Posted by Karbo
Our trip to Edinburgh got off to a rough start. Jason told me that we were booked on the 11PM overnight Megabus from Victoria Rail Station. In reality, we were supposed to be at the Victoria Coach Station by 10:45PM to catch the Megabus to Edinburgh. We'd joked about it before, but that night we actually became those backpackers sprinting and weaving through the streets while trying to catch our bus. We arrived at the coach station to find the Megabus loaded and ready to go with seconds to spare.
Jason: I've learned my lesson and will read all the fine print and give us ample time to catch our rides in the future.
London had a high of 29°C on the day we left. When we pulled into Edinburgh on the morning of the 6th at 7:30AM, it was a very cool 8°C complete with rain and wind - we were definitely in Scotland!
After checking into our Airbnb room (our first Airbnb experience!) we walked up to Old Town and joined a free walking tour. We've heard a lot about the free Sandeman walking tours and this was our first try. The concept is that you get free walking tour and at the end you tip your guide whatever you feel the tour was worth to you. We really liked the tour and as it provides a general overview of the city, it helped us plan out our itinerary for the next few days.
At the end of the tour we went to a pub to get our first taste of haggis. We ended up trying the 'haggis, neeps, and tatties', which is haggis with mashed turnips and mashed potatoes covered in whisky sauce. It was really, really good! From our point of view, haggis is really just another type of sausage.
On the 7th, we went back and re-visited some of the spots we had seen on our walking tour. J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book while she was in Edinburgh and here are some of the related spots we saw:
- the tombstones where J.K Rowling found inspiration for the names of Professor McGonagall and Tom Riddle
- the private school with four towers that gave J.K. Rowling the idea for the four houses of Hogwarts
- the cliff that provided the setting for Hogwarts
- the tombstones where J.K Rowling found inspiration for the names of Professor McGonagall and Tom Riddle
- the private school with four towers that gave J.K. Rowling the idea for the four houses of Hogwarts
- the cliff that provided the setting for Hogwarts
We also had lunch at the Elephant House, which is where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. While there, we met a very nice Scottish man who gave us a lot of tips on what to do in Edinburgh, how to enjoy whisky, and where to visit in Scotland. We also learned that in Scotland, seniors get to ride all buses anywhere in Scotland for free.
After lunch we went for a walk and came upon the Princes Street Gardens and Calton Hill. Edinburgh is a really compact city so we spent most of our days walking around randomly.
On the 8th we hiked up Arthur's Seat, which is the main peak in Holyrood Park. We saw a few people on the trail who had no problem walking up the peak in dress shoes or sandals, but Jason and I were huffing and puffing by the time we reached the top!
On the 9th we planned to walk down to Leith, which is a port district in Edinburgh. However, on our way there it started to pour and despite our rain jackets, we both got soaked. From our experience, the rain comes and goes pretty frequently in Edinburgh but since it was cold and we both felt lazy, we called it a day and spent the rest of our time in the apartment watching Suits and writing postcards.
On the 10th, we took a day trip to St Andrews so that Jason could play a round of golf. It was a pretty special day for Jason so I'll let him write the post about St Andrews =)