Next to London and possibly Betws-y-coed in North Wales, Edinburgh has been our most frequently visited and one of our most favorite places to visit. This was my 8th time and Barb’s 6th time there, dating back to 1974 when I spent two weeks there taking some college classes that summer through Indiana University and going out on frequent day trips to see southern Scotland. Over the years in various trips, we have explored Edinburgh extensively and have enjoyed the old Royal Mile area between the Edinburgh Castle which rises high above the city and Holyrood Palace at the end other end of the Royal Mile, as well as bustling Princes Street in the newer part of the city with its shopping and business district.
Therefore this year we decided to do some things farther from the city on a shore excursion called “Edinburgh, Floors Castle, and Dryburgh Abbey”. We were anchored in the same place as we were on our trip to Edinburgh last year, near the two bridges across the Firth of Forth in S Queensferry, about 40 minutes north of Edinburgh. (I had asked my tour guide in Invergordon why it was necessary to tender for a major city like Edinburgh – his response was that the waters near Edinburgh are just too shallow to accommodate large cruise ships.)
When we boarded the bus, the sky was partly cloudy with some chance of rain later in the day. There were only thirty of us so we had plenty of space to spread out and have individual seats if we wanted, so Barb sat behind me. We drove south to the borders region between England and Scotland, an area of historic contention between the two historic monarchies. Some of the area had gone back and forth between England and Scotland but the area we visited is now part of Scotland.
Before reaching the ruins of the Dryburgh Abbey, we stopped at what’s called “Scott’s View” which was Sir Walter Scott’s favorite site, where he would always have his carriage stop for about ten minutes so he could soak in the view of the hills and the Tweed River. (We agreed that it was beautiful view.) From there we went to the nearby Dryburgh Abbey and walked around the ruins of the abbey. During the 16th century when there was much religious and political conflict, many of the Catholic abbeys were ravaged, leaving them in ruins. Sir Walter Scott’s tomb is at the abbey in his beloved Borders region of Scotland. When his body was being transported to Edinburgh following his death, his horses stopped automatically at Scott’s view as they had always done.
From there, we visited Floors Castle near Kelso, the home of the Duke of Roxburghe. It’s more like an estate home rather than a castle. The family still lives there, but certain rooms are made available for public tours. When we arrived on the estate, the guide told us there would be time later to take pictures of the outside and the grounds, but while we were touring the interior, the heavens opened and the rain poured down. It was too wet and rainy to want to walk outside so we huddled under umbrellas or in the gift shop until the bus was ready to board. From there we went to lunch at the Cross Keys Hotel in Kelso for a Scottish lunch of barley soup, fresh salmon and locally grown vegetables, followed by a delicious desert of meringue, fresh mixed berries and whipped cream. What’s so notable is that Barb and I usually turn up our noses at fish of almost any kind but when we were told we could have chicken as a substitute, we decided to be brave and see if we could eat the salmon since salmon seems to be the least objectionable fresh fish for both of us. Believe it or not we both said it was the best salmon we had ever had!! Our lunch companions were pleasant to visit with and we hadn’t met any of them on the ship. Perhaps the most unique person we ate with mentioned that he had invented the keyless remote for cars. He wasn’t bragging; it just came up as a natural part of the conversation. We asked about the internet warnings we receive from time to time which suggest people not use the remote to lock cars as the codes can be stolen which would be intercepted and used by those up to no good. He said that had been true before the remote could also be used to unlock cars as well, but he indicated there was a different code for that and once person locked the car, a different code, already programmed into the keyless remote would be needed to open the car.
After a brief lull in the rain, as we returned to Edinburgh, the heavy rains returned. The itinerary required some free time in Edinburgh despite the pounding rain, so we had the option of hopping off the bus into the rain or sitting on the bus for 45 minutes. With the annual Edinburgh Tattoo season having started, there were throngs of people on the street, umbrellas up, zigzagging through traffic and dodging raindrops. We took refuge in nearby St. Giles Cathedral. Barb ventured out into the rain to find the Elephant House, the coffee house where JK Rowling sat for hours writing the first of the Harry Potter series. She’d hoped to find some memorabilia there, but all she found was a sign in the window and regular coffee house fare so was satisfied with just getting a picture. After reboarding the bus, we did a driving tour of major tourist locations in Edinburgh. Barb and I were anxious to get back to the tender as we had booked reservations for The Pinnacle¸ compliments of AAA, for that evening since we knew we would be back too late for dinner in the main dining room and because so many would have booked reservations for the Tattoo on the Castle esplanade in the evening. While we always enjoy Edinburgh, the constant rain and need to get back for our dinner reservations made us wish we could skip the tour. However for some people it was their first visit to Edinburgh and they were enjoying the new city.
We finally returned to the port, quickly boarded the tender and returned to the ship at 6:20! Needless to say, we waited on no ceremony and were quick change artists as we strolled into The Pinnacle for dinner. As we ate we felt sorry for the people who had spent large sums of money to attend the performance of the Military Tattoo. Having seen it last August, we knew how good it was and realized that the people this year were getting completely drenched. (We heard later that people who attended were soaked and were shivering long after returning to the ship.)
As we departed Edinburgh, we have one Sea Day followed by eight straight days of ports before heading back across the North Atlantic.
Chuck
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