Exploring Edinburgh
Edinburgh…The Old Town 09/22/2022
When we plan these trips, I research our destination as much as possible. Even so, there is only so far research will take you. We have found a walking tour will add to our research in a positive way. It gives validity to the research and provides new information. A walking tour gives us the opportunity to “get the lay of the land”, and helps us get oriented to the city we are in. We started off at 10:00 today with a two-hour walking tour of “Old Town” Edinburgh and followed up with a tour of HMY Britannia. HMY Britannia was Queen Elizabeth’s personal yacht. Before this day was done, we walked over 13,000 steps. Our tour guide for the walking tour was a young man from Australia by the name of David. He came to Edinburgh a number of years ago on a trip to Europe and then home. Young David met a Scottish lass, fell in love, married, and never returned to Australia. Their loss, our gain. He conducted a wonderful tour and passed along a lot of new information. I am sure many of you are aware of John Knox Manor, an assisted living facility, located in Montgomery. The namesake of this facility is John Knox of Edinburgh. John Knox was a 16th-century preacher who commanded that his people be able to read the Bible in their own language. He was a key figure in turning a nation of Catholics into one of Protestants. When he died, he was buried in St. Giles Cemetery. As time passed and things changed, the cemetery was moved. Every person buried there was relocated… everyone, but John Knox. The former cemetery is now a public parking lot and is the eternal resting place of John Knox. We covered a lot on the walking tour, but I thought I would mention one more item that was covered. Have you ever heard of Greyfriar’s Bobby? Bobby was a sky terrier, and his master was John Gray. John worked for the Edinburgh Police Department as a night watchman. Together John and Bobby became a familiar sight trudging through the old, cobbled streets of Edinburgh. Through thick and thin, winter and summer, they were faithful friends. John passed away in 1858 and was buried in Greyfriar’s Kirkyard (church cemetery). Long story short, Bobby kept watch over his master’s grave for the next 14 years until he passed away in 1872. The Edinburgh citizens were captivated by the loyalty Bobby showed his master and a monument was erected in his memory.
The rest of this day was spent touring the HMY Britannia. The Britannia was in the service of the British monarchy from 1954 to 1997. During the 43 years the yacht was in service it traveled over 1,000,000 miles. Now retired from royal service, Britannia is permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal, Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was a getaway for Queen Elizabeth and members of her family. It was used for a honeymoon for Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Charles and Diana. While on the ship we had High Tea in the Tea Room. There is so much history about this boat, I could not begin to write about in a few paragraphs. I will say we were very impressed by our tour of the ship and if your travels bring you this way, I suggest to you, put this on your list.
Tomorrow we will tour the Edinburgh Castle. Until then….
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