[June 2021] After Falkirk, a short trip with a couple of friends who came to Scotland during our stay in Edinburgh, we went to Linlithgow Palace.
This is famous as the birthplace of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots.
I learned a little about her at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which we visited a few days before, and my interest grew, so I was looking forward to it.
However, when we arrived, it was closed.
It was partly under construction.
Linlithgow Palace has a history dating back to the 12th century and was one of the main settlements of the Scottish royal family in the 15th and 16th centuries, during which time Mary was born.
The palace was hit by a fire in 1746 and suffered considerable damage, but is now open to the public as a place to learn about Scottish history.
We unfortunately ended up looking from outside the gate in the rain.
There was a park a little away, and we looked at the building from there, but I am sure this palace is worth looking inside.
After that, we wandered in search of the Antonine Wall.
I didn’t know it at all until my friend told me that the Antonine Wall was built in the 140’s AD after the famous Hadrian’s Wall was built.
I thought that Hadrian’s Wall was built by the Roman Empire for defense after giving up on Scotland, but after that, Emperor Antonin built the Great Wall 160 kilometers north of Scotland.
Perhaps the Roman Empire had not given up on Scotland yet.
There may be only a small stone wall left, but I thought it would be good to think of ancient times, but in the end, we could not find the ruins of the Antonine Wall.
According to the internet information, there are places where you can see it, but we did not do the enough homework beforehand, so we had to miss it this time.
As you can see, we were not very lucky on the day, but the atmosphere of Blackness Castle, which we happened to encounter, was good.
Thanks to the location facing the sea and the grey background because of the bad weather, it was a castle where you can feel something awesome.
Built as a fort in the middle of the 15th century, it used to be a noble residence and a prison.
We couldn’t enter here as it was only for those who had booked in advance, but I could climb a nearby hill to look around.
Before returning to Edinburgh from there, we head to Queensferry, which we visited before.
We looked up at the Forth Bridge from directly below.
It’s quite powerful.
In addition to this bridge, there are two new bridges in Forth Bay, but I confirmed that this red Forth Bridge is the most beautiful and quaint.
