Stirling Castle

     Saturday Amanda, George and I went to Stirling Castle! We met up at 12, having some general idea of where to go, but in all reality did not really know where we were going. I mean it’s a castle, so kind of hard to miss, but still.We managed to make it to Stirling Castle after some serious uphill walking we made it to the castle entrance.

HAHA, funny sign for Amy

I'm trying to get jumping pictures in front of every castle I go to!!!

Stirling Castle is very cool, and has some great history as well. It is one of the most important and influential castles of the area. Stirling sits at a crossroads of East and West, and also the crossing of the River Forth. It is said that whoever controlled Stirling, controlled Scotland. So it is also known as the “Heart of Scotland”. Stirling Castle sits upon Castle Hill, which is surrounded on 3 sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Stirling castle has also been famous for several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots in 1543. There have only been eight sieges of Stirling Castle. 

So we went inside, and looked around, and I decided I desperately needed coffee........

It's magical....hahah

The coffee wasn't too bad, and we headed out to the "Bowling Greens". We caught up with a tour guide who was guiding a group around the castle, and we decided to join in. This guy was a great story teller, plus he was wearing plaid pants, so he was pretty cool. lol. 

He took us around to the different courtyards and told us about the different things going on around the castle. 

Palace in the castle!!

George and myself in the bowling greens.

wall above the cliffs

Sky walk.......

So we walked around the grounds and then walked under a sky walk...lol. from the 15th century. And we walked into the main square of the Castle. There are many different buildings that different royalty had built. It is clear in the age of buildings as well as architecture. One of the buildings was the chapel where Mary Queen of Scots was crowned. There is also a building where someone was murdered and it is said to be haunted because he is an angry ghost.

This is the museum of the highland military from Stirling. It also holds one of the biggest silver collections, pretty much ever! lol. It was really cool!!

This is a picture of the building holding the "Great Hall". I guess the whole castle used to be covered in this goldy/yellow material. So the castle literally glowed, especially compared to all the stone around. I bet a WHOLE castle made out of "King's Gold" as they called it. Would have been spectacular!!

Below are pictures inside the chapel. There are many historic evens that happened in this specific chapel. There were coronations held in this room. So that felt very historic to go there!!

Next we went into the "Great Hall". This room was primarily used for feasts and events. When we got into this room there was a funny dressed guy talking about what it would be like attend a feast like ones that were held in this room. 

Great Hall

We even hung around to get a picture with him!! hahah

Next we went around looking at some of the grounds. There was a the Douglas Garden, which was dedicated to the man that was killed by the king. This sign cracked me up......

Read that, yes it says peaceful garden, and murdered and thrown his body on the same sign.  

The Nether Baileys and the outer wall of Stirling Castle

Beautiful steep cliffs!!

After exploring the grounds we headed down to the Nether Baileys to see the tapestry exhibition. This was not at all what I was anticipating. I was expecting museum type looking at tapestries. But instead it was literally a workshop where they were working on the next tapestry to go in the "Great Hunt of the Unicorn" set. I have a new found respect for tapestry workers. That work is extremely intricate.....
The one thing that kept going through my mind while we were watching them work is
Suicide rates for tapestry creators must be insanely high!! I don't think I could work an entire day on a piece and only get a square inch of flowers done. NOT MY CUP OF TEA!!!

Next we went to the "Great Kitchens" Exhibit. This is where the working kitchens for the whole castle where housed. They had a separate bakery, and butcher among other rooms. This is a scene in there and all I could think about is,

There's no use in crying over spilled milk, unless you're getting yelled at, then YES YOU CRY!!

Stirling castle was beautiful!! and definitely a must see for those who come to Stirling! It was really fun and interesting day learning about the history of this town that I am living in!! 

Until we meet again!