• Home
  • About Me
  • Food
    • Saladmaster Recipes
  • Travels
  • Finds
    • Shopping
    • Bags
    • Jewelry
    • Fashion
    • Shoes Galore
  • Wedding
  • Events
  • On my Radar
  • Contact Me

THE BRIGHT SPOT

Food. Travel. Bargain finds. Random thoughts. A bright spot for sharing ideas and starting conversations!

UK Adventure Day 5: Exploring the Magical Edinburgh

11.01.2019 by Leah // Leave a Comment

We only had 2 days to explore Scotland, the northern part of UK, but it was enough to see the best of Edinburgh and part of the Highlands.

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, with lots of old towns and villages that retained much of their original character as settlements. It’s not hard to fall in love with Edinburgh, and now I understand why some of the travelers I know who have gone to both London and Edinburgh commented that they should have stayed longer in Edinburgh (pronounced “Edin-brah”) .

Thankfully, touring Edinburgh by foot for one day is doable, and armed with very comfortable walking shoes (MBT’s Modena Slip On shoes), pocketable Uniqlo jackets, Google Map and lots of energy, we were able to cover the Best of Edinburgh in 1 day.

Below were the places we visited, starting from our Travelodge Hotel at Central Princes Street:

The Scot Monument which stands in Princes Street Gardens and is just a few steps from our hotel.

Our DIY walking tour basically started here, with the Edinburgh Castle as the point of destination. The good thing about this route is that we will already pass by many places of interest like the Old Town and Royal Mile. Google Map was a big help to us that day

The next stop was New College, The University of Edinburgh.

We almost missed the Writer’s Museum housed in Lady Stair’s House at the Lawnmarket, because it’s inside a courtyard. This museum is popular in Edinburgh, though, as it presents the lives of three of the foremost Scottish writers: Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson.

Inside the Writer’s Museum

A staff at the Writer’s Museum offered to take our picture, which turned out to be the best souvenir photo we had in Edinburgh =)

We can already see the Scottish National Gallery from Central Princes Street, which is under construction during our visit last June.

The entrance to Edinburgh Castle. We didn’t buy the tickets anymore because the line was already long by then. It’s still best to order them in advance.

So many construction activities going on outside Edinburgh Castle; I wasn’t able to take a good picture of the castle from afar.

We continued our walk along Royal Mile, and passed by the following:

The Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, which is just right across
the Scotch Whisky Experience.
The Scotch Whisky Experience. We could not miss the Scotch Whisky tour!

We bought our tickets at the box office. We all got the “Silver Tour” priced at GBP16 per head, which gave us a 50-minutes journey into the world of whisky, with free tasting at the end of the tour.

I love their “Rub and Sniff” card. It gives you an aroma tour of the whiskies produced in different regions of Scotland.

Different whiskies from around the world.
With my travel buddy Denise and our cute tour guide/bartender, hihi!

The walk along the Royal Mile was my favorite. I was charmed by the history of the city, the well-preserved English architecture, little shops and the gorgeous weather that day that’s perfect for walking.

Everything in this long stretch of the Royal Mile is just charming!
David Hume‘s statue along the Royal Mile. It is said that touching this 18th-century Scottish philosopher’s toe allegedly conjures good fortune. 

Located in the Old Town of Edinburgh is the beautiful St. Giles Cathedral, dedicated to St. Giles, Patron of the Lepers. Entrance to the cathedral is free.

The Thistle Chapel inside St. Giles Cathedral. Considered to be one of Scotland’s architectural jewels, with peculiar Gothic style carvings and painted fittings of extraordinary detail.

We stopped for late lunch at Angels with Bagpipes, a fine dining restaurant along Royal Mile. It was our most expensive meal in the UK, but is so worth it. Will share more about this in a separate post.

We continued our walking tour right after, passing by the Greyfriars Kirkland first.

This is the status of the Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he died himself on 14 January 1872.
The National Museum of Scotland. This was not in our plan but we took a quick museum tour anyway since may araw pa naman, hehe!
The museum was easy to navigate. I went straight to where the Egyptian artifacts were.

After this unplanned museum visit, we continued our walk going to Holyrood Palace. On our way there, we passed by other landmarks in the city, such as:

Potterheads will surely recognise The Elephant House! JK Rowling wrote the Potter books over coffee and cake in this relaxed writer/reader-friendly cafe.
The Museum of Childhood, the first museum in the world dedicated to the history of childhood, it displays toys and games from across the generations.
John Knox House, one of Scotland’s greatest cultural treasures and is associated with the most dramatic events in Scotland’s turbulent history. It is now a museum.
The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyrood.

It was already late in the afternoon when we arrived at the Holyrood Palace – the official residence of the Queen when she’s in Scotland – and too bad for us, it was already close to visitors. We decided to make the most of the day (while the sun is still high up) by hiking up to Arthur’s Seat, the highest point of the Holyrood Park.

