So Edinburgh is my new favourite city. I flew up there for the weekend, and met Luke who has been working in Glasgow for the last few weeks.
Edinburgh castle we didnt actually go into. It's a stunning castle to look at, which you can see from almost anywhere in town, but the weather being lovely while we were there, we decided our time was better spent outdoors.
The Royal Mile is the road the runs down the middle of the medieval part of Edinburgh - from Edinbugh Castle down to Holyrood Palace (which is the Queen's residence when in Edinbugh). It's a lovely cobbled street with little alley ways and closes, most of which lead through to various accommodative buildings. I believe a lot of it is university housing, or just amazing properties that the families arent letting go of any time soon. The Royal Mile also has its fair share of tourist shops, of course. At the far end of the road, which slopes gently downhill all the way, is the new Parliament building, which is very very contemporary in design. Apparently when it was built there was a bit of an uproar about the fact that 1. It had been so bloody expensive, and 2. It looked terribly out of place on the Royal Mile amongst gloriously old and aesthetically pleasing buildings. But you can't please everyone can you.
Just further on from Holyrood Palace is Holyrood Park, a beautiful city park (also, massive!) which has an extinct volcano in the centre of it - Arthur's seat. So Luke and I, ambitiously, decided to climb to the top since the weather was good, and get a few photos overlooking the city. My goodness it was tiring... it looked deceptively easy from the ground. And once we were at the top, the wind threatened to knock you over every time you tentatively creep out from behind whichever rock you chose to cower behind. But we did get some nice photos. And some nice leg cramps.
On the way back down the mountain, the sun came out, and there was a very picturesque rainbow to enjoy. (Again, for photos of all this, I'm afraid you're jsut going to have to join facebook.)
After we crawled back into town, and had a lovely scottish lunch at a pub, we decided it would be best to check in, and finally get rid of our luggage (yes, I know. Stupid to carry it up the mountain). And have a rest. We had tickets to a comedy club for the nighttime, so we went out, had a nice dinner, laughed till we wet ourselves just a little, then walked back to the hotel. Lovely and tiring day.
The following morning, as I whimpered out of bed (both because of the temperature and my aching legs) we decided that something a little less strenuous was in order. Our hotel was right next to the royal botanic gardens, and we have fairly recently bought a digital SLR camera, so we decided to stroll around there, generally just mucking about with the camera. And it was brilliant. Another beautiful day too. After we'd finished with the gardens, we headed back into the old part of town to do a walking tour that was in my guidebook on Edinburgh. It had explanations on a few different medieval landmarks - the corn exchange, where corn used to be exchanged. The grass market, which was a market. There was 'cannonball house', which actually had a cannonball lodged in its outside wall (not due to conflict, it was a marker for something when they were first installing plumbing), and the witches well, where they used to burn witches. Heartwarming stuff. The tour ended in "Greyfriar's Kirkyard", which is a graveyard. Very atmospheric. There's a statue and a grave there for "Greyfriars bobby", which was a dog (named bobby) who was so loyal to his master, that once his master had died, the dog basically guarded the burial site, until his own death. And that statue is the most photographed statue in Edinburgh. I've now added to that statistic.
And so a brilliant time in Edinburgh was cut short by the need to go back to work.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Marseille!
Marseille is beautiful. The old part of town is centered around the central "Vieux Port", which is about as meditteranean as you can imagine. All terracotta and beige buildings, and crystal blue water. And lots and lots of sunshine! The hostel we were staying in was very cute too - several stories of spartan but quaint (and big!) rooms, with little shuttered windows overlooking a central courtyard. Complete with terracotta roofs.
The first day there we started by walking down to the port and strolling around the banks. There was the equivalent of a car boot sale going on at the time, and there was all kinds of bizarre stuff for sale. The best thing I saw was an old diving suit from the 50's or something, one of those big cage helmet things. So we wandered around, looking at seafood markets, flower stalls, and all that water! At the end of the western side of the port is an old fort tower, which is a pretty impressive backdrop when you look at the town from the water. We then just strolled through old streets, all very crowded (with close built buildings and parked cars - never with people), with cute painted wooden shutters, and charismatic cobbled walkways. The ambiance of the place was just so lovely, warm and relaxed, with an idea of unpretentious artiness. A full day of wandering wore us out though - I wasnt used to the heat! The second day there was set off to the port again, but this time to the eastern side. Walking up through an old part of town that had antique markets on (selling everything from silverware, old paintings, 70's lime green furniture, food, books, and even an orange rhino), and here though the buildings were different - more structured and organised - they were equally charming as the haphazard western side. From here we started a slow weave-and-climb up streets and staircases up to the "Notredame de la guard", basically a catholic church at the top of a hill overlooking the city. Beautiful views from up there, out to the Chateau D'if, which is an island prison which Alexander Dumas used as his setting for " The Count of Monte Christo".
