Cheers from Edinburgh! On the list of my top 5 favorite cities I've been to. There was so much cheesy culture packed into this little city. Tina and I had decided we needed to search for bagpipers so we could hear some and on our first walk around upon arrival we stumbled into 3 separate pipers after only 3 minutes of walking. Easy peasy. We were staying on 'The Royal Mile' which is High Street in the middle of town. Very touristy but very practical for us. The hostel was great and we met some nice people.
We walked around for a while and saw the castle and most of High street. The city is very charming. It was a nice afternoon and my first few hours in the UK so I was very excited to be able to see new things and understand the language!
The castle from Johnston Terrace
Had to....
That night we went out for a few drinks and it turned into a pretty silly night. We met some Scottish boys on the street who tried to imitate the American accent. It was pretty funny to hear their impression.
We got to hear some live music, drink some cider, and see lots of silly drunk Scots, and it was only a Wednesday night.
The next day we went on a great walk, despite the rain and foggy weather. We started by walking down Princes street, and did a little shopping. I have a newfound love for a store called Primark. It was very dangerous and we spent at least 2 and a half hours in there, which I count as ok since it was raining.
There was a street fair with all kinds of international foods, including 2 German booths. We decided to get some delicious looking Paella and go down to the Princes street garden and eat there which was a great decision. It was very pretty and there was a cool view of the castle through the fog.
my seafood paella by where we ate.
After eating we walked around a little and stumbled into a very old cemetery around a church. It was so green and creepy looking in the fog. The gravestones were all cracked and some were tipped over. It was eerie and picturesque.
After walking around a bit more we walked into the National Gallery to wait out some rain and it was also a great decision. There were some great pieces there which I had no idea of. I got to see some work from some of my favorite guys Pissaro, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Monet, and Degas.
This is Rodins 'The Kiss'.
Tina enjoying some of the art, I wish I remembered the artist's name.
After that we walked back to the hostel to get ready for the pub crawl that was run through the hostel. We stopped to get some tatties!
I got one with haggis and Tina got a really spicy curry one. It was a very interesting place. Just baked potatoes and you could put anything you wanted in there.
Haggis everywhere.
We got back to the hostel and ate and met some new people in the kitchen which is always nice. Then got ready and met the rest of the people going on the pub crawl from our hostel and the one across the street. There were about 5 hostels that we combined with for this pub crawl. We walked to one of the other hostels for a drinking game with everyone, about 25 people. The game was basically flip cup without the flip part. There were about 7 bars on the list and we made lots of international friends from Australia, Brazil, France as well as some other Americans. It was really a great night and we both had a lot of fun even though we were dead tired the next day.
This was at an Irish pub.
The next day we got a bit of a late start but we ventured out to Falkland, in the Highlands, to go on a hike. We had to take the train for about an hour out to Ladybank, a very small town, then about 30 minutes on the bus in the middle of no where to the town of Falkland.
The town was cute and we had to walk through it to get to the woods/hiking area.
The hike area was called Maspie Den and it was so beautiful and green and just a very cool place to spend a couple of hours. There were a couple waterfalls and cool lookout spots. Unfortunately my camera died about 10 minutes into the 2 hour hike so I don't have many pictures from it. Only in my mind :)
After we left Maspie Den, we walked back into Falkland and stopped at a little place to have some tea before our bus came. Everyone is so friendly in Scotland that we chatted with a few of the people there and it was really nice.
We got back to Edinburgh just before sunset and decided it would be a great time to hike up to Arthur's Seat, a giant hill at the bottom of High Street, and watch the sunset. Lots of other people had the same idea. It was very steep and we were both dying by the time we got to the top but it was so worth it. You could see the whole city and beyond. It was just really beautiful.
before we started
view from the top
We went back to the hostel and ate and hung out in the kitchen and met some very nice girls from Cape Town, South Africa who had been traveling for a year. They convinced me that Portugal is worth going to at the end of my trip with Holly so I decided I'm going to make that happen. Again, I just love meeting new people who also love to travel. It's the best way to learn new things about people and places you've never been.
The next day was was unfortunately our last but we made the most of it. We had a flight around 8pm so we had almost the whole day to do some more exploring. There was a farmer's market near the castle that morning so we went there and walked around and it was interesting to see all the Scottish craft foods. There were lots of meat pies....
After the market we walked up to the castle. We decided not to spend the 16 pounds to go in but it was cool to walk around it and see the view of the city. Other than Arthur's Seat, it's the highest part of the city.
in front of the gate
After that we walked back towards the Royal Mile and found the Tartan Weaving museum and shop. We walked around there and it was interesting to see how it's woven and learn a little bit about what the big deal with Tartan is. I got a scarf that reminds me of the curling club floor :)
We also made a stop at the Scotch Whiskey Experience and sampled some Whiskey :)
For a late lunch we stopped into a pork place in Grassmarket called Oink that was recommended by our hostel and it was one of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten in my life. It was pulled pork with BBQ sauce and Haggis. It looks gross here but I had to include a picture. Tina and I were talking about how yummy it was for the rest of the day....
We meandered back to the hostel to grab our bags and to head to the Airport bus. It started to rain and we had luck that it was as we were leaving.
I really loved my short stay in Edinburgh and I hope one day I get to go back. It was really a great little city packed full with culture and excitement. The Scottish people are so nice and so friendly making this city even more welcoming, not to mention men in kilts and adorable accents :)
We had an awesome and short sunset flight to Dublin and it was onto the the next adventure!