Earlier this year, in preparation for this 2nd part of my Sabbatical leave, I was finding the overall costs to be much higher than they had been for my trip to Spain and Portugal. In order to cut costs but not the experiences, I opted to schedule hostels as my accommodations for my time in the UK. AirBnB prices become cheaper again once I get to France. However, into my second week here I’ve decided that hostels (as nice as they are in Europe) are just not my thing. There is literally no privacy. And, as much as I like to be around people, I can’t do it 24/7. So, I splurged on the cheapest hotel in Edinburgh that I could find. Thankfully, the accommodation is quite nice. See pictures below. What made it cheap is that it is pretty far from the historical Old Town part of the city, which is just under 2 miles away. AND, I’m on the top floor of a building that has no elevator! At the end of the day, those stairs never seemed to end.
I visited John Knox’s home and the church (St Giles, also known as The Kirk) where he preached in Edinburgh. John Knox is known as the father of Presbyterianism in Scotland, which is called the Church of Scotland. This is different from the Church of Ireland, as I talked about a couple of days ago. The Church of Ireland traces it’s roots back to St. Patrick in the 10th Century, while the Church of Scotland traces it’s roots back to the time of the Reformation where John Knox learned reformed theology from John Calvin. I’m not going to say much more about Church History other than that as the Reformation and the beginnings of Presbyterianism are very complex and mult-layered subjects for a much lengthier discussion.
John Knox’s home is now a museum and it was a great place to get a feel for what life must have been like back in the late 16th/early 17th Centuries.
Tomorrow I have tickets to see Edinburgh Castle, HolyRoodPalace, and a Scotch Whiskey/Food Tasting Event.
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