Weekend in Edinburgh

So it was finally time to go on our long-planned weekend in Edinburgh. As a lover of old cities and their beautiful buildings, I was really looking forward to the trip and I was not disappointed. The town is like in a British detective story and the old houses are patinated by decades of English coal burning. The Scottish weather hardly does its part to add color to the town, but here it sort of works. Here and there, however, you could see attempts to add some color to life, as in the picture of the pub above. Purple, red, and green seemed to be the favorite colors.

We chose to live traditionally at The Royal Scots Club. The club opened after the First World War as a tribute to the Scots who perished in the war. They have certain parts that are only open to members, but most of the club's premises are today hotels. Everywhere you find memorabilia from the two wars, one memory that I found a little extra touching was a letter to a lady who had donated blankets to "The Royal Scots Comforts Depot". She had sewn 272 blankets during the war to help the soldiers in the field, you can call that commitment.

Edinburgh is essentially divided into Old Town and New Town. It is, among other things, in the Old Town that you will find Edinburgh Castle and the road down to Holyroodhouse, the Royal Mile. This is the main tourist street with pubs and shops, but still surprisingly charming.

When the living conditions in the Old Town in the 18th century became unsustainable due to the large increase in population, the New Town was built on the other side of what was then the water reservoir of the time where the residents collected their water and dumped their sewage. Today, the water is gone and here instead lies a pleasant green area, The Princes Street Gardens, which connects the two districts.

The central parts of Edinburgh are not very big, but the best thing is almost to put on a pair of comfortable shoes, stroll around the city and look at all the interesting buildings. Among other things, you will pass the Scott Monument, a gigantic Gothic monument dedicated to the writer Sir Walter Scott, actually the second largest monument in the world built for a writer.

British food may not be known for providing a culinary experience, but in a relatively large city like Edinburgh there is still something for everyone. Those of us who like Italian food, for example, found a real gem in One20 Wine Café. It is a bit away from the tourist streets and does not have many tables, but here we had a really good meal with good wine the first evening. There was a family atmosphere at the restaurant and it was noticeable that they had their regulars, but even us tourists got good and personal service.

However, there was no haggis, we simply freaked out, but it is otherwise available everywhere. To stick to tradition, we ate a Full Scottish Breakfast at the club every morning, however I skipped the Black Pudding after the first bite, that was enough.

Of course, during a visit to the British Isles, Afternoon Tea cannot be missed and what better way than to drink tea on a frothy double-decker? We took a trip along Red Bus Bistro and we thought perhaps that they would place the tour on the streets that were not crooked and paved with cobblestones, but no! There are hardly any straight, even streets in Edinburgh per se. 🙂 But everything went well, we had chosen clothes that would withstand a tea or bubble stain and as long as you kept the champagne cooler in the turns the trip went without mishap. The tea was wisely served in purposeful take away cups, they must have thought of this. A nice and yummy way to see the city that is really recommended.

Down in Edinburgh's harbor is the ship HMY Britannia, which today is a museum. The ship was used by Queen Elisabeth II for representation and private trips from 1954 until 1997 when the ship was decommissioned to cut costs. It was simply too expensive to keep in operation and with a crew of around 250 people from the Royal Navy, one can understand that it was not considered justified to spend tax money on keeping the ship in use.

It was fascinating to walk around the ship which is a monument to a bygone era even though it was actually not that long ago that the ship was in use. For those of you who like the series The Crown, it is exciting to see parts of the ship where the series takes place, including from Prince Charles and Princess Diana's wedding voyage. Apparently, however, the series was filmed on a replica of the ship and not on the real HMY Britannia.

We spent three days in Edinburgh, just enough if you just want to stroll around and look around. If you have more time, you can visit Edinburgh Castle or the National Museum of Scotland where, for example, you can look at Dolly the sheep or a skeleton from a Tyrannosaurus Rex. You can also head out of town to Loch Ness to spot sea monsters. So much to see and do, but you, don't forget your rain jacket!