Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Castle Witches' Well

 

While waiting for our entry time into the Castle of Edinburgh, I remembered to go look for the Witches' Well which was nearby which I forgot all about visiting the previous day. I guess many people would have pass it by if they have not researched about Edinburgh and it's history of witches. It's just right in front o the castle square really. If you come up from Royal Mile towards the castle, it would be to your right upon entering the Castle square. It isn't very visible, and I guess only those who were interested would seek it out. When it comes to witches and fairies, I'm super interested :) And I knew this was one of the places that I wanted to visit.

It is actually just a small well, if you could call it that. I don't recall seeing any water actually flowing out of it. And it's such a small monument that it would be easily overlooked by everything else in Edinburgh. There wasn't anything grand about it. Just a simple concrete small well with some flowers on it. But the significants of it weight heavily in their history. Dedicated to all the women (and some men) that was killed during the witchhunt of Scotland. But just recently, it has been declared that there were no witches in Scotland, only a big misunderstanding in history.  

Here are some information about the Witches' Well.

At the two side of it, there are further illustration and wordings. One is for bad, "The Evil Eye"....

And the other was for good, "The Hands of Healing". Showing that there are two sides to teh story. Duality? Or the non-existence of it. To me, witches has already been about small ladies, ladies that uses their brain and had knowledge of the world around them, either about the weather, or herbs and medicine, animals and humans all alike. They were just wise women misunderstood and feared. And I get the appeal of it, a lot, of wanting to live alone in a cottage in the woods, looking ugly and hideous so that people would leave you alone :P

And if like fated, there was also a beautiful elegant looking cat just seated there guarding the Witches' Well :)  On this trip, I actually bought a super big book about the occult and witches of Scotland! It cost me 30pounds! And I am as surprised as anyone when I walked out the shop with that book on my last day there! Hahahaha. I just wanted something memorable from Scotland. It was either witches or fairies! Perhaps I will go look for a book on fairies on my next trip :)  I actually saw a beautiful one in the Museum of John Knox. We'll see!

Here's a photo of me while we linger outside the castle waiting to enter it at 930am slot.

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Saturday Morning Farmer's Market at Castle Terrace

 

To the Castle! To the Castle! That was our main goal that day! To see the beautiful Edinburgh Castle in every angle! It was hard to get sick of the view. Trust me, I've tried. It is beautiful at every angle. And this day, we saw it from Castle Terrace area looking up. Perhaps a rarer view from where most people see it from, which was from Prices' Street.  

Castle Terrace ground was beneath the castle at the end of this road. Yes, it was actually quite a walk. We had to go there again when we start our tour for Isle of Skye. So this day was also a recce run for us. It was always better to be sure of the location prior to the actual day. I know it's kinda like double work, but the sureness and no-panic required feeling is well worth it for me. 

Finally we were there! We were even too early for the market! Stalls were just setting up. It was quite a small market, maybe just 100m with two rows of stall on each side. 

Here is the start of the stalls. There are sitting places around for you to sit down and enjoy your food too. Mostly it was food products, ready to eat and raw materials. 

It was fascinating because the Castle was just above us here looming over us. It felt so very very medieval day in the market kinda vibe. I was frankly not looking forward to the climb back up to the castle when it's time for us to head there. I already knew the path I have to take, including the stairs leading all the way up!

Browsing at the some of the stall, we saw these wild garlic and recognise them from our friend's garden in Manchester. The leaves tasted like garlic when you chew on them! I thought they were lovely! Like a herb I would love to eat on toast or sandwiches. 

We did bought some products from a few stall. We here meaning mainly my husband. We stopped to talk for a while with a vendor selling sausages and cured meat. She was so enthusiastic about her product that it really rubs off you! We got some sausages from her.

She also sold some jerkies which my husband love. They make a great snack. I'm not much of a fan of these at all. I just enjoyed talking to her and learning more about all the products she made her self.

As usual, the husband also wanted to try all the fermented drinks that can be found at the market. So he lingers at the Buddy shop trying their drinks. It wasn't that bad. 

He also got a pulled pork burger as breakfast which I got to share some, and I bought this super smooth milk from a stall that was famous for them. I knew it was overpriced as compared to the milk I could have gotten from the supermarket, but this was a local market, so I guess the money I spent would go back to the farmers? And the milk was really famous and delicious too! So no regret! 

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Saturday Morning Walk

 

The next morning, we woke up really early. The plan for that day was to walk to Castle Terrace to visit the Weekend Market first, before going to visit Edinburgh Castle which we got tickets for at 930am. But mainly I wanted to photograph the empty streets of Edinburgh along Royal Mile in the early morning. Looking at these photos now, I felt lucky that it was such a beautiful day. Isn't it awesome that every blue skies day makes me happy, and rainy days makes me feel comfy? Lol. It's hard to lose if your frame of mind is like mine :P

Walk along Royal Mile again, it was so much more quiet and peaceful in the morning. This is probably around 8am? You could see some of the natives out having their morning run. Shops are yet to open, and the cold air is just so refreshing. Plus the sunlight made everything shine!

We walked pass a Central Library. There wasn't any big sign, just this plaque. Maybe I can try visiting it the next time I'm in the city again. I love visiting library.

