Edinburgh

Off all the main streets are little bitty streets and alleys called closes. Here's a view down one of them, the streets obviously wet from a recent shower. Much of the city is built of stone and gives a gray appearance which is only heightened by the rain.

There are several castle-style attractions around the city. Here's one on a hill overlooking the city.

And a view of a church steeple taken from the edge of the fortifications of Edinburgh castle itself.

The city is pretty clean. We saw little evidence of obvious poverty, such as the homeless or beggars, that trouble many large cities. When the sun shines, it is an attractive place to be and spend time.

Near the Grey Friar's Church is this quaint pub which memorializes the story of Grey Friars Bobby. Google it to get the story. It'll bring a tear to the eye. In the back of the church courtyard was a "Covenanters' Graveyard." Wait, I'll come back to that.

On our last evening, we attempted to eat at a restaurant called the Witchery. We had seen it written up and one of the nicest restaurants in Edinburgh but that advanced reservations were required. On a lark, we dropped by to see if we could get reservations and sure enough, we could eat at 5:00 PM (dreadfully early) or 10:00 PM (I'd fall asleep in my soup). We opted for 5:00 and shared the restaurant with about a dozen tables filled with newly weds and what appeared to be prom couples. They were all dressed to the hilt (or in some cases "kilt") and we were in our formal travel dress. Felt like the oldest folks in the room -- and I guess we were. Food was grand, by the way. Highly recommended.

Edinburgh seems to built of "new old" and "old old" buildings. The new old building, like this one, look old due to their style and architecture but are in fact relatively modern in their construction.

The old old buildings are in fact pretty old by western standards, this one dating to the 1600's. Everything still works and remains in good repair.

For some reason, I like taking pictures of cemeteries. You'll see a few more before our tour is through. This was at the foot of Edinburgh Castle.

Our route started in Edinburgh (the lower right dot) and proceeded anti-clockwise around the country, roughly in the order of these galeries.