Edinburgh, Scotland, UK – July 31






castle

Partly cloudy, 18 degrees

We have no tour booked today, so we disembark the ship at our own pace. Edinburgh is a tendered port, so we are anchored off of the coast and take a 10 minute tender into the port - South Queensferry. South Queensferry is a town or suburb of Edinburgh about ten miles to the north west of the city centre, on the shore of the Firth of Forth.



approaching shore in the tender



thick foliage, steep climb

Once ashore we must hike (yes, hike) and then take a train into Edinburgh. The hike we take to get to the train station is through a forest and straight up. The first thing that strikes me when we step foot into the forest is how beautiful it is here. The forest is incredibly lush and thick with enormous trees and ivy – I don’t really know if it’s ivy, but it looks like it and lots of the trees have their trunks entirely covered by the it. I wonder if the entire country is like this? It gives a cozy, relaxing, comfortable feeling. I could get used to this.






thick foliage

Once we accomplish the hike to the station the ride is about 15 minutes to the heart of Edinburgh. Their Fringe Festival starts in the next couple of days and the Tatoo after that, so the place is bustling with street performers and tourists. I suspect that in the touristy area where we were is bustling a lot of the time.


thick foliage

We visit Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, shop a bit, eat lunch and wander around taking in the sights and sounds of the city.

We are back on the ship by about 4:30 and set sail for Inverness at about 7. It was a lovely warm day.

As I suspect is obvious I am having 'issues' with pictures.




Chris in his element



building looks like it sprouted from the tree

bridge and our ship in the distance

castle