Kilts, Castles, Scotty Dogs, and Scotch Whiskey—Edinburgh, Scotland

My unfortunate cold ended up being a good thing for the overnight bus to Scotland because the Nyquil knocked me out for almost the entire trip.

 However, the bus driver must have been playing games with us because the few times I woke up I was absolutely freezing, then sweating, then freezing again.  On the first occasion I grabbed my backpack and took out my gloves, a scarf, an extra shirt and pair of sweatpants and draped everything overtop of my already zipped up coat to try and warm up…. Little did I know the next time I’d wake up and be tearing it all off because I was so hot… it was a constant battle.  Nevertheless, we arrived in Edinburgh around 7 am and found our way from the bus stop to the hostel.  It wasn’t too far, probably a fifteen-minute walk.  Everyone was exhausted and groggy but the VERY cool air and amazing sights immediately surrounding me woke me right up.  My first impression was that everything looked so OLD. The architecture astonished me, I had no idea what to expect coming into Scotland but I knew this would probably become one of my favorite cities as far as scenery goes. 

  We were staying at the Castle Rock hostel, named appropriately as the Edinburgh Castle was directly in front of you in almost any window you looked out of. 

Edinburgh Castle-- view from our hostel

We were too early to check in but they kindly let us leave our bags in the luggage room and opened up the theatre room for us all to crash in for a couple of hours before our tour of Edinburgh began at 11.  This was by far the best hostel we had stayed in yet.  It had so many cool rooms—The Posh Lounge with a piano and golden chairs, the Groovy Lounge where there was a “no shoes or laptop” policy… it was meant purely for socializing and listening to oldies on the record player, there was also a big common room, a movie room, and an internet lounge.  Anyways, we all woke up from the movie room couches a little while later and starting getting ourselves ready for our free tour of Edinburgh.  Edinburg was even colder than London, something we should have expected but none of us did, so we were taken quite by surprise once we were outside and it was absolutely freezing.  Our tour guide’s name was James, he was actually from Portugal but had been living in Edinburgh for quite a few years. 

We began our tour on the Royal Mile at Mercat cross.  He told us the kinds of events that occur there, the announcing of a new King and Queen, public punishments, etc.  I volunteered and he used me to demonstrate the types of punishments that could be inflicted on people.  His example was of a woman selling some sort of food based on weight.  He said “lets pretend Rachael is putting stones in the baskets to make the food weigh more than it actually does…. If she is caught, she would be brought before this place and they would nail her naked to the cross by her ear and she would have to stay there for 24 hours allowing people to beat her, poor bedpans on her, anything they wanted.”  If I could stand it, then they’d free me after 24 hours and if I could withstand infection my ear would heal with just a minor scar barely noticeable.   However, if I was a coward, I could rip my self away—therefore ripping my ear—and forever brand myself as a thief or liar in the community.  It was quite gruesome.

Next he showed us St. Giles Cathedral.  It was a beautiful church, we didn’t go in during the tour but I went in later and took a few pictures.  It’s crazy how every church or cathedral I go into in Europe is absolutely beautiful. 

 He took us down back alleys into open areas between buildings and told us about famous authors and poets of Edinburgh and then we stopped in the Frankenstein Bar to warm up and have a bowl of hot soup.  It used to be an old church but because only 2% of the population goes to church, many of the former churches have been turned into bars and restaurants.  The soup of the day was Tomato Lentil Soup and was just the thing I needed to warm up before heading back out into the cold.

 The next stop was Greyfriar’s Graveyard.  This was the place where Tom Riddle was buried and I also saw a McGonagall on the list… definitely some Harry Potter inspiration because it lies right behind The Elephant House restaurant where J.K. Rowling first starting writing Harry Potter.

There is a story at the graveyard of a dog named Bobby who sat on his owner’s grave for 14 years until he himself died.  He is the most famous dog in Edinburgh and now has a restaurant named after himself, his own grave-site, and a statue outside of the graveyard.

