Scotland - Day One

Day one - it’s been a relatively gruelling 40+ hour journey, from home to Auckland, via LA, to Heathrow, Heathrow and we finally arrived in Edinburgh. The Favourite Husband and I had various challenges en-route, no visa to transit through the states, no assigned seats for one of the flights, oh and a cancelled flight, but we made it. The first couple of days we aren’t worrying about a car. Cities are best explored on foot, it helps you get your bearings and get a sense of direction. Well you hope it does, unless you’re like me and are directionally challenged. Even with sat nav.

We didn’t arrive at our accommodation until gone 8.30pm so it was dark, self-check in was fine, we both had a quick shower and then straight to bed.

We feel like we hit the ground running this morning, which isn’t for everyone. We are early risers and we really love to pound the pavement. (We walked over 15km) It’s been over 35 years since I last visited Edinburgh and I don’t really remember anything if I’m honest. In my defence I was 17, young and thought I was in love. We were there for a Fringe Festival play that we were in. What little I do remember is that both our little creative ensemble and the quality of both the script and the acting, was fairly abysmal. Anyway, back to today and Edinburgh has taken my breath away at every turn.

We walked to the Royal Mile for breakfast at Luckenbooths as it opens at 7am. Fantastic full breakfast including haggis, black pudding and potato scone. It was definitely on the pricey side, but when you’re up early and eating to go it seems acceptable and as it’s part of a hotel it’s one of the few places open before 8am. Where we are staying included breakfast, but it wasn’t until after I’d booked that I read the small print advising that only a continental breakfast is available. We bought flexi passes with audio online for the castle. This means you choose your dates for a week to enable you to go to the castle at any time. And skip any queues. We forgot our own headphones so just got the devices from the booth. These were great. We had also got the guidebook that we ordered online, I wouldn’t bother again. We didn’t open it once and are unlikely to once we get home. We did the castle at 9.30am when it opened and avoided much of the crowds, particularly the group tours. When we came out at about 11am the entrance to the castle and the top of the Royal Mile was absolutely heaving. We timed it well. People overwhelm me at the best of times, but considering this was low season (beginning of October) I was surprised by the numbers.

We had coffee at a great little cafe down one of the Closes with a fabulous history behind it. The cafe is called Deacons House. I love little finds like this and encourage you to take those turn offs, explore what’s round that corner or down those steps. You just never know what gem you’ll discover.

We did the tour of Gladstones Land but were left a little underwhelmed and didn’t think it was great value for money. But funny that when we were having dinner we overheard some other tourists raving about it. Just goes to show, something for everyone.

We ticked off lots of things we’d wanted to see, the Scott Monument, the Writers Museum, Calton Hill, Victoria Street/Terrace, the Royal Mile, Princes Street, Greyfriars etc.

Then it was back to our hotel and then out for dinner. We are staying about a 30 minute walk from Old Town at the Salisbury Hotel which is nice enough for the money. The room is small and the bathroom even smaller but it is quiet and cosy.

Day 2 and I’ve been awake since 3am, is it time to get up yet?