Edinburgh & The Highlands

Our latest quick jaunt was off to Scotland. We flew into Edinburgh early Saturday morning and as our bus from the airport rolled into the old town centre and I got a glimpse of the castle on the cliff, I knew I was going to love it. Most of the old stone buildings are black with years of weathering but it gives the city a dark medieval feel - lots of character, lots of history.

We made it to the Royal Mile (the main road running from Hollyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle on the hill) by 8:30, which gave us a little bit of time to explore some of the many narrow alleyways (closes) and grab a quick Starbucks before our tour departed at 9:30.

With Rabbies Trail Burners, we boarded a mini coach that took us up into the highlands, by several castles and along many lochs, including Loch Lomond. Highlights included the view of Stirling Castle high up on a ridge near the William Wallace monument, Kilchurn Castle in ruins on the edge of Loch Awe, and 'Rest and Be Thankful", a beautiful view point in a pass in the highlands. On the drive between stops, our guide told us stories of Mary Queen of Scots, William Wallace, Rob Roy, and surprisingly, graphic depictions of sheep shagging. He rivaled our tour guide in Prague for providing entertaining thoughts you could only shake your head at, but with the added bonus of a Scottish accent.

He also played some great Scottish folk music, such as Roddy Woomble, which I’m listening to now. The tour was a great way for us to see some of Scotland’s rugged wilderness in the short time we had.

We arrived back in Edinburgh at 7:30 and went straight to Monster Mash, for a delicious dinner of bangers and mash. We could tell that the night life Edinburgh was starting to heat up (or 'hot up' as the Brits say); the streets were crawling with party goers. While sitting in the restaurant 20 guys walked by each wearing different super hero costume - very impressive! We must have seen a half dozen different stag/stagette parties on streets. Alas, we could not keep our eyes open to join in the partying so we headed to our cubby hole of a room in a hotel at the base of the castle.

We tried a 'wee bit' of Haggis on Sunday for breakfast, which actually wasn’t bad, but we skipped the blood pudding. We then did a tour of Mary King's Close, medieval alleys and dwellings that were sealed off when the city hall was built above it in the 1800s. We spent the remainder of the day walking through the city; up to the castle, down through the Georgian New Town, through all the back streets and closes, down the Royal Mile to Hollyrood, up Arthur's Seat, and then up Calton Hill. Arthur's Seat is this big hill in the middle of the city, like Nose Hill in Calgary but more rugged. Climbing up it gave us a nice view of the city and out to the Firth of Forth. We finished off the day with a drink at a cozy pub and then headed back to the airport. We weren't able to squeeze everything in but we were happy with what we accomplished in two days, and we were really impressed with Edinburgh. Check out our pics, and go if you get the chance!

Next weekend - Estonia and Latvia, where it’s supposedly snowing right now!