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I just visited Rosslyn Chapel for the first time last weekend with my Edinburgh-native husband and his mother. My husband had never visited...nor had any of my local co-workers, but I suppose until you have a reason to visit the tourist attractions in your home town, you rarely do.
It was a lovely place, and I recommend it to anyone, Da Vinci Code or not. (I've just finished the book, btw...and was disappointed, but that's a different subject altogether.) The interior is stunning, and we enjoyed finding all the Green Men hidden in the ornate stonework. (The Chapel apparently has the most Green Men of any church in the UK). It is currently undergoing structural conservation on the outside, so it covered by scaffolding. However, you are able to walk along the scaffolding to get a closer view of the lovely stonework (as well as a great view of the surrounding countryside).
The one thing I did notice is that the place does not seem equipped to deal with the sudden increase of visitors. The car park is extremely small, and can only accomodate 15-20 cars, I'd say. The visitor's centre is ridiculously cramped, and was extremely awkward to get into or out of. The signs marking the way to the Chapel are almost non-existant, and we got a bit lost on the way. There is a bus service from the city centre, which is nice, but we met a couple of German tourists who had gotten lost on the way from the bus stop.
I was also disappointed to see how prominently the Da Vinci Code book featured in the gift shop. An entire wall of the small gift shop was devoted to this work of (second-rate!)fiction, and the serious non-fiction seemed to be pushed aside. But I suppose you can't blame those that run the Chapel for cashing in on the success of the book.
It's worth a visit, anyways. It's a lovely spiritual place, that just seems to be suffering a little bit from the increased numbers of visitors.
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