Using the last chance before Brexit, I have decided to go for one day to Edinburgh in the late February. I was quite lucky as the day of my visit was one of the warmest days of February in the history of Edinburgh, so I could enjoy city even more! And there was so many places to enjoy! I really think that I should have done 2 days there instead of only 1…

Why you should go to Edinburgh?

Edinburgh is one of the most “Gothic” cities in Europe. Full of narrow streets, old buildings and mysterious atmosphere, it makes impression that behind the next corner there is a scary ghoul waiting for you. So visiting Edinburgh means goosebumps! And if you are a fan of Harry Potter, then you should definitely come here – Edinburgh is the city where J.K. Rowling got her inspiration and wrote her famous book!

Top destinations in Edinburgh

• Royal mile – city main street that leads to the Edinburgh Castle. Together with the whole old city centre around makes long lasting impression. It’s worth to go a little bit into the small streets around and feel the “Gothic” atmosphere to the fullest.

• Edinburgh Castle – one of the most famous castles in Scotland and probably in the whole world. It was witnessing many crucial moments of Scotland history and I would say it looks like an archetype of castle. If you imagine castle, most probably you imagine something that looks like Edinburgh Castle.

• Walking tours  – Due to its rich history and Gothic atmosphere, in Edinburgh you can find a lot of very interesting walking tours. Historic tours, Harry Potter walks or  night horror tours are really amazing experiences that will allow you to understand the city much better.

Best things to eat and drink

Unfortunately, due to health issues I couldn’t eat anything special, but if you are in Edinburgh there are 2 things that are worth trying:

• Whisky. Important – don’t misspell it with “Whiskey”. The latter one is a type of liquor produced in the USA or Ireland. Original Scottish alcohol is “Whisky” and better keep it this way when you are in Scotland. There are many places that you can get nice tasting experience it, but as I couldn’t try it, I can’t recommend any.
• Haggis. The most famous Scottish dish in the form of pudding, made mainly out of sheep’s pluck – hearth, liver, lungs, etc… Sounds a little bit disgusting, but if you are in Scotland and can eat it – it’s a sin not to try it.

Few interesting information about Edinburgh and Scotland

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, however it is only the second biggest Scottish city after Glasgow. City grew around castle and nearby abby and at the beginning it was mainly strategically important stronghold which was used heavily during wars between Scotland and England.

History of English and Scottish relationships is probably the topic for a separate book, but for me it was really interesting to learn that Scotland managed to win its independence in 1314 and lost it only in 1707 when England and Scotland were unified as they had the same king (so there was no real war in which independence was lost!). During subsequent centuries, Scots tried to regain independence few times, but it was  always unsuccessful. As a repression for these tries, England imposed a lot of measures. One of them was building new part of Edinburgh (new town). It was much more convenient to live than the old one, but the trick was that it was built for English inhabitants of the city.

Due to the constant threat of English invasion, everyone wanted to live within Edinburgh city walls. This led to high density of population, overcrowded buildings and not really good living standard for the citizens. Additional, a little bit surprising effect is that rich people and poor people were living in the same buildings as there was no space to separate them. The only difference was that rich people were living in the middle floors and poor people were living on top floors (worse in case of fire) or bottom floors which were really bad as people did not have toilets at home so they threw everything on the streets. So on the bottom floors it was not really smelling good… It meant also that walking on the streets was very dangerous, especially if you are coming back from the pub and cannot dodge the “bullets”. Reminiscences of this you can find even in the nowadays language – “shitface drunk” expression is coming exactly from this “custom”.

During the era of enlightenment, Edinburgh become one of the world famous academic centres and many famous thinkers of that time were living in this city – Adam Smith and David Hume to name just a few. In this period Edinburgh also spread much more outside city walls and the buildings within city walls boundaries started growing taller – getting even above 10 floors. Old time sky-scrappers!

