Jane and I were lucky enough to get a weekend away thanks to some very lovely friends who agreed to look after our brood for a few days. We decided to head off to Edinburgh. I have been there a few times, however, Jane had never been to Scotland. There are only a few snaps as I decided not to be a camera bore whilst we were there.
Edinburgh is a wonderful city. The old town is particularly beautiful, with oodles of heritage, filled with stories of war, famine, plague etc. Thankfully nowadays it is not short of food or drink, and is short of fighting. A destination for much hen and staggery, there is still plenty of room on a weekend, for the rest of us to enjoy ourselves. We checked into the Raddison Blu hotel on the Royal Mile, and then set about exploring the locale. It was a cold, windy evening, but that was not going to stop us joining Alexi Clapperton (deceased) on a witchy, ghosty, and gorey tour of the old town (www.witcherytours.com if you’re up that way, and fancy a potted history of Old Edinburgh). After an hour of thoroughly amusing historical entertainment, we headed off to the Albanach Bar (http://albanachedinburgh.co.uk) for beer and food. Needless to say the rest of the evening was filled with free flowing beer, and for some strange reason Benedictine, and Drambuie.
Saturday was beautiful. The sun was out and the wind had dropped. We were still a little tipsy from the previous evening, and so with high spirits we headed off to tour the tourist shops of the royal mile. Bored a bit with acreage of tartan we headed off to Carlton Hill to explore, and clamber on the various monuments there. You get some fantastic views of the city, and can see the sea, always a bonus. On the way we managed to find a chap playing bagpipes, and Jane posed nicely next to him. Our next aim was to get to the castle before 1 O’clock to hear the gun being fired. Now here is a handy hint. Just before 1 O’Clock the queue for tickets into the castle grows astronomically long, far too long to bother queuing. If you have a smart phone, you can buy your tickets online, and pick them up at the little used pickup terminals. This is lot quicker than waiting in line. There is one drawback to this, and it is you cannot use these tickets to go in and out of the castle, so once you’re in, make the most of it. Word to the wise, if you have both hands free stick your fingers in your ears when the gun fires, especially if you are standing near it.
By early afternoon, our hangovers were beginning to get the better of us. We left the castle, and headed into the Armouries, just outside the Castle carpark, esplanade, whatever it’s called. Now this is a tardis of a building. It houses much tourist paraphenalia, but is quite interesting, and seems to sink right into the heart of the rock. The temptation to buy swords, and tartan miniskirts was difficult to resist, and they didn’t have my size anyway. If you visit at the right time, you can see the tartan looms in action, and even better you can watch visitors from over seas having cheesy photos taken in much worn oversized highlandish outfits.
One more attraction to squeeze in was the Mary Kings Close tour. This is basically in the basement of the Chambers of commerce. It consists of the bottom sections of the old city tenements, and streets that have been used as foundations for the building above. Now this is a bit of a spoiler, but the best part is at the end when you stand in what is effectively a street kind of preserved as it might have been a hundred years ago or so. The rest of the tour is just walking through some old cellars with a few props, led by a tour guide, who unfortunately in our case couldn’t be more disinterested or lacking in charisma if he tried. The wording in the pamphlets is very cleverly written to imply there is something mystical and forgotten about the place, but it becomes apparent on the tour that the last resident moved out in the 1930’s and people were still using the place for commerce up until the 1960’s. It was interesting, but a bit pricey for what it was. We did find ourselves wandering down some of the existing closes, and wynds to compare them with the ones ‘underground’, and too be honest they look pretty much the same.
Sunday was rainy off and on. The half marathon was on, and this has inspired Jane to take up running again. We had a great time in Edinburgh. We will come again; Jane wants to eat in the Witchery!!
Edinburgh, a set on Flickr.
