Touring Stirling
We got up at 8:00 am, took showers and got ready, and walked a few doors down to a little cafe for a traditional Scottish breakfast. This was a huge meal including tea, toast, bacon, baked beans, grilled sausage, black pudding, an egg, and a potato scone! I was a little scared about the black pudding - basically sausage made of blood - but I just had to think of it as sausage. The food was so delicious and we loved all of it!
We planned on taking a Stirling bus tour today that only cost £5. We waited at the bus stop, and at 10:00 we saw the Sightseeing Tours bus speeding around the corner. The driver didn't look like he was going to slow down! So we jumped up from our seats and got his attention, and he picked us up. Well, it turns out that he was headed to the gas station first before picking people up at the bus stop, and that's why he was in such a hurry, haha. We were just happy to be on board though, and we patiently waited for him while he filled up at the gas station.
This was a hop on-hop off tour that included 12 stops, and a bus came every 30 minutes to each stop to take people to the next one. After picking some people up, the bus took us to our first stop, the National Wallace Monument. When we got off the bus, we saw the gift shop and a statue of William Wallace that said "FREEDOM." Then a van took us up the hill to the monument. We had the option of paying £4.50 to climb the 246 steps in the tower and see the sword, but we decided against it. We just took pictures of the memorial and the gorgeous view of the city from the hilltop.
A dad helping his 2 kids fight with the swords they just got from the gift shop:
The next stop on the tour was Stirling Castle. We had just visited it the night before, but we knew it would look completely different during the day. There were more people on the bus this time, so we decided to sit in the seats on the top of the bus :).
The tour guide:
I took a picture of the National Wallace Monument as we drove far away from it. It really stands out above the city!
It was £4.50 to go inside this one too, so we just took pictures from the outside. We were planning on taking the bus back to Edinburgh in the afternoon, so we only had a few hours left in Stirling. Instead of waiting for the bus to come and take everyone to the next stop, we decided we were done with the bus and walked into town since it was close. We passed the Old Town Jail (also £4.50 to go inside) and a pretty cemetery, which we took several pictures of.
The cemetery with Stirling Castle in the background:
We saw lots of Celtic crosses:
Walking into town:
The Old Town Jail:
Flag of Scotland:
We walked through the Old Town and got to the busy city.
This picture looks like it belongs on a visitor's brochure, haha:
This cute dog, tied to a pole, obediently sat and waited for its owner to finish shopping in a store. I was hoping it could ironically be a Scottish Terrier (haha) but I'm not really sure. :)
We were walking back to our hostel and realized there was an Oxfam right next door to our hostel! I told Leigh Ann we had to go in since that's where I volunteer in Oxford :). This one was just a bookstore (no clothes, or home decor like the one in Oxford). We looked around for a few minutes and each bought a book. Then we went to our hostel to get our luggage, made a quick stop at the post office so Leigh Ann could mail a couple postcards, and headed to the bus station. It was 1:15 pm, and the next bus for Edinburgh wasn't until 2:45 pm, so we just waited inside the bus station and got some food to kill time.
The bus came and we got back into Edinburgh around 3:45 pm. We first went to our hostel, a different one called the Belford Hostel. This was a really cool place to stay because it was actually converted from a church to a hostel! We were in a small room with 3 bunkbeds, but nobody else was staying in the room with us, so we had our own room. We even had a little stained glass window :).
A funny mural on the wall downstairs including a cartoon haggis perched in the tree! Haha
We bought tickets for a Ghost & Ghouls Tour tonight, which was basically a tour of haunted places in Edinburgh! The group was to meet at 7:00 pm at St. Giles Cathedral, which was a long walk from our hostel (although it was very close to where our first hostel was). We didn't want to pay for a bus, so we left our hostel and started walking in that direction. On the way, we stopped for dinner at the Doric Tavern. Leigh Ann had Haggis, Tatties & Neeps, and I had Bangers & Mash (sausages and potatoes). We passed beautiful scenery and lots of upscale shops on the way to town. It was about 5:45 pm when we got into the area, and we still had about an hour before the tour. We shopped at some tourist places, browsed a whisky shop, and took some beautiful pictures of Edinburgh Castle while the sun was setting. Then it was time for our tour!
We saw a man in a kilt!
Edinburgh Castle:
St. Giles Cathedral, where we met for our tour:
The tour was really good! About 50 people were in our group, including a handful of kids. The guide was a passionate woman and the audience really listened to her! We walked down the road to different spots, and the guide told spooky true stories. We even walked into a sort of cave underground with lots of chambers, and candles and lanterns lit the way. I wasn't too scared during the tour, but there were definitely some stories that were scary if they were really true (I'm a skeptic, haha)! When we went underground, the guide told us we were going to avoid a certain section of the caves because they have had "incidents" happen there during tours in the past....
The guide staging a demonstration of punishments on volunteers from the audience:
Preparing to go underground:
In one of the chambers, there was a skeleton (Is it real?) lying on the ground, and I took a picture of it. Well, Leigh Ann didn't see the skeleton when we were on the tour, and when she was going back through our pictures, she got a pretty good scare from seeing the skeleton in this picture!