We walked towards Victoria Street area, but not down towards it. I wanted to visit a vantage point just a level above Victoria Street itself, a place I often see on my social media. I roughly know where it was,  but wasn't too sure of it. Luckily we had a lot of time for wandering!

At this junction, going towards the left side is where the vantage point was. Edinburgh's layout is kinda odd, yet every classic old town. Can we also take some time to appreciate how clean the roads are? And so empty too! 

Some info on this beautiful small church that we walked pass. There were so many lovely churches all around, I wonder why only St Giles' is the one everyone seems to crowd towards to. Sometimes the smaller ones are more much intimate. 

Love the welcome sign of this church. 

Here is a map of Edinburgh from were we were at. 

While we venture further into the alley, we saw interesting houses. Like a Quaker House. I only know Quaker Oats, were the Quaker originated from here? Actually as I learn more about the history of Scotland and the religion in their region, I realised that I also enlighten myself with things I've heard about all my life, yet knew nothing about. So Quaker is one of them.

FreeMason is also another gathering that I learn more about. Sometimes we are taught that these are cults. But actually the more I learn about them, the more I admire them. It seems all these groups were so advance for their time, why is it that they aren't more popular? Why is God and religion more popular to the masses instead?

Finally I was at the edge of the vantage point when I saw these more 'atas' looking dining area. I have read that you could actually have a meal or drinks here while you enjoy the view below of Victoria Street. Ah, if only unlimited money was a thing for me, I would have love that. I love fine dining, and it's not that I can't afford it, but I could never make myself spend ridiculous amount of money to dine for ambiance. If the quality and experience is worth it, I guess I won't mind it so much. But just for ambiance sake? That's a pass for me. 

And here is the view! Victoria Street in the early morning. I love the colourful flags that they have hung all over the street below. It kinda made it felt like a fun fair day. Like something very medieval feel to it. Like a small town festival about to happen!

Here a different view. I took this because of the very British flag on the windows. 

A wefie of us outside The Castle Arms, with Victoria Street below. Edinburgh is such an interesting city in the sense that it's sloped and multi-level. So it takes a lot of leg work to explore the town! Unless you know some shortcuts of course!

Here is one of just me taken by my husband :)

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Thistle Chapel inside St Giles' Cathedral (2/2)

 

Small as it is, the Thistle Chapel has a lot of lovely pieces as well as symbols of Scotland inside of it. Let me start by this super cute lamb holding an old Scottish flag. It looked like a lamb, but it could be a unicorn, the official animal of Scotland? 

Outside at the entrance on the left, is this detailed stone carving showing everything Scotland and England about it. 

I think about is the floor piece? Or maybe a wall piece, memorial of King George VI. 

Royal Plaque. The animal on the left id definitely a unicorn! And on the right is a lion, of England.

A simple cross, but with it's 4 ends decorated with symbols of Christianity.

Somewhere on the top of a wall, could be made of wood, someone holding a spear, probably stabbing a dragon? Could be St George. But in my heart, I wanted it to be an angel holding a spear and stabbing something, lol. I don't know why. 

Another wood piece at the wall, an angel holding the light for me :)

Stained glass inside the chapel.

And here are my attempts of photograhying those symbolic objects found high on these pedestal. 

Not very sure if you can see anything, even when zooming in. I think some items might be ancient animals of Scotland....

Bugger, here is a link to read everything about this chapel! There is just so much details about it. Or alternately you could go to YouTube and watch a documentary about it.

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Thistle Chapel inside St Giles' Cathedral (1/2)

 

Beauty on the ceiling, an intricate carved design of stones. That was even before we stepped into the Thistle Chapel. It was just a small chapel inside the St Giles' Cathedral, and was not often open. So I considered myself lucky to be able to visit it on my very first try! Truth be told, I wasn't having high expectation of it after reading so many disappointing experience from the travel forum. So let me take you inside for a look :)

Above is the entrance to the Thistle Chapel. As you can see, hardly two person could walk in together! It was so narrow, and inside so small! Yet this was the highlight of my visit to St Giles' Cathedral!

A look inside. Madness! It looked like candles were lighted everywhere illuminating the small room! They are not. Those are not candles, but warm yellow lighting from lamps inside. But everything inside was either made of wood or stone, so everything reflected light, which made the whole chapel shine as it does.

If you look up, and you always have to look up inside churches where the heavens are, there are some stained glass surrounding it, and the center pieces was a similar but larger pieces of stone carving. I guess these are Thistle? The national flower of Scotland. How beautiful.

Here is a full view of the ceiling of thisle! They actually kinda looked like skulls to me. Maybe that's why I find the design so cool!

The sides of the wall were all made of wood and well polished! And on them were more symbols and plaques. The room was pretty small, and I think visitors are advice to keep their visit short during peak hours. But since this was almost evening time, no one came and chase us out. There was a tour guide there with his group, so we kinda got some free info from the him during our visit.

He talked about the tall sharp like structure all around the chapel and how each of them held something significant to Scotland. Since the item were so high up, and rather small, it was hard to capture a good photo of them. I'm gonna bet you could probably read up more about it in the internet.

Here is a selfie of us inside Thistle Chapel with the lovely small cross behind us :)  I could have taken a grander background, given everything inside the chapel was over the top beautiful, but I think this simple background reflects us more, and knowing that it was taken inside this lovely chapel was enough for me to be happy :)