Visiting Scotland was my dream for a long time, I enjoyed finally being able to walk in this beautiful country. And I did a lot of walking in the second half of my holiday.
First posted in Dutch on May 23 2018 and updated on October 23 2024.
Day 4
On day 2, Wednesday, I went to the castle, but on Friday I thought it would be fun to walk the other way from the Royal Mile. I wasn’t entirely sure at first, but after a chat with Chris (my Airbnb host) in the morning, he recommended it to me, especially if you love history. So off I went to the palace. The Royal Mile doesn’t have that name for nothing. It is the road between the castle and the palace. And the road is exactly 1 mile long, but not an English mile, it is a Scottish mile. That is a difference of 17 metres.
(Note: this was written in 2018, so a different time, I am not sure if the palace is still in operation)
Something cool about the Palace of Holyroodhouse is that it is still in operation. The Queen currently stays in the palace for at least one week a year. She uses it when she is in Scotland for state affairs.
The palace is therefore well maintained and has beautiful furniture with a very rich history. It is very different from the castle, which is mainly very empty. No photos are allowed inside, that is good to know when you walk into the palace. So put your camera away and enjoy the history of Scotland that comes to life before your eyes.
An audio tour is included in the ticket price. Make use of it, because there are no signs with information in the rest of the palace. However, there is at least one hall guard in every room who can tell you a lot if you want more information. Although I have to say that the audio tour offers a lot of information. For example, if you want to know more about a certain subject, you can press a number, in addition to the “normal” tour. Oh, and bring headphones! They are quite long listening pieces, and it will also be appreciated by the other people in the room, because it is not exactly nice to hear at least five different languages in one room. Don’t worry, the headphones and devices will be cleaned immediately when you return them at the end of the tour.
For anyone who loves history, I can recommend going and visiting the palace. Especially in combination with visiting the castle. However, it is best to do this on separate days, so that you don’t get an information overload.
When I was in the gardens of the palace, after the tour was over, I met two young ladies from China. They had met in Edinburgh and had gone out together today. The three of us continued to explore Edinburgh. Luna had to leave quickly, because she was going to travel further through Scotland. Isobel and I decided to climb Calton Hill together.
And what a view! From here you have a fantastic view of the city and only then I realised how incredibly big the castle is.
After learning a lot and climbing Calton Hill, I decided to go to the supermarket. I said goodbye to Isobel and we added each other to Instagram later to exchange photos. I cooked dinner for myself and went to bed early that night.
Day 5
What a beautiful day! In the picture above, I walked via the North Bridge to Princes Street. Saturday was my chill day. I went shopping and was really happy about all the brands in the UK that I have been missing for a while because we don’t have those products in the Netherlands. In the afternoon I had lunch at the vegan restaurant of Hendersons and in the evening I had dinner at Bella Italia. I wanted to work in some carbohydrates before I would go on a very long excursion the next day.
Day 6
On to the Highlands! I will write about this in another blog post, so stay tuned.
Day 7
The day before was quite a tough day because of the tour. I started my day very chill and decided to sleep in and stay in the apartment until I could check in online for my flight the next day. It was pretty warm that day and since I had seen everything I wanted to see, however there were still some places on my list where I wanted to eat something. Like Cuckoo’s this bakery has won quite a few prizes with their delicious cupcakes. And wow, this is definitely the best cupcake I have ever eaten! I had the Chocolat Caramel Sea Salt with an iced coffee. Filled up I was ready to go and took a long walk through the city.
After the walk I plopped down in the park under the castle. I think I sat there for about two hours and I didn’t do much more than drink water, watch people and write in my diary. Oh and enjoy. Enjoy the weather, the people in the park and the nice atmosphere.
In the evening I went to dinner with the Australian Jazmyn. I met her the day before during the tour because we sat next to each other on the bus and we clicked right away. Once back at the Airbnb I packed part of my suitcase and said goodbye to Chris.
Day 8
The day I am going back to the Netherlands with a relaxed feeling. In the queue for boarding I met fellow Dutchy Aline and we chatted non-stop about travelling the entire way back. She is also a solo traveller and is the same age as me. Really great to talk to a traveller who loves the same things as I do.
Love,
Palace of Holyroodhouse ben ik wel langsgelopen, maar niet in geweest. Moet ik de volgende keer dat ik naar Schotland ga misschien toch maar doen (want ik ga zeker een keer terug!). Ik ben heel benieuwd naar je blogpost over de Highlands!
Ja, zeker doen. Het is echt zo tof! Ik heb daar heel veel geleerd en begreep vervolgens ook de geschiedenis van Schotland beter.