After the tour, we went to a pub called Albanach and got Bailey's, and then we walked all the way back to our hostel. We went to bed right away, because we were getting up really early in the morning to go to Ireland!
We planned on taking a Stirling bus tour today that only cost £5. We waited at the bus stop, and at 10:00 we saw the Sightseeing Tours bus speeding around the corner. The driver didn't look like he was going to slow down! So we jumped up from our seats and got his attention, and he picked us up. Well, it turns out that he was headed to the gas station first before picking people up at the bus stop, and that's why he was in such a hurry, haha. We were just happy to be on board though, and we patiently waited for him while he filled up at the gas station.
This was a hop on-hop off tour that included 12 stops, and a bus came every 30 minutes to each stop to take people to the next one. After picking some people up, the bus took us to our first stop, the National Wallace Monument. When we got off the bus, we saw the gift shop and a statue of William Wallace that said "FREEDOM." Then a van took us up the hill to the monument. We had the option of paying £4.50 to climb the 246 steps in the tower and see the sword, but we decided against it. We just took pictures of the memorial and the gorgeous view of the city from the hilltop.
A dad helping his 2 kids fight with the swords they just got from the gift shop:
The next stop on the tour was Stirling Castle. We had just visited it the night before, but we knew it would look completely different during the day. There were more people on the bus this time, so we decided to sit in the seats on the top of the bus :).
The tour guide:
I took a picture of the National Wallace Monument as we drove far away from it. It really stands out above the city!
It was £4.50 to go inside this one too, so we just took pictures from the outside. We were planning on taking the bus back to Edinburgh in the afternoon, so we only had a few hours left in Stirling. Instead of waiting for the bus to come and take everyone to the next stop, we decided we were done with the bus and walked into town since it was close. We passed the Old Town Jail (also £4.50 to go inside) and a pretty cemetery, which we took several pictures of.
The cemetery with Stirling Castle in the background:
We saw lots of Celtic crosses:
Walking into town:
The Old Town Jail:
Flag of Scotland:
We walked through the Old Town and got to the busy city.
This picture looks like it belongs on a visitor's brochure, haha:
This cute dog, tied to a pole, obediently sat and waited for its owner to finish shopping in a store. I was hoping it could ironically be a Scottish Terrier (haha) but I'm not really sure. :)
We were walking back to our hostel and realized there was an Oxfam right next door to our hostel! I told Leigh Ann we had to go in since that's where I volunteer in Oxford :). This one was just a bookstore (no clothes, or home decor like the one in Oxford). We looked around for a few minutes and each bought a book. Then we went to our hostel to get our luggage, made a quick stop at the post office so Leigh Ann could mail a couple postcards, and headed to the bus station. It was 1:15 pm, and the next bus for Edinburgh wasn't until 2:45 pm, so we just waited inside the bus station and got some food to kill time.
The bus came and we got back into Edinburgh around 3:45 pm. We first went to our hostel, a different one called the Belford Hostel. This was a really cool place to stay because it was actually converted from a church to a hostel! We were in a small room with 3 bunkbeds, but nobody else was staying in the room with us, so we had our own room. We even had a little stained glass window :).
A funny mural on the wall downstairs including a cartoon haggis perched in the tree! Haha
We bought tickets for a Ghost & Ghouls Tour tonight, which was basically a tour of haunted places in Edinburgh! The group was to meet at 7:00 pm at St. Giles Cathedral, which was a long walk from our hostel (although it was very close to where our first hostel was). We didn't want to pay for a bus, so we left our hostel and started walking in that direction. On the way, we stopped for dinner at the Doric Tavern. Leigh Ann had Haggis, Tatties & Neeps, and I had Bangers & Mash (sausages and potatoes). We passed beautiful scenery and lots of upscale shops on the way to town. It was about 5:45 pm when we got into the area, and we still had about an hour before the tour. We shopped at some tourist places, browsed a whisky shop, and took some beautiful pictures of Edinburgh Castle while the sun was setting. Then it was time for our tour!
We saw a man in a kilt!
Edinburgh Castle:
St. Giles Cathedral, where we met for our tour:
The tour was really good! About 50 people were in our group, including a handful of kids. The guide was a passionate woman and the audience really listened to her! We walked down the road to different spots, and the guide told spooky true stories. We even walked into a sort of cave underground with lots of chambers, and candles and lanterns lit the way. I wasn't too scared during the tour, but there were definitely some stories that were scary if they were really true (I'm a skeptic, haha)! When we went underground, the guide told us we were going to avoid a certain section of the caves because they have had "incidents" happen there during tours in the past....
The guide staging a demonstration of punishments on volunteers from the audience:
Preparing to go underground:
In one of the chambers, there was a skeleton (Is it real?) lying on the ground, and I took a picture of it. Well, Leigh Ann didn't see the skeleton when we were on the tour, and when she was going back through our pictures, she got a pretty good scare from seeing the skeleton in this picture!
After the tour, we went to a pub called Albanach and got Bailey's, and then we walked all the way back to our hostel. We went to bed right away, because we were getting up really early in the morning to go to Ireland!
posted by Lisa @ 10:40 PM
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