We spent two nights in Edinburgh, one before hired the van and one when we got back. The first night we spend in the “new” city (still XXX years old, a bit different to Australia’s new), and the second night we stayed in the old city. Even though these nights were not contiguous we decided to put them in the same blog post.
The first day we got in late due to a raft of train delays. However we wasted no time in checking into our hostel and then getting out to explore Edinburgh. We spied a garden and immediately bee-lined towards it, where we were rewarded with a fantastic view of Edinburgh castle. However it was approaching dinner time and we were getting peckish. One of my “UK must-do experiences” which people had suggested was go to a whetherspoons – a UK wide chain pub (An interesting difference between the UK and Australia, I couldn’t think of any huge pub chains, whereas the UK has them all over the place). Fortunately Amanda knew a pretty cool one close by, an old picture theatre that
had been converted into a pub. We took the balcony view and enjoyed a distinctly British meal of ham, eggs and chips and a huge beer. We were expecting this beer to be quite small because it was pretty cheap and were flabbergasted when it came out. Seriously, look at it.
Fuelled with energy and liquid confidence we decided to walk up Arthur’s Seat, a hill overlooking Edinburgh, despite it already being 7:00pm. Winding around Edinburgh castle and down the Royal Mile we made it to the foot of Arthur’s Seat, a beautiful green paddock and lake. Climbing up we raced against the Sun, trying to make it up before the sunset. We were quick and fit enough to make it up just in time to witness the sunset over Edinburgh, of which Arthur’s seat offered a 360 degree panorama.
Unfortunately we then had to make it down, as the sun had dissapeared, the light was fading and the temperature started dropping. Along the way back to our hostel we picked up some sated caramel cheesecakes in a jar so we could enjoy some tea and cheesecakes as a reward when we made it back.
The next morning we got up and had another walk (longer than anticipated and with our 10kg bags) to our Wicked Van pickup point, so we could start our Scottish highland adventure! Fortunately you don’t have to wait for this and can read all about it in our previous blog post :). If you haven’t read it now is a good time as the next paragraph will pick up after that.
Back from the Scottish highlands! Yipee! After driving into Edinburgh via Forth bridge (even though there are only 3 bridges, named because it’s the river Forth. I’m eagerly anticipating the next bridge) we dropped off the van and caught a bus back to the city (we learnt from last time). Along the way we saw a police crime scene of which an old lady informed us that there had been a murder there last night – not the best welcome back into the city.
We checked into our hostel and set out again, this time in search of Dean’s village, which Amanda had seen pictures of and wanted to find. It turned out that Dean’s village was a lane built on the riverbanks a level beneath the main Edinburgh city, you had to go down multiple flights of stairs to walk along the pedestrian paths. The houses along this lane were all older and with the glow of the setting sun and the river they provided some fantastic photos.
The next morning we got up for a quick walk up Carlton hill, a little green hill in the middle of Edinburgh. On the top you felt like you were in the middle of it all and could see a 360 degree view of the city. Amanda tried to recreate a photo she had taken last time she was in Edinburgh, There was also a hodge-podge of historic items up there including an old cannon, a Greek inspired Pantheon and an astronomy tower. What an odd collection of things on a hill.
Satisfied we’d squeezed in as much Edinburgh as we could in our small time there, we headed to the train station to catch our train back through South through England. We were now on the way to mainland Europe!
Tune in to the Harps 