The Da Vinci Trail too
Fly to Scotland, which (for US visitors) is near London, and head to Roslin, Midlothian, which (for everyone) is on a “remote hillside” about seven miles (11 kilometers) from Edinburgh.
Disinformation pointActually, seven miles (11 kilometers) from Edinburgh isn't really remote, but it sounds good in the marketing materials.
Rosslyn is a working church, or at least as much as any church is nowadays, officially Episcopal, although originally Catholic. It is interesting to visitors because there are lots of mysterious stone carvings, notably the one hundred and three “Green Men,” that is human faces with leaves and things sprouting from their noses and mouths.
William St. Clair founded the church, designed in the shape of a large cross, in 1446, a Prince of Orkney reputed to have been a grandmaster of the Knights Templar. It was in this lofty capacity that he was supposed to have placed and hidden many religious relics taken from Jerusalem.
It costs good money to go inside Rosslyn Chapel, although children get in for free. It is open Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm and on Sunday afternoons, the morning of course being devoted to worshipping Dan Brown for saving the Church Restoration Fund.
Visitors have complained that the Chapel is so cold they can see their breath freeze. But that's not the Chapel, that's Scotland.
* England has its own map because since World War II it has been part of the United States, or at least the “Atlantic Alliance,” and so is not strictly speaking still in Europe. Sometimes Wales and Scotland—even Ireland—are considered part of England—to their citizens' annoyance—but of course they are not here.