In the later centuries, Scots were important part of British empire and they built many careers in protecting interests of empire all over the globe. It helped to unify Great Britain, but still until today resentments towards independence are strong in Scotland, especially in the light of upcoming Brexit. Last independence referendum held in 2014 was voted for stay with 55% of votes supporting this decision. However, we will see what will happen in the future as there are already voices to make a new referendum.

Nowadays, Edinburgh is still strong academic centre with famous music festivals and vibrant night clubs scene. A lot of tourists are coming to the city to experience its “Gothic” atmosphere and follow the steps of Harry Potter. And it may be that in few years we will see again Edinburgh as a capital of independent Scotland, which will make city even more interesting place!

Practical information

• When to visit. I can imagine that the best moment to visit Edinburgh is summer (June – August), however I was very happy to be there in February. But I think it’s more due to my lucky weather (the warmest day of February in the history of Edinburgh).
• How many days. I was only one day there and I must admit it was a little bit too short. I think second full day would be more than welcome. So 2-3 days is optimal time to visit this city. Unless you want to make some trips outside – this would require more time.
• Currency. You can pay almost everywhere with card, but if you want to use cash it’s important to remember that Scots use their own banknotes (apparently they are issued by the private banks!), which are not always accepted in England. The other way around it works much easier – English banknotes are fully accepted in Scotland.
• Getting around. Edinburgh is a rather small city – you can easily just walk  everywhere you need. I didn’t use public transport at all over the whole day being there with exception of coming from the airport – in this case you can use tram which will bring you to the middle of the city. You can buy ticket at the spot, no need to make booking upfront.
• Hotel. I really liked the place I was staying – The Claremont Hotel. It was around 25 minutes walking distance from city centre, it was rather cheap and had everything needed in normal standard. I can easily recommend this one!

Itinerary

It is a high hill next to the city centre with amazing view over the whole city. It is quite surprising to see that such a high hill can be so close to the city. It takes around 1 hour to get to the top from the hotel and around 45 minutes to come back to the city centre. It’s quite steep, so prepare yourself for some sweat! Even if you will be tired at the end, the amazing view will pay off your effort!

There are two hills, but the proper Arthur’s seat is the taller one. You can easily use Google Maps for navigation or just follow people on the trails. Don’t worry, it’s still pretty obvious where you should go, you don’t need any maps or bigger preparation. I went there early in the morning, just after the sunset to see the city in the light of morning sun.

Edinburgh castle (#58 on the 500 list of ultimate traveller)
This is the hearth of Edinburgh and its most famous spot. The whole city was built around the castle and it was always very important strategic point of Scotland. It has two levels and several interior parts you can check during visit – national crown jewellery, monarch suite or war memorial. Additionally, the view from the castle over the city is really amazing!

It’s useful to buy tickets upfront to avoid the lines – they can get pretty long there. Online tickets can be collect in the several booths in front of the castle. You can book them here: LINK. You have to book time slot upfront – if you will decide to go for Arthur’s seat earlier on, it may be a little bit tight to book first slot of 9:30 – 11:00, however I managed to do it like this. Important: you cannot enter with backpack or suitcase bigger than 30 litres and they are going to check it! To be honest their box for checking is even smaller than 30 litres. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to enter with my backpack – in such case you can go to the nearby Waverly station which has point with lockers. They are in the booth of lost luggage at the end of station on the ground level. It’s around 10 minutes from the castle.

Royal mile (#169 on the 500 list of ultimate traveller)
Main street of the Edinburgh old city which is located between the castle and the royal palace. As the street is one mile long then it got its name “Royal mile”. As the castle is located on the top of the volcanic mountain and the palace at the bottom of it, then it indicates that Royal Mile goes on the slope of that volcanic mountain.

There are a lot of important buildings and landmarks next to the Royal Mile. You can learn about some of  them more during the walking tour (like merchant cross), but there is one place that is really nice to visit outside the tour – St Giles’ Cathedral. It is really famous because of the colourful stained glass which include angels playing on the bag pipes (the only place in the world that has such stained glass). You can also try to get to the top of the tower to see the view around.

