The castle is an impressive pile, seeming to grow up out of the native basalt peak. Vertical cliffs make it unassailable from the north, the side that faces the sea, the Firth of Forth. The other castle sides bristle with cannon, including a monster named Mons Meg, built to fire 20" diameter stone balls a distance of two miles.
Despite all of its impressive defenses, it turns out that Edinburgh Castle has been attacked by force or by stealth some 26 times... and in most of these attacks the castle was taken by the attackers. As a result, much of the structure has been destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed again until no one knows exactly what it looked like... until now when it's only besieged daily by tourists like ourselves.
We had the good fortune to visit the Royal hill fort on a partially sunny day (we only had three rain showers) so we got some beautiful views of the city below and the Firth beyond. Here's some of what we saw.
"Fixed Fortifications are monuments to human stupidity" -- G.S. Patton, who battered down a fair number of them. Just as crossbows effectively ended the age of armored combatants, artillery rendered castles useless. It doesn't matter how thick you build the walls, fire enough shells at it and you'll knock it down. The Germans built "the Atlantic wall" to keep the allies out; it took V Corps six hours to get through it on Omaha beach.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Beautiful pictures.
ReplyDeleteGosh is this exciting or what. I am so very happy feeling like I am walking with you. feeling the beauty and the history and smelling the air. I wonder how the my father?s people cam from and somehow it make me feel grateful I am Irish as well>
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