Edinburgh Castle and New Berwick

We walked up the hill this morning to the Edinburgh Castle. It stands, overlooking the city and far beyond, upon an extinct volcano.  The buildings of the castle range in age from the 12th to the 20th century. It stood as a fortress to royal palace to a military garrison to a state prison. It holds the Crown Jewels, which are beautiful.

The views were beautiful from the castle.

Later in the day we rented our car, a Volvo wagon. Driver sits on the right side of the car, passenger on the left. We had some laughs and a few less comical moments, as we each took turns driving and navigating. All is well! We went off to North Berwick (we learned not to pronounce the w!). It was so much fun to drive along the countryside and the water's edge!

Bass Rock is a beautiful sight about a mile offshore of North Berwick. It's a steep sided volcanic rock, 351 feet in height and home to a large colony of gannets, (like gulls.) The lighthouse was built in 1902.

Robert Lewis Stevenson's "Catriona" refers to this rock.

Tantallon Castle sits aside the North Sea, looking out at Bass Rock. It's a semi-ruined mid 14th century castle. We loved it.  

As we drove down single lane roads to get a good glimpse of the castle, I saw two ring necked pheasants in the fields. 

We drove back to Edinburgh in time for us to see our favorite buildings with a blue sky background. Lovely!

We had a great day. We saw sun, clouds, sleet, rain, then more of each... Throughout the day! Ended the day with dinner at "Howie's" on Princes St., just a few buildings up from our hotel.