Edinburgh - Saturday

Friday 22nd July

Despite living in the UK for over a year we had yet to venture to the home of the brave. We decided a trip to Edinburgh was on the cards, and handily one of Hamish's mates had moved up there and was keen to catch up.
We were looking forward to a weekend away with no time difference, no foreign currency and relatively short travel time. This was put into question when our flight was delayed and once we got to Edinburgh we were stuck on the plane for another 25 minutes while they found someone to bring the stairs over!! Annoying but we kept calm and carried on.

We had arrived and it was a beautiful sunny evening and it took us record time to get to out little hotel close to Murrayfield. The hotel was a collection of terraced houses which were quaint and old but cute in their own way. We had arranged to meet Tom and Nic for a drink and started down Princes Street where we found them and made our way to an awesome wee bar called Dirty Dicks.

It happened to be Big Tom's birthday and after many drinks, the closing bell rang and we were turfed out. Realising we hadn't really had dinner we did like the Scots do and headed for the nearest kebab shop. Kebabs are foul in the UK, they use "lamb" which is actually more like luncheon. Lou didn't do much better with her choice of hot chips with cheese and brown sauce. But at that stage we were too hungry to care. We managed to find our hotel at about 2am and hit the hay.
 

Saturday 23rd July
Now, the Bandits pride themselves on early starts and long days on their trips but in this case we slept in. Hamish was feeling the effects of Scottish Gold pints and the feral kebab and felt that the continental breakfast offered by the hotel wasn't going to cut it. So we headed off in search of bacon.

We walked for a long time, even thought it was after 9am there were a lot of places not open. We walked all the way to Royal Mile until we found a half way decent open café, and by this stage we were full in grumpy/hungry mode. Hamish had the full Scottish which was basically a full English with the addition of haggis, and Lou had the Scotch porridge – she couldn't figure out why it was Scotch porridge as it didn't really taste any different to English porridge. Both were ok, nothing special, although the haggis was really yummy.

We spotted a funny looking Highland Bull on the Royal Mile...

Before we go on, a bit about Edinburgh. There is evidence of settlers as far back as the Bronze Age but it wasn't until the 12th century that it really kicked off. As with any UK city there is heaps of history of wars and disease and all that, but the interesting part about Edinburgh is the Scottish Enlightenment, where it became a major cultural centre. It produced big names of the time like David Hume, Walter Scott, Robert Burns and Adam Smith (which Lou was shocked to discover that Hamish didn't know who Adam Smith was, even after an economics degree!) (In my defense Economics is more than just the "Invisible Hand" and 5 pints didnt put me in the best frame of mind for Lous Economics quiz).

One of the 400 shots we took of the castle.

The next big thing in Edinburgh's history was the Scotland Act of 1998 which established a devolved Scottish parliament responsible for governing Scotland, with reserved matters such as defense, taxation and foreign affairs remaining the responsibility of Westminster.

Refueled we headed down Royal Mile to start our free walking tour. Unfortunately we ended up with the dud tour guide - an Australian named Steve. He did ok though. The Royal Mile is the main road in Edinburgh linking the castle and Holyrood Palace and believe it or not it is not a mile long. It is 1 mile and 175 feet. And back in the day, being Scottish they measured all their miles in this distance just to annoy the English.

The tour took us past notable monuments such as the statue of David Hulme (a famous philosopher), his philosophy was that if you hadn't seen something take place then you shouldn't believe in it….interesting. We also stopped at the Mercat cross which is a market cross found in Scottish cities and towns where trade and commerce was a part of economic life. To this day several important announcements and proclamations are still ceremonially made at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh, including the calling of general elections and the succession of new monarchs.

During the break in the Haymarket area we chilled out to the music of the "Mardi Gras" and tasted Iron Bru, the Scottish national fizzy drink which outsells Coke and Pepsi combined. It is quite delicious and contains some of the same ingredients as a product derived from morphine which is why its banned in some countries. We didn't care it helped cure the slight hangover that we had very nicely.

We made our way passed the building that was the inspiration for Hogwarts, the café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first 2 Harry Potter books and into Grayfriar's cemetery, where of course Grayfriars Bobby is buried. It's also the place where J. K. Rowling found a couple of characters names for the books including Mad Eye Moody, Professor McGongangal and Tom Riddle.

Tom Riddles grave

We finished our tour in Princes Street gardens which were just gorgeous, the flowers were beautifully looked after and everyone was out enjoying the sunshine. Apparently this little valley was where Edinburgh citizens emptied their excrement in the olden days which explains why the grass was so lush! After the tour we had a quick lunch at a cute café, Hamish ordered soup and cheese on toast. It was pretty much a plate of melted cheese with a side of bread and a nip of soup. But very yummy.

Lush flowers, castle, Hamish and sun in Scotland!

To work off the cheese related calories and to take advantage of the glorious sunshine we headed east of the city towards Arthur's Seat. It looked steep and challenging and it was steep and challenging. Luckily the weather meant that we could see for miles around Edinburgh, out to Leith and way into the farmlands around the city. It was also beautiful countryside, with wild heather and other pretty flowers that I don't know the names of around. 

Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park.
Many claim that its name is derived from the myriad of legends pertaining to King Arthur, such as the reference in Y Gododdin. It is often mentioned as one of the possible locations for Camelot but it seems more likely that the name is a corruption of the Gaelic ard na saigheid, meaning 'hill of the archers'.

Not content with climbing to the peak, Hamish then decided that we should walk up the cliff face opposite Arthur's Seat "just for a look". More hard work, but then it was an nice gentle stroll to Holyrood Palace which is the official Royal residence in Edinburgh. We had a nosey round but didn't pay to go in as it was quite pricey and we have seen a few of the Queen's houses already. Interesting fact though, Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall are got married there recently.

It was getting close to 6pm but the sun was still so high in the sky and after weeks of London rain we felt we had to make use of it. So we wandered up to Calton Hill which is where several iconic monuments and buildings are including the National Monument, Nelson's Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument, the New Parliament House, the Robert Burns Monument,and the City Observatory.

They were all standard monuments with the exception of the National Monument. This monument was intended to be another Parthenon to commemorate Scottish Soldiers killed in the Napoleonic wars. Construction started in 1826 but work was stopped in 1829 when the building was only partially built due to lack of money. It has never been completed. For many years this failure to complete led to its being nicknamed "Scotland's Disgrace".


We wandered back through the city and found a nice pub for dinner. We shared a steak and ale pie and Chicken Balmoral which is a chicken breast stuffed with haggis in a whiskey cream sauce. Very very yummy. Then we staggered back to our hotel room and got into bed and watched Grand Designs. Rocking Saturday night, but well worth it after the immense amount of walking we did!

Highlight: The history, the beautiful parks and the weather, and the people were super friendly too.
Lowlight: We had a slow start, a weird feeling for a weekend city break
Interesting Fact: The Heart of Midlothian is a heart-shaped mosaic built into the pavement near the St Giles High Kirk on the Royal Mile. It records the position of the 15th-century Old Tolbooth which was the administrative centre of the town, prison and one of several sites of public execution. The weird thing about this thing is that this little square is the only place in Edinburgh where you can spit. Although said to be for good luck, this was originally simply a sign of historic disdain for paying taxes. One popular legend says that by spitting on the heart, one is destined to one day return to Edinburgh. Lou has a physical aversion to spitting so we weren't allowed to play that game.