Edinburgh Castle & Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Saturday we spent the morning touring Edinburgh Castle. It was a Saturday which meant it was crazy crowded, which didn’t make for an enjoyable time. Honestly speaking it was a little underwhelming. We strolled around the castle grounds for about 2 hours until we met up with Briana’s parents.

They were setting up for King Charles arrival this week for some sort of celebration.

More photos from the castle:

And the girls couldn’t resist the photo op:

We made our way down the Royal Mile for a tour of The Real Mary King’s Close. On our way to meet up with Briana’s folks, we stopped into an old church that has been converted into an art market.

Mary Kings Close is a historic close located under the Edinburgh City Chambers building on the Royal Mile. As cheesy as this tour was the historical information was amazing. Who would’ve thought that they would just build right on top of homes and seal it shut from the public.

After the tour we proceeded to make our way back to the hotel but not before standing and watching the street performers. And this one was just a little freaky but loved his sign.

I believe they were ready to take a nap!

Yesterday we woke a little later as we had no reservations however we wanted to visit the Scottish National Portrait Gallery before the crowds got large. The interior of the building has this amazing grand hall. First floor was contemporary while the second floor had older works of art that depicted the history of Scotland through portraiture.

My favorite part of the museum was the library. Looked like something straight out of an old university.

And since Briana works for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery she was taking it all in, as she should! And the piece below was my favorite. The lady in the painting is a biologist working in biological anthropology during the Kosovo war.

After the museum we ventured over to Calton Hill which has breath taking views of the city and has what they call Edinburgh’s Acropolis. We took in the views then made our way over to Victory Street, also known as Harry Potter Street.

Once on Victoria Street we strolled through the shops, I bought a new backpack, walked past a Harry Potter Museum, and then we came upon the most eclectic second hand store I’ve ever been in. Sienna and Kiley perused the store while Kiley came out of it with a cashmere sweater, which she loves!