Unfortunately, I am not ready for this kind of hiking so AJ and I stopped na midway. Still, we were able to get this beautiful view of Edinburgh from where we were at that part of the hill:

That’s a Swan Lake you see at the left side of the hill:

We walked over there and had a great time with the swans!

All that walking and hiking made us hungry again, and while walking at the Old Town, we passed by this small open food court at Old Tolbooth where they are serving Haggis – a Scottish pudding containing sheep’s pluck (heart, liver, and lungs). Masarap naman sya, hehe!

It’s like our crumbled longganisa but minus the garlic and onions. I liked it!

After this, Roy and Denise have to meet someone for dinner, so AJ and I went to continue our walking tour.

In the heart of Edinburgh’s historic Old Town is Grassmarket, with lots of cobbled streets and little shops (and pubs!).

Our last stop was the Princes Street Gardens, the perfect place to rest our already tired feet!

The Ross Fountain in West Princes Street Gardens
You can see parts of the Old Town from the garden…
…and Edinburgh Castle.

We waited for the night to finally settle in before we left the park. By then it was already past 8 p.m. and dinner was burger, hotdog and fries from Five Guys which is one of the few restaurants open at this already late hour.

It was quite a day, and writing about this trip now, it amazed me how we were able to cover all these places in one day! Sana magawa namin ulit ito in 10 years, hehe! I’d love to go back to Edinburgh and stay there longer next time. So many small museums to visit, and I’ll probably take another chance at Arthur’s Seat!

Up Next:  UK Adventure Day 6:  Our FREE Scottish Highlands Hairy Coo Tour

Categories // Food, Travels Tags // Edinburgh, haggis, scotch whisky, travels

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This blog is all about…

Food. Travel. Bargain finds. Random thoughts. A bright spot for sharing ideas and starting conversations!
Leah De Leon
More about me

GET SOCIAL

Image Map

Search

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive updates from The Bright Spot straight into your inbox!

Recent Posts

  • Christmas in the Time of Corona
  • Product Review: Lasco UV-C Germicidal Lamps
  • Kyoto Food Hits
  • A Cat’s Tale
  • Looking for the Perfect Face Mask
  • Our British Food Adventure
  • Online Shopping in the Time of Pandemic
  • UK Adventure Days 7 to 9: Back in London
  • Daddy’s Last Act of Love
  • My Birthday Week in Japan










Archives

dbrightspot

Food. Travel. Bargain finds. Random thoughts. A bright spot for sharing ideas and starting conversations.

Lovely homemade sausage rolls from Madge's at Salc Lovely homemade sausage rolls from Madge's at Salcedo Market 😋 I also love her Chocolate Lamingtons and English Muffins 😋😋 #homebakers #australiantreats
Hi Daddy! Lapit na ang birthday mo, and you will c Hi Daddy! Lapit na ang birthday mo, and you will celebrate it in heaven na ☁️☁️☁️ Pero kasama mo pa rin kami magce-celebrate. Same as last year, we will celebrate it at home dahil may #covid_19 pa rin. You will remember that last year, yours is the first birthday we celebrated in quarantine. I just came from Baguio (for work) and  someone from our group tested positive. Hindi na tayo nakapagpa-picture dahil puro nasa #covid_19 ang attention natin. We miss you, daddy! I hope you like your flowers today, mas marami na green leaves kaysa flowers. Just the way you like it. 💚💚 #theoriginalplantito
This Pecan Bread Pudding from @ecoookie is a disco This Pecan Bread Pudding from @ecoookie is a discovery of my foodie mom @minildade and it is my favorite #quarantinedessert so far. It taste of home, with warmth and love in every bite! 💕 It's great for breakfast or even as dessert. Best eaten warm with  vanilla cream generously poured on top! 😋
I had my annual mammo exam yesterday at the new, b I had my annual mammo exam yesterday at the new, bigger and hotel-like Makati Medical Wellness Center at Ayala North Exchange. It's so spacious and so safe in there. I wore double masks (KN95 and fabric mask from @quins.ph) and my favorite scrub cap from @unisol.ph_ with buttons on both sides for the mask ear loops. It kept my ears from hurting and kept my hair intact too. Never mind if I look more like a nurse than a patient here 😁 Safety first over porma 😜
Taken in February last year just as Japan was star Taken in February last year just as Japan was starting to feel the effects of the #covid_19 pandemic. Hiroshima is a beautiful city and here I was able to take off my face mask because halos walang tao sa mga tourist sites that we went to. Hindi lang halata here but my hands were already burned because of too much washing with disinfectant alcohol 😬

So grateful to have visited this historic city in this extraordinary time. 

#japan #Hiroshima #Hiroshimapeacememorial
Upgraded my workplace at home. I now have an exten Upgraded my workplace at home. I now have an extended monitor, 2 coffee mugs (because 1 cup of coffee ain't always enough) and a bigger work desk but still doesn't fit all my stuff and the documents coming my way 😅 #wfhlife
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2021 · Blog Design by Fancy Girl Designs · Built on the Genesis Framework