*note I had really cool pictures to go with this post but blogger wouldn't load them*
Sunday dawned bright and sunny – well I’m assuming it did as I most certainly wasn’t up at dawn.
With a clear sunny sky – I headed off South on the half hour mildly scenic drive to St Andrews. Parking in St Andrews is a bit of nightmare but thankfully as it was Sunday parking restrictions didn’t apply – there are actually park and ride centres just out side the city centre – but didn’t learn about those until my day was over – well I know for next time.
I had intended to start my visit to St Andrews with one of “100 things to do in Scotland before you die” by having a custard slice from Fisher and Donaldson bakery however it was closed – but gives me an excuse to visit St Andrews again ;)
Decided to keep things simple by picking 2 attractions to see and no, one of them was not the golf course. I choose the Castle & the Cathedral. Both are ruins with a long and somewhat bloody history.
Both the Castle & the Cathedral both had an actor doing little character monologues giving a little of the history of the places.
My first port of call was the castle where I purchased my joint entry ticket to both ruins. And in for a penny in for a pound I also shelled out £2.95 each for booklets for self guided tour of each ruin – not entirely convinced that they were worth the money – but they did get me neatly around both ruins
I was advised that both the Castle & the Cathedral both had an actor doing little character monologues giving a little of the history of the places with the Cathedrals next performance in half an hour – so I headed to the Cathedral.
The Cathedral like so many things in this country isn’t just a historical tourist attraction it’s a living part of the community. People are still interned in this cemetery and as such the grounds are open to all and in addition all the tourists there were many merry picnic groups in the grounds.
Here your admittance gets you access to 2 displays of stone carvings and to the St Rules Tower which is one of the most complete structures at the Cathedral and with your token the non claustrophobic and unafeared of heights can take a steep climb up some very circular stairs and you are presented with a rather breath taking view of St Andrews.
Seeing these tombs pic it becomes clear why incense was/is such a feature of Catholic church services – these tombs were under the floor that had to get stinky!
It was quite fascinating seeing the different styles of headstones through the centuries – the older ones featured skulls and cross bones, and used the words, corpse and body no beating around the bush here. It was also quite common not to just give the date of death and age but no birthdate. And others listed not a burial but a true memorial listing the location of a person’s internment else where in the world.
Following the Actors little presentation which while somewhat informative was pretty average to be honest – I wandered a little more around the cathedral before heading back to the castle for the 2pm performance there. It was the same actor at the Castle as at the Cathedral and once again it was an adequate performance – following the performance I finished my self guided tour of the castle including the underground tunnels.
The Castle was sieged at one point in time with the siegers trying to bring the walls down by tunnelling under the walls the siegers were foiled by the a countermine dug by the defenders. These tunnels were discovered in the Victorian era when a the foundations for a house were being dug. For the non claustrophobic and sure of foot you can venture down into the countermine which is rather narrow and windy through into the mine which is large spacious – at the end of the mine there is a grate pic in the roof which can also be seen in the paving out side the castle grounds pic
Wandering back to my car I passed a house with a sign out the front – saying Preservation Trust, St Andrews Museum & Garden entrance was free so I wandered on in – not a place I would put high on your list of places to visit in St Andrews but mildly interesting – the best part was the garden a lovely oasis and it was delightful to sit quietly for a few minutes and be visited by a bumble bee.
I want to pat a bumble bee!!!! They look so adorable and fuzzy and like they would purr if you did – wonder what a bee would sound like a purring – maybe more of a buuurrrrrrrrzzzzzz
Photos @ Kodak
St Andrews
St Andrews Castle
St Andrews Cathedral
St Andrews Museum & Garden
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