Scotland - Saturday (Edinburgh's New Town)

Saturday 14 October, 2017

Well, today was most likely our last day out in Edinburgh.  Tomorrow is packing and cleaning day and on Monday morning we leave early, or rather in the middle of the night. :-)

As we hadn't been to Edinburgh's New Town yet it was a good place to explore.  We spent the best part of the day there, but still haven't seen half of it.

We got off the bus at Princes Street, which seems to be the hub of Edinburgh's public transport.  All buses and trams seem to stop there, which is quite handy once you know!  From Princes Street we walked along the far end towards Calton Hill.

One of Edinburgh's split level crossings

We followed the steps leading up and around and instantly enjoyed the view over New Town, and the River Forth in the distance.  The camera couldn't do it, but with the bare eyes we could actually see the new bridge from here.

St John's church in the foreground

Further up the hill we came across the National Monument, a Greek inspired building which was never finished.  It was supposed to become a copy of the Parthenon, but was never finished because of the lack of funds to do so.

The National Monument

The weather looks very bleak, but it was actually not unpleasant as usual.  Some rain was threatening now and then, but it never really happened.  It was so pleasant indeed, that we decided to have a cup of coffee out in the open and enjoy the views.

From there on the path led to the Nelson Monument:

the Nelson Monument

view across the old town

It was possible to climb the tower, but without asking how many steps it would be we decided that paying 5 pounds would be too much for the 'torture'. ;-)

Instead we walked on to admire the view upon the extinct vulcano of Arthur's Seat.

History of the vulcano

The tilted vulcano: Arthur's Seat

View towards the east

And from there on back to Princes Street. On our walk I took pictures of a church, a sculpture of a pair of giraffes, the Balmoral hotel and the department store Jenners with its beautiful old interior still intact. 

The Balmoral

Jenners

On the way back to the buses we 'window-shopped' and also had a looksie inside here and there.  Patricia wanted to look for a winter jacket, but was not successful.  Instead she 'made me' enter the Sketchers shop, and that was a BIG mistake!  Of course I came out with a pair of my favorite shoes! ;-)

Money spent (nearly) we caught the bus back home and got some groceries at Aldi's to tie us over for the weekend.  Another well-spent day.