After that we made our way down to New Town and Princes Street Gardens.  There were nice views of the castle on the way 

 There he told us more history of the castle and the story of the Stone of Destiny and how it was stolen and reclaimed in Scotland over many occasions.

Everywhere we go people ask if we have a uniform-- long puffy jackets and bean boots... our saving grace on these cold, rainy, and snowy trips

After the tour we walked around town then headed back to our hostel to shower and get ready for dinner.  Hayley’s older sister happened to have a good friend that now goes to grad school in Edinburgh so we made plans to meet up with her later that night and she gave us a few suggestions for dinner.  We ended up going to a place near the college called “Mother India” … I hadn’t tried Indian food before so I decided to give it a shot, but I should have just stuck with my instincts because as much as I wanted to enjoy it, it was just too spicy for me.  Not my favorite meal of the week but an experience nonetheless.

 After that we headed down to a local bar called Biddy Mulligans for a few drinks before heading home, all tired from the long night of travel before.  But not before I experimented with the “fisheye” feature on my camera…I think I try capturing candid moments in this setting later on during this trip.

 The next morning we woke up to a snowy Edinburgh with plans to see Holyroodhouse—The Queen’s official residence in Scotland and to go on a scotch whiskey tour.  The palace was beautiful! We took a self-guided audio tour and learned all about the history of past kings and queens and about each room in the palace.  Pictures weren’t allowed inside the palace once again…. What is with these places not allowing pictures!?!? But yes… I snagged a few :) 

I took this one on our last day when it was sunny!

 

After the palace we stopped in a few touristy shops along the Royal Mile on the way back because we had some time to kill before our whiskey tour.

After an hour or so we headed back out for the “Scotch Whiskey Experience” which was conveniently located just a couple of minutes away from our hostel.

We got to go on a slow roller coaster-esque barrel ride through a series of animations describing the whiskey making process.  Then we went into a room where 4 different kinds of scotch whiskeys were described to us and we were allowed to choose one to taste!  I choose the Speyside whiskey, which is supposed to have a hint of banana smell but I did not smell it at all... surprisingly it wasn't bad though, I suppose it was a pretty good whiskey!

 The next room that we went into was Claive Vidiz’s scotch collection of almost 3,400 unopened bottles—the biggest collection in the world.

 After that the tour was over, but I did get a picture with the Guinness world record biggest bottle of scotch

 After the Scotch Whiskey Experience we went to the grassmarket area of Edinburgh for dinner at a restaurant called the Fiddler’s Arms.  Here I ordered the traditional meal in Scotland, Haggis.

 Again, it was not my favorite meal but I couldn’t go to Scotland without trying the signature dish!  It reminded me of meatloaf… but I usually like meatloaf… it was just a little bit tougher and less flavorful.  After dinner we met up with Hayley’s friend Diana again and she took us to some of the places where most of the college students go out.  We ended up going to this really fun piano bar with great live music.

 The next day we climbed King Arthur’s Seat.  This was the Scotland I had been waiting to see. Words and pictures do not do it justice, it was so amazing.

 Since it had rained the night before, it was quite muddy and on the way down we were slipping a little bit.  Karma came into play when I started laughing at Lindsay after she slipped and two seconds later, down I go…. Then all of us were laughing, and it was pretty funny I must admit. 

you can almost see Lindsay buckling over laughing because I fell laughing at her

Afterwards we made our way to the Elephant House where J.K. Rowling first started writing Harry Potter.   It was really cool to imagine how she thought it all up in a little Edinburgh café.

 To finish our time off in Edinburgh we went up as close as possible to the castle and took in the views before heading towards the airport to catch our flight to Dublin.

Then we were off to Dublin to finish off our 10 day break... on what may have been the worst taxi ride of my life!  We got picked up from our hostel to take us to the airport and god good the Scots drive like madmen.  I swear we were sharing the lane half of the time.  He took one turn so sharply that Meg flew out of her seat!

 I don't usually get motion sickness but by the time we arrived at the airport I was definitely not feeling so hot... but a delicious dinner at EAT and an hour later I was happily boarding the plane to DUBLIN!