We had arrived in Edinburgh by train on Monday and after that huge day of walking and garden and museum hopping we were now excited to visit Holyrood Palace! The Royal Mile is bookended on one end by the famous Edinburgh Castle which we had seen on a previous trip, and The Palace of Holyrood House, down the hill. Our hotel – Aparthotel Adagio – was perfectly situated right in the middle of “the Mile” and, lucky us, we had another morning of brilliant sunshine.
First off, upon our arrival at the Palace, with the help of audioguides on headsets we toured the special show that is currently there, “The Edwardians Age of Elegance“, which explored the opulence and glamour of the Edwardian age through the lives and tastes of two of Britain’s most fashionable royal couples – King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and King George V and Queen Mary – from their family lives and personal collecting to their glittering social circles and spectacular royal events.
“The last half of Queen Victoria’s long reign had been characterised by images of the ‘widow in black’. By contrast when Edward and Alexandra became King and Queen, they were feted as glamorous figures, known for their impact on the fashions of the day.” (See more from that description in the photo in the gallery below.)
Next up, we walked through the ruins of the Holyrood Abbey, a historic ruined Augustinian monastery located adjacent to the Palace. Founded by King David I in 1128, the abbey originally served as a quiet royal residence and mausoleum before its guesthouse was expanded into the current Renaissance palace. There are beautiful gardens, of course, so we strolled through those, as well.
We were surprised to see the smoke of a wildfire up on Arthur’s Seat. (I don’t think they ever ascertained the cause but it was mostly likely human – i.e. – stupidity related…)
Tip: most of the photos in these galleries are captioned, so if you hover or click, you’ll get descriptions, if you like.
But… the real reason for our visit to the palace was this: months ago when we had heard that they would be open to the public for the very first time, we had booked a visit to see the Queen’s private, “lived-in” apartments, open for 100 days only, to mark the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth.
Because these were the private residence in Edinburgh of the queen, no photos were allowed, so the photos in the gallery below are copied and pasted from the official website. And they are exactly as we saw them when we were taken by a highly informative guide (as part of a group of about twenty) through the rooms which are surprisingly modestly decorated. The apartments are on the east side of the palace; they’re not a huge area. The guide explained how the rooms were used by generations of monarchs since the reign of Queen Victoria, as well as how Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh used the spaces during their time in residence.
Most of the art on the walls was selected over the years by Prince Phillip who was, himself, a very good amateur artist. Most (if not all?) of it is by Scottish artists.
Highlights: The Royal Breakfast Room: where the Queen and Prince Philip dined privately away from formal state. The Dressing Room: including a few dresses that the Queen wore on special occasions in Scotland (plus accessories, of course. Those hats…) The Sitting Room: the desk, overlooking the beautiful gardens, majestic Arthur’s Seat off to the right, and the Queen’s government “red boxes” which contained paperwork needing her review and signature. This was also the room where the Queen watched her beloved horse racing on the telly. Her Paddington Bear still rests on the couch.
Very evident in these apartments was the love that the Queen and Prince Philip had for Scotland and the Scottish people.
By now it was 1 p.m. and we were (a) curious about the somewhat strange architecture of the Scottish Parliament building across the street from the Palace, and (b) feeling peckish. So, we went inside and discovered that there was a debate happening shortly (about Scottish separation from England, remarkable to us that at the same time in Canada Danielle Smith was been pushing for Alberta’s separation from Canada). The public was invited to attend if they had (free) tickets. We hopped right on that!
But first, there was a cafeteria conveniently located just inside the door. We fortified with coffee and a scone, then headed upstairs to watch the opening of Parliament, and listen to about an hour of debate about the merits or drawbacks of presenting a motion in Westminster to visit the possibility of a referendum about Scotland separating from England. We listened to various political parties with various political agendas. Security was very tight, and rules were rigidly adhered to: absolutely no applause or heckling from those of us in the peanut gallery. No photos were allowed, so the photos in the gallery below are copied from the website.
From Wikipedia we learn: “From the outset, the Scottish Parliament building and its construction have been controversial. The choices of location, architect, design and construction company were all criticised by politicians, the media and the Scottish public. Scheduled to open in 2001, it did so in 2004, more than three years late with an estimated final cost of £414 million, many times higher than initial estimates of between £10m and £40m.”
The architect, “Miralles sought to design a parliament building that could represent and present a national identity. This intractably difficult question was tackled by displacing the question of identity onto the landscape of Scotland. In a characteristically poetic approach, he talked about slotting the building into the land “in the form of a gathering situation: an amphitheatre, coming out from Arthur’s Seat“, where the building would reflect a dialogue between the landscape and the act of people sitting. An early goal of the design was to open the building and its public spaces, not just to Edinburgh but to a more general concept of the Scottish landscape. Miralles intended to use the parliament to help build the end of Canongate—”not just another building on the street…it should reinforce the existing qualities of the site and its surroundings. In a subtle game of cross views and political implications.”
This architect’s daughter thinks the building is a successful building, and judging from the number of important architectural awards it has won, she’s not the only one to think so. (But it hasn’t been without controversy!)
And then, once again, we were peckish and since my opportunities for haggis consumption were rapidly diminishing we found a pub – the Tollbooth Tavern – that served us up some nifty Scottish fusion. It was ancient! (The Tolbooth Tavern is part of the original Canongate Tolbooth which was built in 1591. This medieval building was used to collect tolls from travellers entering the burgh at the Canongate. The ground floor became The Tolbooth Tavern in 1820. The building was used to collect tolls from travellers entering the burgh but has also served as a Council Chamber, Police Court and Prison.)
Haggis, ‘Neeps and Tatties for John. (Haggis, Turnip and Mashed Potato.)
Haggis Croquette, I think, for me. Plus some veg. Whatever.
After dinner, Arthur’s Seat beckoned so, on a whim, we decided to start walking up the hill.
Dear Reader: attempting Arthur’s Seat on full bellies at the end of a big day is folly, even if the sun is shining.
We stopped about 30 minutes into our silly little walk, admired the people at the very top (they were still just specks!!! check out the pictures), admired the view of Edinburgh from where we were, and then headed back down. You could still smell the smoke in the air from the morning’s wildfire, intermingled with the burnt coconut-vanilla smell of burnt gorse bushes.
It was warm, and sunny and windy. Idyllic.
I’ve included a beautiful photo in the photo gallery that my dad took of my mum in 1957 at the top of Arthur’s Seat. It’s steep and very windy up there; in retrospect, I know that I wouldn’t have been able to ignore my dratted vertigo and summit. But it was fun to go as far as we did!
And I’m proud of my 25-year-old parents for making it all the way to the top. My mother was fearless but my dad also suffered from the dratted vertigo.
That was enough adventure for one day; we had a big Edinburgh city tour booked for the next day and so we headed back to our comfy Aparthotel room (I was loving this place) and promptly fell asleep.
Travellers’ tip: We’re getting good use out of our Patagonia shirts (me), Eddie Bauer vests (both of us), Arcteryx pants (John), Lululemon 8-pocket trousers (me), and our sensible shoes (New Balance for me, Vibram 5-Finger for John. They get lots of stares and questions.) We’re experts at doing laundry in hotel room sinks and at ignoring how many days in a row we’ve worn the same articles of clothing. Also, we both thought we had really pared down packing to the bare minimum, but I think there were still two shirts I didn’t need.
Observation: I love Scotland. But it’s cold in the months we like to travel in. Stand by for decisions about future trips’ destinations.
13K fun and educational steps.
Don’t these photos just make you want to go to Scotland? Don’t be seduced. It’s not always sunny.
But I love it.