I’m slightly embarassed to admit that I haven’t yet travelled to Scotland. With the spotlight on Scotland as they hosted the Commonwealth Games and the annual Edinburgh Festival, it has renewed my dream to travel there. If you are planning a break in Scotland then I hope this Guest Post will give you some ideas of where to visit:
Royal Edinburgh
If
you want to get to the heart of a city’s history, visit its castles, palaces
and other royal landmarks. In the UK, when we think of our royal heritage the
first thing that comes to mind is the changing of the guard at Buckingham
Palace in London, but if you’re a history fan, it’s worth exploring Edinburgh’s
rich royal heritage to find out more about the long, fascinating story of
Scotland’s past. To get a night’s sleep fit for a queen without having to pay a
king’s ransom, click here
for great deals on clean, comfortable, centrally located rooms.
Edinburgh Castle
Everywhere
you go in central Edinburgh, the castle looms large above you as the star
attraction of the magnificent skyline. And just in case you do manage to forget
it’s there, you’ll be reminded of its dominance at 1pm every day when the One
o’clock Gun goes off (don’t worry, it makes the locals jump too!). It’s
possible to walk right through the gates and admire it from the outside but it
really is worthwhile paying to go inside and learning about Scotland’s rich and
bloody royal past in the setting where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James
VI. There’s some serious bling on show too – the Scottish Crown Jewels are
displayed in Edinburgh Castle.
Palace of
Holyroodhouse
Known
as Holyrood Palace, this magnificent building, set in beautiful parkland, is
located at the bottom of the Royal Mile so if you leave from the castle and
keep going downhill, you’ll eventually get to it. Still the Queen’s official
residence in Scotland (though she tends to prefer Balmoral a bit further
north), this historic building’s most recent royal engagement was as the venue
of the wedding of the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Philips to Mike Tindall in
2011. Part of the Royal Collection Trust, it’s currently home to a great
exhibition called The Commonwealth: Gifts to the Queen, a celebration of our
Commonwealth heritage in the year Glasgow hosts the Commonwealth Games.
The Royal Yacht
Britannia
Gone
are the days when the Queen had a royal residence she could set sail on to
escape the prying eyes of the world, but her loss is everyone else’s gain as we
now get the chance to see what life was like both above deck as a royal and
below deck as crew on this award-winning tourist attraction. Unlike the
floating palaces of modern billionaires, the Royal Yacht Britannia has a
curiously homely feel and you really get a feeling for how the royals lived on
it with their chintzy sofas and really quite cramped bedrooms! If your visit to
Edinburgh coincides with a special occasion why not treat yourself to afternoon
tea in the Royal Deck Tea Room?
It’s
not just its royal heritage that will have you feeling like a queen on your
visit to Edinburgh – its fantastic shops, restaurants, bars and scenery will
mean you’ll have an unforgettable break that’ll have you coming back for more.
*This is a guest post that I was compensated for publishing*
