Before we go back down south, let´s stay up in the north just a little more to the west – back in Edinburgh! Right on the foot of Arthurs´s Seat and on the one end of the Royal Mile lies Holyrood Palace.
The Palace of Holyroodhouse (which is the official name) is the residence of the British monarch in Scotland and has been the residence of the Kings and Queens of Scotland since the 16th century. One can even visit Mary, Queen of Scots private chambers and see the bed she slept in. And again she must have been as tiny as Victoria! Even so history tells another story and I wonder how she fitted in her bed?
Mary was eloquent and especially tall by sixteenth-century standards (she attained an adult height of 5 feet 11 inches or 1.80m. (Queen Mary of Scots)
Mary married both of her scottish husband at the palace, in the chapel and in the Great Hall. Also open to the public are the State Apartments – but it isn´t allowed to take pictures while inside the palace.
The garden around the Palace was closed but it was possible to visit the Augustinian Holyrood Abbey – or better said what is left of it. Founded in 1128 and situated near the castle (on the other end of the Royal mile) it became an important administrative centre. It might have been used as a royal residence from the 14th century on until a new gothic palace next to the abbey was built in the 16th century, but also partly destroyed and burned by a Reforming mob in 1559.
After the Scottish Reformation was formalised, the abbey buildings were neglected, and the choir and transepts of the abbey church were pulled down in 1570. (Holyrood Palace)
