Edinburgh at it's best

Yesterday was a fabulously sunny day in the lovely city of edinburgh, and i set off in order to make the most of it at 10am...

Since i got here i've wanted to do the free tour that's on offer... I've done the one in Berlin and also the one in London, and found them interesting and fun... and todays tour was no exception. it was lead by Matthew and with a huge group of us at 54, we set off up the royal mile...

stopping now and then to hear stories of the brave and horrific things the edinburghians did to each other!!! i'm sure i never would have liked to live here in the early days...

from bricking you up inside your house if you were seen to have the plague, to burning you at the stake for being a witch.

the list is endless...

i love the tour setting, i love going from place to place and learning little stories about buildings etc... it's fine to walk around in a place admiring it, but it's the little heartfelt stories that go with it that make it truely memorable...

made our way up past St Giles Kirk, where we stopped to hear stories of the fountain that every xmas used to boast free flowing wine for the locals (many yrs ago!)

and up to the front of the castle...

my favourite place!

there was an extreme biking race happening so there were young boys on bikes everywhere, taking it in turns to ride down the hundreds of steps to the right of the castle, and they were flying down...

with many casualties to be seen...

crazy...

from there we were lead down along the terraces until we reached victoria street, also used as diagon alley in the harry potter movies...

and to the start of the grassmarket...

I love the grassmarket

There's such an array of things to see and do there, you never get bored.

From soaking up the atmosphere of the Old town with all the original buildings that remain, to browsing through the many stores scattered around that sell almost everything...

It's known widely for it thriving bar and restraunt culture, with choices galore... from French Italian, Mexican, Seafood and traditional Scottish fests. and with pubs and clubs in every direction.

we stoped here for lunch and soaked up the sun... while watching the last section of the bike races... we found out that they were practicing for the real race that would be held later that night..

it's was amusing watching these lads all macho etc compairing war wounds and the like...

(i wonder how many of them would have ended up at the hospital over the weekend!)

after a quick lunch we headed up to the greyfriars cemetrey (or kirkyard)

many famous people are buried here, and they believe that more people are buried here than live in edinburgh today... a scary thought when you think about it.

it's one of Edinburghs most famous cemetrey's with many stories to linked to it... my favourite is the one is of the Greyfriars Bobby. A Skye terrier which was a faithful dog, who was bought to act as a guard dog and company for the greyfriar... who once the greyfriar died he then refused to leave the grave of his master, John Gray. For many years he watched over the grave, stirring the emotions of the people. He was built a shelter nearby and was fed regularly.

The story of Greyfriars Bobby spread and soon throughout the uk and people would come for miles to see this little dog, so faithful.

Through time his story has became one of Edinburgh's unique stories.

When Bobby died, he was buried just outside Greyfriars kirkyard. and the edinburgh people collected money to put a plaque inside.. there is also a bronze statue of the small dog, which now stands just outside the kirk gates.

Greyfriars Bobby (the statue) is known to be one of the most photographed statues in edinburgh these days...

so co course i too obliged!

Back along past the museum found us outside the elephant house... the birthplace of Harry potter, we continued along until we reached the royal mile.

before heading down into the princes street gardens where we finished our tour...

the whole tour lasted 3.5 hours, and it was a tips only tour...

i highly reccomend it for anyone heading to Edinburgh...

Since the weather was still good i decided to head up arthur seat, located south of the castle and at the bottom of the Royal mile...

and what a lovely view...

there's something about climbing a hill and looking out over the city of edinburgh with the castle in the background to the sounds of Bagpipes playing... it was so scottish!

scaled some rocks in order to get right to the top, and sat drinking it all in...

This is Life!