Once we had rested and satisfied our need for panoramic shots, we started wandering down the opposite side of the hill, and rather than winding roads and staircases, there was a small footpath that weaved down through a landscaped garden, eventually joining narrow streets at the bottom of the hill that we followed through very quiet parts of town, all the way down to the beach. Along the coast line there's a promenade walkway, which we followed back along to the port. The photographs below are a few snapshots of what we saw along the way.
That afternoon, we headed up to the north part of town where the Botanic Gardens are. The north part of town is not nearly as attractive as the Southern old section that centers around the port. The north is very commercial and residential, in an apartment block kind of way. So we walked for about a half hour through unattractive suburbia, to find smack bang in the middle the most amazing front entrance to the gardens. An enormous semicircle of stone, filled with carvings, grand staircases, fountains and lush grass. I really must recommend you look at my photos on facebook - they're just too annoying and time consuming to upload onto the blog. But the front there really was spectacular. In the gardens we sat and watched french people - roller blading, riding bikes, or just sitting and chatting with icecreams. It was a lovely and relaxing way to spend the afternoon. And eventually we wandered back down to our hostel.
The following day our flight was quite early, so no time for sightseeing. Basically the weekend, although it involved a lot of walking, was really relaxing - all just wandering, taking photos, and enjoying the sunshine.
The first day there we started by walking down to the port and strolling around the banks. There was the equivalent of a car boot sale going on at the time, and there was all kinds of bizarre stuff for sale. The best thing I saw was an old diving suit from the 50's or something, one of those big cage helmet things. So we wandered around, looking at seafood markets, flower stalls, and all that water! At the end of the western side of the port is an old fort tower, which is a pretty impressive backdrop when you look at the town from the water. We then just strolled through old streets, all very crowded (with close built buildings and parked cars - never with people), with cute painted wooden shutters, and charismatic cobbled walkways. The ambiance of the place was just so lovely, warm and relaxed, with an idea of unpretentious artiness. A full day of wandering wore us out though - I wasnt used to the heat! The second day there was set off to the port again, but this time to the eastern side. Walking up through an old part of town that had antique markets on (selling everything from silverware, old paintings, 70's lime green furniture, food, books, and even an orange rhino), and here though the buildings were different - more structured and organised - they were equally charming as the haphazard western side. From here we started a slow weave-and-climb up streets and staircases up to the "Notredame de la guard", basically a catholic church at the top of a hill overlooking the city. Beautiful views from up there, out to the Chateau D'if, which is an island prison which Alexander Dumas used as his setting for " The Count of Monte Christo".
Once we had rested and satisfied our need for panoramic shots, we started wandering down the opposite side of the hill, and rather than winding roads and staircases, there was a small footpath that weaved down through a landscaped garden, eventually joining narrow streets at the bottom of the hill that we followed through very quiet parts of town, all the way down to the beach. Along the coast line there's a promenade walkway, which we followed back along to the port. The photographs below are a few snapshots of what we saw along the way.
That afternoon, we headed up to the north part of town where the Botanic Gardens are. The north part of town is not nearly as attractive as the Southern old section that centers around the port. The north is very commercial and residential, in an apartment block kind of way. So we walked for about a half hour through unattractive suburbia, to find smack bang in the middle the most amazing front entrance to the gardens. An enormous semicircle of stone, filled with carvings, grand staircases, fountains and lush grass. I really must recommend you look at my photos on facebook - they're just too annoying and time consuming to upload onto the blog. But the front there really was spectacular. In the gardens we sat and watched french people - roller blading, riding bikes, or just sitting and chatting with icecreams. It was a lovely and relaxing way to spend the afternoon. And eventually we wandered back down to our hostel.
The following day our flight was quite early, so no time for sightseeing. Basically the weekend, although it involved a lot of walking, was really relaxing - all just wandering, taking photos, and enjoying the sunshine.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
I got all excited, and now i'm procrastinating...
My my my, I have been neglecting my blog.
Lets' see, what have I been doing in the last 4 months since the roadtrip? There was Marseille, Paul and Ky's visit, us going back to Aus, Edinburgh, and the tour of the Jurassic coast. I'd best get cracking. Lucky I have a day off tomorrow. Tune in tomorrow!
Lets' see, what have I been doing in the last 4 months since the roadtrip? There was Marseille, Paul and Ky's visit, us going back to Aus, Edinburgh, and the tour of the Jurassic coast. I'd best get cracking. Lucky I have a day off tomorrow. Tune in tomorrow!
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