Holyrood Palace & Rosslyn Chapel

This is our last day in Edinburgh and we took and early morning tour of the Holyrood Palace where the Royal family stays in Edinburgh and the Holyrood Abbey ruins behind.  Holy rood is speaking of the Holy Cross and legend has it that originally a relic piece of wood from the cross of Christ may have been in the Abbey.  There is also a story that King Malcolm saw a vision of a  stag with a cross between its antlers and was then led to build the abbey.  Then it was free time for everyone to explore what they wanted. 

My friend Gill came in for the day so we took off for tea after the palace tour and a little shopping on the Royal Mile.  We passed  St. Giles Presbyterian Church and the Adam Smith statue with the cone on his head ...always! We had lunch at the Greyfriars Tavern where the legend of Greyfriar's Bobby lives on.  Bobby was a dog whose master died and everyday he faithfully laid on his grave.  Everyone touches his nose for good luck even though they generally wish people wouldnt.   We visited the National Museum and went up on the roof for the views.  A great view of the Castle and Arthur's seat.  

In the museum, we see some of the other works of Phoebe Anna Traquair and Chales Rennie McKintosh.  McKintosh was a contemporary of Frank Lloyd Wright. Both approached their design in similar ways and we will be visiting the Willow Tea Rooms designed by McKintosh, in Glasgow, in the next few days.  

Then the group took a tour of Rosslyn Chapel.  The chapel is well known from the Dan Brown novel "DaVinci Code" and the movie of the same name.  It is a chapel that goes back centuries with stories if Templar connection, green men in stone and much more.  It is a fascinating piece of architecture.  The upper chapel is fabulously decorated while the small lower chapel has phenomenal acoustics of which our tour guide Stephen and one of the docents took advantage and sang together!  We had a lovely dinner there as well as part of our after hours private tour.

Then the group took a tour of Rosslyn Chapel.  The chapel is well known from the Dan Brown novel "DaVinci Code" and the movie of the same name.  It is a chapel that goes back centuries with stories if Templar connection, green men in stone and much more.  It is a fascinating piece of architecture.  The upper chapel is fabulously decorated while the small lower chapel has phenomenal acoustics of which our tour guide Stephen and one of the docents took advantage and sang together!  We had a lovely dinner there as well as part of our after hours private tour.

Onward to day 6 and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne!

Pastor Carolyn

Singing in the lower chapel of Rosslyn Chapel: https://youtube.com/shorts/VKy8KY7Q_Yg?si=TrS1bguftBtUns19