St Andrews & Queensferry

This Saturday I went to Queensferry and St Andrews with the International Society. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and first stop was Queensferry to gawp at Forth Bridge. This Railway bridge opened in 1890, and it is 2528,7 meters long. That is longer than Galdhøpiggen is tall.

Forth Bridge

Forth Road Bridge, where the cars drive across.

There was a pretty, ruin-like thing in between two of the spans. The internet tells me the island is called Inchgarvie and it has had some form of castle and fortification on it since the Middle Ages.

Tiny train on the bridge.

Long train on the bridge.

Here you can see the Forth Bridge on the right and the Forth Road Bridge on the left. 

I met this fellow on the pier extending by the Forth Bridge.

I'm standing in the water taking pictures of the bridge! (I'm not).

We drove on towards St. Andrews. On the way we passed a dear farm and a town with a church.

We then arrived in the town of St Andrews, home of golf and Scotlands oldest university. The coaches dropped us of by the beach.

Funny rocks to climb.

First view of St Andrews

View of West Sands beach, which I'll return to later.

Little birdie in the sea.

Little birdie in the sky.

Me with the view.

I also came across some petroglyph, rock carvings. I would say they date from late Bronze Age/early Iron Age.

Here you can see a symbol resembling a skull. It is possible it marked the entrance to the realm of the dead, which was believed to be located near sandy beaches at that time.

This is a glimpse into what people were called back then. Wether Ellle is a man's or a woman's name is not known.
As for the symbol on the right, you might say it is a heart, but the heart shape originated in the middle ages. This shape is probably meant to represent the boundaries of a family's territory. The symbols of the four people who lived within this enclosure are engraved on the rock. You might say it is the earliest example for 'home is where the heart is'.

This symbol is not Celtic or Pictish or Scottish. It originates in east Asia and denotes contact between the two continents. It is quite possible it was the Asian merchants who left this symbol behind when they traded their spice for bronze.

Martyrs Monument

University of St Andrews, founded in 1410-13, oldest university in Scotland and third oldest in the English speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge.

University if St Andrews

University of St Andrews

My mom doesn't like this plant, but I do, so I have to include a picture of it.

St Andrews Castle was covered in scaffolding, not very pretty for photographs. I didn't pay to go into the Castle grounds, instead hurrying on to the cathedral.

St Andrews Castle

St Andrews Castle

Last time I went to St Andrews I walked around the ruins of St Andrew Cathedral. You can see pictures here. This time I climbed up Rules Tower, something I didn't have time for last time. The view from the top was beautiful, but the wind wasn't kind. When I could no longer feel my fingertips I climbed down again.

Rules Tower.

The journey went on to the old golf course.

Here you can find Swilcan Bridge, a over 700 years old stone bridge. Originally built to help farmers get their livestock across it has now become an icon for the golf sport.

If you have seen the film Chariots of Fire (1981), at least the opening sequence, you might recognize the following sceneries. In fact, refresh your memory with this:

This is the hotel they are running towards.

This is West Side Beach, which they are running along.

It was about to get dark, we climbed back into our coaches and drove home.

Falkland Palace and St. Andrews

Part one of the Scotland adventures!

This friday I went on a bus tour hosted by the university. It was a part of the Oriantaion Programme and I had to sign up in advance. There were six different tours and you could sign up for one of them. It was first come, first serve, so by the time I signed on two of the tours were full. I googled the places and settled on Falkland Palace and St Andrews of the tours that were left.

Falkland is a small village, formerly a royal burgh, located in the county of Fife. It has a population of between 1000-2000 inhabitants.

The main attraction of the City is the Falkland Palace. Falkland Castle was built some time in the 12th century and used primarily for hunting. In the 14th century the castle came into the hands of the Scottish Crown. In the early 16th century James IV and James the V made the castle into a beautiful palace in the french renaissance style. It is one of two palaces in Scotland furbished in this style.

The palace was a popular hunting resort with the Scottish Crown in the 16th and early 17th century. After a fire in the mid 17th century the Palace and the village along with it were neglected and fell into disrepair.

In 1887 the keeper of the Palace, the by then millionaire John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, started restoring the Palace in all it renaissance beauty. His sons continued his work until the 5th Marquess of Bute appointed the National Trust for Scotland as Deputy Keepers in 1952. Today it is the National Trust who takes care of the Palace and its extensive gardens.

There is also a tennis court here, or a Real Tennis Court, because apparently there is a difference. Built in 1539 it is the world's oldest tennis court still in use, and home to the Falkland Palace Royal Tennis Club.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but a quick search on google yielded some images.

This is the chapel, picture found here.

This is the Queen's Bedroom. It is not in its original place, but refurbished this way by the keepers of the Palace.
Picture found here.

This was originally a guard chamber or a chamber used by the priests as it is directly above the chapel.
The keepers of the palace made it their own room and filled it with their own stuff. Picture found here.

Over to St. Andrews! St. Andrews is a town on the east coast of the county Fife. It is home to the University of St. Andrews, the third oldest university in the English speaking world, the oldest university in Scotland and one of the most prestigious in Britain. During term time students make up one third of the population.

St. Andrews is also known as the "home of golf," partly because the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is the one who have legislative authority over the game worldwide (except the US and Mexico). Golf doesn't really interest me though, I went to see the old Cathedral.

St Andrews Cathedral is now a ruin. It is a Roman Catholic cathedral built in 1158. It fell into disuse and ruin when Catholic mass was banned in the 16th century. The ruins indicate that the Cathedral was over 100 meters long, and it is the largest church ever built in Scotland.

I wandered around the grave yard and the ruins of the cathedral.

Some of the grave markers were embedded into the wall. I think it made them seem really old.  

Suddenly, Aslan being killed on a stone table made a lot more sense.

This is St Rule's tower, and I think it predates the church.
You could go inside but I didn't have the time or know where to buy a ticket.

The picture above and below is the entrance to the cathedral, before and now. 

There were also some castle ruins nearby, but I didn't have the time to look at them. Maybe some other time.