A Weekend in Edinburgh

As you might already know, we decided to do something special for my birthday and we planned a nice three day weekend away in Edinburgh! We set off quite early on Friday morning to make sure we would arrive around lunch time at the Guest House. The bedroom was perfect for what we needed and the location is spot on!

After having a tasty lunch at Peter's Yard, we grabbed our umbrella and ventured out around Old Town, exploring its charming tiny streets. One thing we came prepared for was the cold and wind, and even though it's July, it felt more like February to me, but I guess it's part of the Edinburgh experience :)

We pre-booked a tour at The Real Mary King's Close at the end of the afternoon, and we weren't disappointed. It was surprising to see some of the old streets of Edinburgh in the same condition as they were before and we learnt a lot about how people used to live around the 17th Century. Fascinating (and also a bit gross)!

We came out of the tour and realised that it was a wee bit sunny (Edinburgh has rubbed off on me!), so we walked back to our Guest House, stopping here and there to appreciate the scenery and take a few more photos. I particularly liked to explore the Greyfriars cemetery.

On Saturday morning, we visited the Castle (of course), and we were glad to have booked our tickets in advance because the queue was already quite big even though it just opened! I guess it's the main attraction of the city and I can understand why. There's so much to see! We couldn't stay too long, but you could definitely spend a whole day if you want to take your time and make sure you see every exhibition. I think my favourite was the old prison, but then again I really liked the Great Hall. A must see!

It stayed quite sunny during the day so we were quite happy to head to New Town by foot for lunch and stroll around the Georgian streets. We had a bit of time before heading to our next activity so we went to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery which I've heard was quite exceptional. And it was! There is quite an eclectic collection of art and the place itself is full of surprises.

Jason really wanted to do the Scotch Whisky Experience so we booked our tickets for this special treat in the afternoon! I have to say, I'm not a connoisseur of any alcohol and I didn't know anything about whisky, but I actually found it really interesting. Plus, you get to try a bit of whisky at the end, and Jason was quite happy to finish mine! Small bonus is that you keep the glass you were given ;)

At the end of the day, just before the weather turned bad, we took the time to go up the Calton Hill for some great views of the city.

Because we needed to leave around Sunday lunch, we knew we didn't have much time left to spend in the city, so Sunday morning was all about taking it easy. Well, being our usual selves, we still went all the way to the bottom of Holyrood Hill to admire the Palace from a distance. And yes, that's a rare photo of the two of us! In a way it's far from being perfect, but I just love it because we usually never take the time to take a photo of the both of us, and we were just genuinely happy at the time. And that is perfection to me :)

Overall a great experience, so Edinburgh, we'll be back!

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