46 Accessible Edinburgh: A Festival Guide Sights 47
crowds. If you plan to visit both the Palace of Holyroodhouse and
the Queen’s Gallery, purchase a combined ticket, which costs
about 60% of the two tickets bought separately.
Duddingston Parish Church
http://www.duddingstonkirk.co.uk; Old Church Lane; church 1-4pm Thu
& 2-4pm Sun Aug only, kirkyard dawn-dusk; bus 42
Poised on a promontory overlooking Duddingston Loch, this
church is one of the oldest buildings in Edinburgh, with some
interesting medieval relics at the kirkyard gate: the Joug, a met-
al collar that was used, like the stocks, to tether criminals and
sinners, and the Loupin-On Stane, a stone step to help gouty and
corpulent parishioners get onto their horses. The early-19th-
century watchtower inside the gate was built to deter body-
snatchers.
There’s an induction loop as well as loudspeakers to assist
hearing. There’s level access, accessible toilets and a dedicated
wheelchair space.
Holyrood Abbey
9.30am-6pm Apr-Oct, to 4.30pm Nov-Mar; buses 6, 35, 60
King David I founded the abbey here in the shadow of Salisbury
Crags in 1128. It was probably named after a fragment of the
True Cross (rood is an old Scots word for cross), said to have
been brought to Scotland by his mother, St Margaret. Most of the
surviving ruins date from the 12th and 13th centuries, although
a doorway in the far southeastern corner has survived from the
original Norman church.
Admission to the abbey is included in the cost of the Palace of
Holyroodhouse ticket. Wheelchair access is via a wooden ramp.
Our Dynamic Earth
http://www.dynamicearth.co.uk; Holyrood Rd; adult/child £13.50/9;
10am-5.30pm Easter-Oct, to 6pm Jul-Aug, 10am-5.30pm Wed-
Sun Nov-Easter, last admission 90min before closing; buses
35, 36
Housed in a modernistic white marquee, Our Dynamic Earth is
billed as an interactive, multimedia journey of discovery through
Earth’s history from the Big Bang to the present day. Hugely
popular with kids of all ages, it’s a slick extravaganza of whiz-
bang special effects and 3D movies cleverly designed to fire
up young minds with curiosity about all things geological and
environmental. Its true purpose, of course, is to disgorge you
into a gift shop where you can buy model dinosaurs and souvenir
T-shirts.
Dynamic Earth is fully wheelchair-accessible, with steep ramp
access up to the entrance of the building and lifts throughout to
navigate through the exhibition, and to gain access to and from
the car park. There are accessible toilets on both sides of the
building. There is additional information about exhibits for the
visually impaired, and transcripts in English for hearing-impaired
visitors. Assistance dogs are allowed throughout. Note that light-
ing within some of the galleries might disturb assistance dogs or
affect epileptics.
To quote from their website: ‘As well as these specific fa-
cilities, the Dynamic Earth attraction consists of outstanding
visuals, dramatic sound effects, spectacular music, evocative
smells and amazing physical sensations which allow a multi-
sensory experience for all.’Palace of Holyroodhouse
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk; Horse Wynd; adult/child incl
audioguide £12/7.20; 9.30am-6pm Apr-Oct, to 4.30pm Nov-Mar;
buses 35, 36This palace is the royal family’s official residence in Scotland, but
is more famous as the 16th-century home of the ill-fated Mary,
Queen of Scots. The highlight of the tour is Mary’s Bed Chamber,
home to the unfortunate queen from 1561 to 1567. It was here
that her jealous second husband, Lord Darnley, restrained the
pregnant queen while his henchmen murdered her secretary –
and favourite – David Rizzio. A plaque in the neighbouring room
marks the spot where he bled to death.
The palace developed from a guest house, attached to Holy-
rood Abbey, which was extended by King James IV in 1501. The
oldest surviving part of the building, the northwestern tower, was
built in 1529 as a royal apartment for James V and his wife, Mary of
Guise. Mary, Queen of Scots spent six turbulent years here, during
which time she debated with John Knox, married both her second
and third husbands, and witnessed the murder of her secretary.
The self-guided audio tour leads you through a series of im-
pressive royal apartments, culminating in the Great Gallery. The
89 portraits of Scottish kings were commissioned by Charles
II and supposedly record his unbroken lineage from Scota, the
Egyptian pharaoh’s daughter who discovered the infant Moses in
a reed basket on the banks of the Nile. The tour continues to the
oldest part of the palace, which contains Mary’s Bed Chamber,