Our first site of the day was Holyrood Palace. The palace is still used today as the King's official residence in Scotland. It was built in 1658 and in the past it has been used for many royal engagements as well.
Holyrood was a pretty palace and much better than Edinburgh castle. I enjoyed it more since you could walk through many of the rooms with an audio guide. Photos were not allowed inside since it is still an active residence. My favorite room was the king's bedchamber as it was also the most elaborate. The idea was to build up to that room since only very close visitors would be allowed in the bedchambers. Each of the rooms were filled with large tapestries hung from the ceilings and many paintings. I especially loved the frescos on the ceiling.
At the back of the palace was the ruins of an Abbey that had burned down in the 18th century. What remained was very ornate so I can only imagine the actual building must have been gorgeous!
All museums in Scotland are free so we went to the National Gallery. The building of the National Gallery was built in the neoclassical style but I think most of the museum was under construction as the exhibits were quite small. I enjoyed the art and compared to other museums I went to it was not overwhelming and I got through everything.
While Alex went to mass midday I walked around the city a bit trying to find out where I wanted to go. I decided to check out the University of Edinburgh since I have a few friends there and I was curious to see if the campus was a castle. Along the way there I went through the old town which had all of the old buildings and was very cute! The University was a mix of older buildings mixed with modern ones. I didn't ever find the main building or if there was a central one but what I saw was pretty.
I rejoined Alex and we went to the Royal Botanic gardens together since they kept marketing it. I had seen photos of the glasshouse on Google and was most excited to see that. However, unfortunately that along with many other exhibits were temporarily closed. The gardens altogether didn't have that much given it was only just the beginning of spring. I am sure that if I came back in a few weeks it would be flourishing.
I had heard about a place called Dean Village that was off of the river walk and I really wanted to see it, so I went off exploring by myself. I love just wandering around cities! At one point I was headed toward a dead end and a Scottish man asked me "are you lost love, it's a dead end love" so I took the note and found the right direction. Dean Village was worth it for the views. It was a picturesque set of houses along the river that had been tucked away from the city.
We went for a very good dinner at Fish in the City. We had natural oysters and I ordered an Indonesian coconut curry with seafood. By far our best meal in Scotland!
As the sun set we took our last photos of Edinburgh castle up on the hill. I feel like I was able to see everything from a high level but will still miss the city terribly.
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