews, the place where the game of golf began. Our guide talked about how it started, some important people in the game, how rules were made, and golf's impact in Scotland. He pointed out the road that traverses the 1st and 18th holes. It was really fascinating hearing the stories and information.  

We moved from there up the hill to a monument that memorializes 4 men who were murdered for their support of Martin Luther. The places where each man was hanged in town are marked on the street with their initials. He explained how the Reformation changed the face of Scotland. 

From there we headed over to the University of St. Andrews, the 3rd oldest university in the English speaking world (after Oxford and Cambridge), founded in the 15th century.  We visited the chapel, and moved among the students (who all looked sooo young!) St Andrews has a normal population of 6,000. When the student are in session it's 16,000.

From there we moved to the cathedral,  built in the 12th century,  that fell into ruin after the Reformation when the Catholic mass was outlawed. Mobs attacked the church and and the interior was destroyed. Townspeople used the remains of the cathedral for building materials. Even in the current state, the ruins are imposing. The original building was 390 feet long.

The Castle, now in ruin, sits at the edge of the North Sea. Our guide told us that the bishop who lived there had one of the 4 Reformation martyrs hanged in a place convenient for him to watch from his window. Not long after, the Protestants came for the bishop and hanged him from his window from one leg and one arm, forming St Andrews cross. (The X-shaped diagonal cross represents the apostle Saint Andrew, who was murdered by crucifixion. According to tradition, Andrew requested to be crucified on an X-shaped

Flag of Scotland 

cross because he felt unworthy to die on the same shape of cross as Jesus Christ.) Legend is that a Scottish king saw an x formation in the clouds before a victorious battle, and he took it as a sign. St Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland and the x (called a saltire) it's emblem.

Great day today! We really enjoyed our walk, even with the wind howling!

Lastly, we headed for our stay tonight at a b and b in Anstruther , a short distance from St Andrews. We were greeted by the proprietors, Jenny and Mark. In conversation,  we discovered that their sons live not far from Rochester, and they spend winters with them. Talk about a small world!

Photos here