Holyrood: Palace, Abbey and Park

Well, I've been in Lincoln, England two full days now but am not yet finished posting about Edinburgh.  There's just so much there!  I'll see how much catch-up I can do tonight.

This post is about Holyrood - the Palace, the Abbey, and the Park.  Parts of it date back to at least 1128 and the time of King David I of Scotland.  The word "rood" is a name for the Holy Cross.  The name Holyrood is either derived from a vision King David had of a stag with a cross between its antlers or from a fragment of the True Cross which had belonged to Queen Margaret (Saint Margaret), David's mother.  The Abbey was established first, but by 1329 there may have been a royal residence here.

HOLYROOD PALACE - images moving from the full facade into the inner courtyard - 

"Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" - "No one attacks me with impunity"

Notice that the columns on the building facade become more elaborate as you go up from floor to floor - from Doric, to Ionic to Corinthian.  This is similar to the "system" inside the palace (where, unfortunately, pictures were not allowed to be taken) - rooms starting out quite nice and moving to more and more elaborate as you move closer and closet to the inner-sanctum of the monarch.

There is so much history here that I can't really process all of it from a trip in which this was a couple of hours one day.  The history goes back 900 years!  The names that stood out most to be as being associated with this palace are King David I, Mary Queen of Scots, James VI and I, George IV, and Elizabeth II.  It is a "working palace."  When the Queen is in Scotland officially, this is her residence.  The Queen is generally here the last week in June and the first week in July each year.

Part of the palace is kept as it had been in the time of Mary, Queen of Scots.  Her chamber can be seen, as well as the small room just off of it where she was meeting with her private secretary David Rizzio when he was dragged out of the room and murdered in front of her by her husband, Lord Darnley and his conspirators.  She was pregnant with the future James VI/I at the time.

HOLYROOD ABBEY - first part of the Holyrood complex - founded in 1128 - 

Holyrood Palace and Holyrood Abbey as seen from Holyrood Park

The ruin of the abbey began in 1544 during the "War of the Rough Wooing."  During the Scottish Reformation in 1559,  a mob destroyed the altars and looted the church.  There was rebuilding, but in 1688, during the time of the "Glorious Revolution" a mob again looted it - destroying the Chapel Royal and desecrating royal tombs - and so it went.  In 1687 the Protestant Congregation was moved to the new Kirk of the Canongate.

Canongate Kirk from the back

Canongate Kirk

Canongate Kirk with sculpture of poet Robert Fergusson out front

 HOLYROOD PARK

Edinburgh isn't just all castles, palaces and history.  I can imagine outdoor enthusiast spending a lot of time in Holyrood Park!  It is open to the public, but it used to be exclusively a royal park.  In 1541, James V had a wall put around Arthur's Seat, Salibury Crags, and Duddingston Crags.  As you can see from the map there are many trails of varying degrees of difficulty.

The park as seen from the palace gardens

St. Margaret's Loch as seen from St. Anthony's Chapel

Me at St. Anthony's Chapel

Up, up, up the hill we go!

It gets rocky at the top

OK, so I haven't really figured out the whole selfie thing - but check out how steep this is!

Edinburgh Castle is dwarfed!

THE Top

The top of the top

Cool top on the other pillar

Another one of me just because I made it!

Some flora on the way back down

Flora close-up

I was SO happy to find this cute little ice-cream truck at the bottom of the hill.  Boy, did the owner select a good location!  Yes, a sprinkle waffle cone with vanilla ice-cream! It was yummy! :-)