Going 15th Century pt. 2 (Oct. 2)

Our first stop this morning was Craigmillar Castle. I have to begin this experience by saying that I took many more awesome pictures of the castle, and only a few will be on the blog, so if you want to see more look at my fb profile.  I believe that Craigmillar Castle could be the best castle experience I have on this whole trip. It was exactly what I have been looking for in a castle. Edinburgh castle was cool, but is really modern. This castle is from the 15th century, and is the best preserved in Scotland in its original status. Using traditional methods of the period, the building has been restored, and you can walk everywhere in the castle. There are only signs to tell you what room you are in, otherwise there are tunnels, towers, stairs to climb etc... There are so many possibilities. I was in awe the whole time I was there. It's really hard for me to put it in words.  I loved that it was foggy and misty as it was when we last saw it.  I'm going to post pictures and explain my experience as the pictures are posted.

This first set is the entrance to the castle and the courtyard.

The courtyard was huge. A large open place with very lush and wet grass. On each side of this gate were smaller courtyards which also gave spectacular views. The castle was massive.

This is a giant letter "P" which stood for Preston. In the 15th Century, Preston built the castle and had this "P" dug and filled with water. So in this guys backyard was a pool in the shape of a P. How cool is that?

Although the castle appears to have been a very nice residential home, it was able to be defended. Its defenses appeared quite strong, however in the 15th century that probability was much lower. Craigmillar was never attacked.

Image from inside the castle door from the courtyard

 This is the hearth in the original kitchen. It was massive. I could stand inside it fully. The picture below is a picture of the chimney while inside it.

It was amazing where you could all explore. We just kept going up and up. And still, we did not reach the ramparts yet. There are so many good angles and shots in this castle. I was so happy.

The picture above and below are of the main great hall. This is where things happened. Feasts, judiciary duties etc... On one end it had a huge hearth once again. So big, it was nearly as tall as me, but many times wider. It makes me want to have my own castle and a fire place that big just to hosts guests. By the way, Mary Queen of Scots did visit Craigmillar Castle. It was an inspiration to her and was a site of refuge. Essentially, Craigmillar was a place for the elite to have a hunting resort.

This is a view from the top ramparts looking down at the rest of the castle. It was so cool

Finally as we were leaving, these were the images that I saw. The fog had lifted and now you see the majesty of a castle such as Craigmillar. It was a Romantic era castle truly.

Sam and I vistited another grand site in Edinburgh, St. Giles Cathedral. Currently it is a Presbyterian Church that holds cathedral status. It was beautiful. The cathedral is from the 12th Century. However it was confusing inside. In some places, you can see old pillars, old ceiling, dirty stuff, and in others a new roof and pillars. I asked about this, and the person said that the old pillars are inside the newer looking ones. They are there to protect the pillars because in the 1800's, the roof near the entrance was raised and thus became heavier, thus a need to reinforce the current pillars. It was very grand. The church was there since the 12th Century. That whole day I felt like I was walking through history. It was so much to take in. Here are some pictures to get an idea of the splendour.

Soon after St. Giles, Sam and I got lunch and I took the train back to St. Andrew's. Sam would catch a later Bus to St. Andrew's where we would meet for supper. For supper we ate at the Rule with John and Emily and watched the Cowboys vs Lion's American Football game. There was also sticky toffee pudding.