Blackness Castle and Linlithgow Palace

Back in October, while Dallin was on his fall break from school, we took the train out to Linlithgow one day to see both Blackness Castle and Linlithgow Palace. By train, it's about 20 minutes outside of the city. Because of the Historic Scotland pass we bought, we get into these venues for free, and it has totally been worth having the membership. We've been to quite a few places that I don't know we would have visited otherwise. Both places were quite amazing.

Blackness Castle- built in the 15th century right on the Firth of Forth. This was such a fun castle to explore. There were spiral staircases and many levels of rooms to investigate. All three girls had a great time. The day was overcast, but it didn't ever rain on us, and we practically had the place to ourselves.  They even had picnic benches outside so we could take a break and eat our lunch while we waited for the bus to take us back into town. One of my favorite parts of the castle was pier that went right out into the firth, it gave a really unique vantage point to see the castle from a different angle.

Linlithgow Palace- built in the 14th century, it was one of the primary residences of Scottish monarchs for a few hundred years. By the time we got back into town, the girls were getting quite worn out and Deaun was napping in her stroller, so while I stayed with Deaun, the twins and Dallin went to explore, and then we switched places so I could look around. There was an amazing courtyard with a large fountain in the very center and all the spiral staircases your heart could ever desire. There were kitchens down a few stories underground and a huge grand hall. It was amazing, and situated right on the Linlithgow Loch. Because we had reached the saturation point of the girls though, we had to cut the visit short and didn't get to do all the exploring we wanted to. We will definitely be back for another visit.

After we finished, we went back to the train station and caught the train back into Edinburgh. Let it be known, that this fights for favorite part of the trip every time we head out of the city. All three girls LOVE the train!