Our fourth day in Edinburgh was spent hiking and finishing our visit to the National Museum of Scotland we were too tired to complete the day before. I never thought I’d be hiking up a volcano in Scotland, but there I was, hiking up a volcano in Scotland.
Arthur’s Seat is an extinct volcano in the middle of Edinburgh, and provides you with just about the best view in the city. We rose nice and early that morning, to get started on our hike. It was a bit of a tricky climb at first, but then I got into the rhythm of it and things got easier from there. It was extremely windy, which was good because I never felt too hot or sweaty, and it made for an exciting time at the top.
We hiked up to the summit and were met by a wonderful view.
It’s a pretty cool accomplishment to say you’ve climbed to the top of a volcano, even if it is an extinct one. With the wind howling in our ears, and the clouds dimming the world to grey, we felt like to brave Scots, at the brim of our adventuring.
On our hike back down, we stopped at the ruins of St. Anthony’s Chapel, which date back to at least the 15th century and was part of the Abbeys of Holyrood and Kelso.
We had lunch at the World’s End Pub, where I had my first fish and chips dish of the trip, and we tried a traditional Scottish dish called cranachan, which is whipped cream, raspberries, honey, oats, and whiskey, and it is delicious! I definitely want to try making it at home.
Then it was back to the National Museum of Scotland to finish what we had started! We found the Arthur’s Seat Coffins, which were just as weird and creepy as their story.
They were probably about the size of my index finger, and only 8 of the original 17 survive to this day. If you want to see these coffins for yourself, you may need to ask one of the people who works in the museum to help you find them. We just about walked past them ourselves; they’re in a tiny corridor off-shooting from the main floor of the fourth level in the Scottish history section of the museum – not an easy find, but one of the best you’ll make!
They had a special temporary Egyptian exhibit on display, so we went to see that as well. Ever obsessed with the lives of the ancient Egyptians, I was thrilled to see the scrolls, hieroglyphs, and especially the mummy.
It was a satisfying and informative end to another day of adventuring.
violetsams 