St. Bernard's Well

So a few weeks ago my friend Christina and I decided to visit St. Bernard's Well. The construction of the present structure was commissioned in the late 1700s (yep, it's older than Canada) although the well was supposedly originally found by St. Bernard in the 12th century. The well is located very close to Dean's Bridge in Edinburgh and I had often passed it on my walks along the Water of Leith Walkway. It is a very pretty site to behold as you walk along the path and suddenly a beautiful temple-like structure looms up before you. It seems a bit like it should be in the film Pride and Predjudice or something. Anyway, usually it is closed to the public and completely locked up, but the locals had decided to open it up one day and we went for a visit.

Statue on the top floor

The mosaic ceiling

There are two floors - the top being an open air one with a very nice statue in the centre. The bottom floor is where the well actually is. You can still pump water from the well (and of course Christina and I had to try that too) however, you are not advised to drink from it (Christina and I restrained ourselves). The real surprise though was the absoultely magnificent mosaic ceiling which we found in there.

All in all, it was pretty fun to do something a bit more unusual and to explore a new part of the city (and for free!).