Part 4: Stirling Castle

A trip to Scotland would not be complete with a trip to a 'real' castle.  The most famous one is Edinburgh Castle.  In case you haven't noticed, there is no mention of Glasgow or Edinburgh in any of these posts.  We decided to skip them and concentrate on rural Scotland.  Another reason we skipped Edinburgh - the British Open was in St. Andrews (about 40 miles north) and figured the whole area would be packed with golfers and tourists.
Our next choice was Stirling Castle.  As you can see by my map, it was perfectly located for a visit on our way back.  Plus, it is not as crowded as Edinburgh Castle (about 400,000 vs. 1.4 million visitors per year, respectively).  But, from what I have read, Stirling Castle is just as impressive as Edinburgh Castle.

Hope this has helped.

  On the road again...

  Stirling Castle.  I saw this neat building while in the car.  I took a photo of it without realizing it was the castle. 

  The entrance.  Kind of disappointing; was expecting a grand entrance like you see at southern mansions.

  The castle from the parking lot.

 

  The surrounding countryside.

  ...and more.

  Queen Anne's garden.  The royal families had used this since the 1400's. 

  An outside wall.

  More views of the surrounding country side.

  ...and more.

  A sunless sundial.  If the sun had been out, it would have shown it to be 11:25 AM.

  Lots of tourists, but since the castle is so big, you would never know it.

  Along an outside wall.

  I guess this was a formidable barrier to invasion.

  The king's outer chamber.  In 2001, a major restoration project returned much of the inner castle to what it probably looked like in the 1540's.  In 2011, Queen Elizabeth attended the dedication to the finished restoration. 

  The king's inner chamber.  

  The queen's bedchamber.

  The queens inner chamber.

  The Great Hall built by James IV around 1503.  It was basically a huge banquet hall. Could not get a good photo of the entire building.  You can see a little more of it 2 photos down.

Robert the Bruce (AKA Robert I) was king of Scotland from 1306 until his death in 1329.

  Another view from outside the castle.

  This was found at the palace behind some wood paneling dating back to the 1500's.  It was made from leather and an inflated pigs bladder.  

  Downtown Stirling.

  A neighborhood just outside of town.

  Robert Burns 1759 to 1796. I guess they just liked him in Stirling.  He was born in Alloway (about 40 miles north of Portpatrick) and died in Dumfries (about 50 miles east of Portpatrick).  Doesn't seem to have anything to do with Stirling.

  We need a lot of these in Sun City.

  A pleasant sitting area along one of the main streets.

  Our last B and B in Scotland - The Ivy.  It is in an area called the Bridge of Allen, about 1 1/2 miles north of the castle and 2 miles north of Stirling.