Picture Perfect: Rosslyn Chapel and Calton Hill

While many of the trips we took Bev on are places we've been before, we decided to try something different and go somewhere completely new.

Nestled in the history county of Midlothian, Rosslyn Chapel sits on a small hill in Roslin Glen. Originally a Catholic collegiate church, It was built in the mid 1400's by William Sinclair a man of many titles who's family holds a good bit of prominence in Scotland's history.

This Earl of Caithness, Jarl of Orkney, Lord Sinclair, and Baron of Roslin had the chapel built to be a place of worship for the Sinclair family.

Rosslyn was only in use by the Sinclair's for a little over a hundred years and was abandoned and left to decay until Queen Victoria visited the ruins in 1842 and thought it should be preserved. Work commenced and 20 years later, opened it's doors once again under the Scottish Episcopal Church.

In 1995 the Rosslyn Chapel Trust was established and extensive conservation and restoration began and ran until July 2011. The 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown and subsequent 2006 film (of the same name) heavily feature Rosslyn leading it to become a tourist haven attracting over 150,000 tourists annually.

It's a beautiful chapel. A lot of time, energy and expertise went into the masterful stonework. The stone carving is so intricate and beautiful. Don't tell anyone, but you're totally not allowed to take pictures inside. The guide told me to put my camera away only after I had taken a bunch 😂 Oops.

We left Rosslyn and headed into downtown Edinburgh. Greg and I had been a few weeks before to see the National Galley and Museums (totally hokey and not worth it IMO, the London equivalents are 1000x better) and we found it a little too crowded with COVID going on. This time we decided to take Bev up to Calton Hill to get 360° views of this amazing city. Thankfully, we called and got permission to drive up instead of walking since the only way up normally is by Taxi.

High up top on Calton Hill lie the National Monument of Scotland, Portuguese Cannon, and Dugald Stewart Monument and are accompanied by fantastic views of the Firth of Forth to the north and the majestic Pentland Hills to the south. Picturesque views of both Holyrood Park and Edinburgh Castle also dot the panoramic skyline. Fun fact: Calton hill is 103 meters high, just about 6 feet shy of the highest point in all of Florida! Boy was it windy and cold. Night descended quickly and we decided to head back home but not before getting so amazing photos!

Our next adventure on Bev's Tour of Scotland takes us back to our favorite place, The Isle of Skye! Stay Tuned!