May 16 - Edinburgh, Scotland

Today we docked in Rosyth, a port for Edinburgh on the Firth of Forth, the estuary of the river Forth. I must be one of the luckiest people on the planet because I had another marvelous day.

In the morning I went on a ship’s excursion to Rosslyn Chapel.  If any of you read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, then the name will be familiar because the chapel is featured in the climax of the book. The chapel is privately owned by the 7th Earl of Rosslyn.  Its construction was begun around 1456 and it was originally planned to be in a cruciform shape, but that was never completed. Only the choir was built with a chapel called the Lady Chapel adjoining.  The building is heavily carved with lots of gargoyles and many figures called green men, which are human faces with greenery all around them even coming out of their mouths sometimes.  There are more than 200 cubes or boxes carved on the pillars with lots of intricate designs in them.  People have speculated about what the meaning of these are but no one really knows.  I suppose the speculation offered a good opportunity for Dan Brown to come up with an exciting tale involving Knights Templar and the Holy Grail.

When we left the Chapel we took a whirlwind ride through Edinburgh.  I can’t really call it a tour and then we went across one of the three bridges crossing the Firth and I was back at the ship.  That’s when the really marvelous day began! I had arranged for my friend Beena, who is a doctor in the area and whom I met on the Quest, to meet me.  After some mix-ups on meeting, she arrived at the pier with her friend Paul and they whisked me off.

Our first stop was the village of Culross.  I’ve never watched the series Outlander, but evidently parts are filmed in this little village.  We visited the ”palace” of a man named Sir George Bruce who was a smart merchant in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Sir George constructed the first moat pit coal mine which extended under the sea.  He evidently was a pretty decent man because he paid his miners fair wages and wouldn’t allow very young children to work in the mines which was common practice at the time.  At some point he figured out that the waste coal could be used for drying out sea water and producing salt, which was a very valuable commodity.  He persuaded King James I of England (James VI of Scotland) to declare Culross a Royal Borough which allowed Sir George to trade with foreign countries.  

Main street of the village of Culross

Beena and me in front of the palace

These chess pieces were slices of wood

The palace, which is really a grand house, was remarkable.  It was furnished to look exactly as it did in the 16th century with real embroidered bed hangings and furniture.  It had the most marvelous garden on a large terrace above the house. It was obviously the center of the little village which has less than 400 residents.

As we left the house the gatekeeper was an older gentleman who told us the most fascinating things about the subject of a statue in the square in front of the house.  The figure was of Admiral Thomas Cochrane. This man came from Culross and had a distinguished career in the British navy and served in Parliament where evidently some kind of scandal occurred.  During his career he helped both Brazil and Chile in their fight for independence from Spain.  I don’t know the whole story but apparently Queen Victoria insisted that Cochrane be buried in the center nave at Westminster Abbey.  Every year on May 18 a delegation from Chile comes and lays a wreath on his grave at the Abbey.  For lovers of the novels by C.S. Forester, the character Horatio Hornblower was created based on Admiral Cochrane and in the movie Master and Commander Captain Jack Aubrey was based on Cochrane as well.

The real Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey

After our visit to Culross, Paul drove us into Edinburgh to the Botanical Garden and that’s where the excitement began.  No, we didn’t walk around looking at exotic plant specimens.  It was out in front that we met our driver who gave us each a leather jacket, helmet and goggles, and off we went on our three wheeled motorcycle (it’s called a trike) tour of Edinburgh. I have never before been on anything remotely like this and was it ever fun and exhilarating!!!  We zipped around the streets of Edinburgh where I saw the lovely Georgian row houses with their huge variety of chimneys and carvings.  We passed Edinburgh Castle which sits high atop one of the city’s seven hills.  We rode down the Royal Mile between the Castle and Holyrood Palace where Mary, Queen of Scots lived. I can tell you now that you see things riding on one of these that you would never, ever see from a car or a bus.  Along the way we stopped at Regency Street on a quiet corner and we had hot coffee and an oat cake.  It was probably one of the most fun days I’ve had and something I’ll never forget.

Our ride

Edinburgh Castle

This and the next couple are of Georgian row houses

Can you make out the name of this café and hostel in the oldest part of the city in the shadow of the castle?

At the end of our ride we took a taxi back to the ship. I had arranged for Beena to come aboard as my guest and we were supposed to have dinner.  There was another snafu and it turned out we didn’t have time for dinner but we went up to the nicest bar on the ship for a drink and we did a little walk around so she could see this ship.  She hadn’t been on this class before.  Finally, we went to say hello to Chef Trevor because he’s from here and my friend is his family’s doctor.  It’s just too bad that Seabourn mixed up our plans for dinner.  Oh well.  It was a lovely day.  I walked her out to meet her car and we said tearful goodbyes.

Seeing new places and experiencing new things are both wonderful, but truly the best part of my travels has been the chance to reunite with old friends, make new ones and talk to lots of people along the way.  I feel like my world is getting bigger every day and with every trip.