Unicorns are real

There are a lot of unicorns at Stirling Castle.

Dating back to 1110 at least, it was the castle of the Stewart (Stuart) kings. It was the centre of numerous battles and sieges, especially between Scotland and the English.

James V built a new palace here for his new French wife, the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots born in 1543.

They liked tapestries. They had over a hundred of them. Not only where they a status symbol of their wealth but they helped make the big stone cold castle warm and homey.

This recently recreated series of seven unicorn tapesteries took over ten years to make.

So, the walls of the queen's apartments are covered in unicorn tapestries, but, wait, there are more unicorns...

I like horses. Unicorns are horses. 

Seriously though, Stirling Castle is one of the best of the thousands of Scottish castles. Its history is long and violent and interesting. It has a fabulous location on a high hill overlooking plains, rivers and fields and town of Stirling, and out to the first of the Highland mountains. They also have excellent scones in the cafe.