edinburgh castle

Welcome to the world famous Edinburgh Castle, I am going to give you a quick little tour because I probably took about 30 pictures just inside and around the castle. Hopefully I can give you just enough information and pictures to get you interested enough to hop on a plane and go yourself someday :]

The castle is built on top of a very old inactive volcano/mountain known as "castle rock." The castle was occupied by royals from after it was first built. {circa the 12th century, yes it's that old} In 1603 however is when the decline of residency happened and it became a military base with a large garrison. It is an important part and holds much significant history for Scotland and today is open to the public for visitation.

Mainly there are tributes to war and historical artifacts. Also some of the Crown Jewels are kept here in a tightly guarded room with quite possibly one of the largest volt systems you have ever seen. I wish I could have taken a picture, but sadly no pictures were allowed anywhere near the room or the jewels. But they are quite something to see. Later on when we got to London, we checked out more Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. That post will come soon. :] Anyway, back to Edinburgh castle. They have sectioned off quite a bit of the castle as there is still a small military presence that currently lives in the castle, around the clock.

One of the main attractions for actually going into the castle and visiting is whats called the one o'clock gun. It is a gun {or more of a canon, see picture below} that is shot off at precisely 13:00 {1.00pm} everyday, accept Sunday. It was established in 1861 for the ships out on the river to know the time. There is also a ball that is dropped from one of the monuments atop a hill. This was also for the people on the river to see, but completely useless if the weather was foggy.

I know this was a long post, but with so much history it is hard to cut short! I have included some pictures to show off some of the castle's features, as well as some amazing views of the city that you can see. If you look close enough, you might even see the Scot Monument :] {previous post} Let me know if you spot it!

 

the one o'clock gun

 

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