Free walking tour
I took the walking tour with Sandeman’s and it was really good decision. Tour is free, tip based, which encourage the guide to try to tell the story in the most interesting manner. During the tour you will visit a lot of nice places and hear a lot of interesting stories, but for me the most interesting spot was Greyfriar cemetery. It is located in the middle of the city and a lot of people go there during the night from nearby pubs to continue drinking. There are also many ghost stories and one famous story about Bobby – dog that was owned by one of the watchman. After the death of his owner Bobby continued to protect his grave for many years. In the respect of his behaviour he became honourable citizen of the city (Bobby not the watchman).

On the side note – in the middle of the tour you will stay in cafe where Sandeman has its stall. They have nicely designed magnets and mugs, so if you want to buy some souvenirs, it’s a good place to do so.

National Museum of Scotland
Really nice museum which looks like something between British museum and Natural Museum History. A lot of interesting items and part dedicated to the Scottish history.  And a very nice addition is that at the top floor you have terrace with really nice view on the whole city. Museum is completely for free!

Parliament building
It’s quite interesting to know that Scotland got its parliament back only in 1999. Building where parliament is located is rather in modern architecture style and in my opinion is rather weird. However, I had no chance to go to inside, but if you have enough time it may be interesting to do it.

New Town
It’s a part of the city that was build for English settlers. It is much more specious, streets are wider and I think it’s much nicer to live there. It is not so full of exceptional landmarks, but I think it’s worth to go for a walk there. There is really nice view on the castle (especially during sunset) and the old city, nice park and really weird monument which looks like part of destroyed church. Don’t forget to spend some time there!

Night scary walking tour
As I wrote above Edinburgh has a very gothic atmosphere. There are many hidden places, narrow valleys, underground crypts or cemetery in the middle of the city. Also just style of the buildings make the city feel very mysterious. And what’s the better way to experience this atmosphere than taking one of the “Scary” walking tours?

I took the night tour with Mercat tours and I was really positively surprised. Main highlight of the tour is a visit to vaults below the city centre. They used to be dwelled by immigrants from abroad and other poor citizens of the city. Without fresh air, using light from fish oil and without overview of the city watch, these dungeons were witnessing a lot of human suffering and tragedies. This makes the tour in this place scary. Even the guide shared with us after the tour that there are really strange things happening in these dungeons and that is not only part of marketing.

The big plus of this tour is the storytelling. Our guide was probably some kind of actor and he was telling stories in a very funny way, which made the tour really cool experience. I  highly encourage everyone to try it as only this company can access above mentioned dungeons. You can find link here: LINK. Alternatively, you can try to book similar tour from Sandeman (LINK) but it’s a little bit different profile and you won’t go to the underground vaults.

Places you can visit additionally (but I personally didn’t)

Camera obscura and world of illusion
One of the few left in the world. As my friend said this is a kind of old cinema / projector. It has very good reviews, but still I think it’s better to see other places first and leave this one for the end if you will have some time.

Harry Potter tour
One of the Sandeman’s tours (LINK). As I wrote above J.K. Rowling was inspired by Edinburgh city atmosphere to write book about Harry Potter. Thanks to that in many parts of the city you can find elements connected to the book. One example is the grave of one of the worst British poets – William McGonagall. J.K Rowling liked this name so much that she gave it to one of the characters of her book.

I didn’t manage to participate in this tour due to the free tour which was happening partially in the same time. But if I would have one more day, I would go there for sure! I am especially interested in finding out which street was the inspiration for diagonal alley!

Outdoor trips
If you have some more time, you can book trips for going outside of the city – for example to Loch Ness or to Stirling Castle. Scotland has a lot of amazing nature and you can recognise this even when you just go to the Arthur’s seat next to the city centre. Therefore, if you have some time to go outside, don’t think, but just go!

Real Mary Kings Close
It’s not my cup of tea, but if you like live actors presenting life in the old days Edinburgh in the dungeons under the Royal Mile – go ahead. Quite a lot of people left positive reviews on the TripAdvisor, so it may be good, but I just decided to concentrate on more interesting stuff for me.