Page 94 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

92  BRIT AIN AND IRELAND

The battlements of Edinburgh Castle rising above Princes Street Gardens
1 Edinburgh Castle Other important buildings The most magnificent of the
include the 15th-century later developments is the Moray
Castle Hill. Tel 0131-225 9846.
Open summer: 9:30am–6pm daily; Great Hall, meeting place of Estate where a linked series of
winter: 9:30am–5pm daily. the Scottish parliament until large houses forms a crescent, an
Closed Dec 25 & 26. & 8 7 1639, and the Governor’s oval, and a twelve-sided circus.
∑ edinburghcastle.gov.uk House (1742). A 15th-century
Burgundian siege gun, known P Georgian House
Standing on the basalt core of as Mons Meg, is kept in the 7 Charlotte Sq. Tel 0844-493 2117.
an extinct volcano, the castle is vaults, where French graffiti Open Mar–Dec: daily. & 7 limited.
an assemblage of buildings recall the prisoners held here
dating from the 12th to the in the 18th- and 19th-century
20th centuries, reflecting its wars. The One o’ Clock Gun is 3 Royal Mile
changing role as fortress, palace, still fired at 1pm daily.
military garrison, and state Composed of four ancient
prison. The castle was a favorite streets which formed the main
royal residence until the Union 2 New Town thoroughfare of medieval
of 1603, after which monarchs Edinburgh, the Royal Mile linked
resided in England. The first phase of the “New the castle to the Palace of
The Scottish regalia are Town,” to the north of Princes Holyroodhouse. A walk starting
displayed in the 15th-century Street, was built in the 18th from the castle takes you past
palace where Mary, Queen of century to relieve the many of the city’s oldest
Scots gave birth to James VI. The congested and unsanitary buildings and a number of
castle also holds the Stone of conditions of the Old Town. interesting museums.
Destiny, a relic of ancient Scottish Charlotte Square, with its l The lower floors of the Tartan
kings seized by the English, and avish town houses, was the Weaving Mill & Exhibition date
returned in 1996. The castle’s climax of this phase. On the from the early 1600s and were
oldest existing building is the north side, the Georgian once the home of the Laird of
12th-century St. Margaret’s House, owned by the National Cockpen. The 19th-century
Chapel. A stained-glass window Trust of Scotland, has been Camera Obscura and World of
depicts the queen of Malcolm III, furnished to show the lifestyle Illusions is a popular attraction.
after whom it is named. of its 18th-century residents. A little further on, Gladstone’s
Land is a restored 17th-century
merchant’s house. Another fine
mansion, built in 1622, has been
converted into a Writers’
Museum, housing memorabilia
of Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott,
and Robert Louis Stevenson.
St. Giles Cathedral, properly
known as the High Kirk of
Edinburgh, was the base from
which Protestant minister John
Knox led the Scottish
Reformation. His house, also
on the Royal Mile, is open to
the public. The cathedral’s
Charlotte Square in the New Town Thistle Chapel has impressive
For hotels and restaurants see pp104–6 and pp107–9

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