Arrival in Edinburgh
The hotel was pretty easy to find from the train station. We made our way directly there with our bags and were able to get checked in early.
After checking in to our hotel, we headed out to explore Edinburgh on our own and see a few of the sights that were not included on the tour, which started the next afternoon. |
Day 1 Adventures
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Our hotel was located in New Town, so we started off by walking through Princes Street Garden and over to Old Town,
Edinburgh is definitely a very hilly town - especially as you make your way from New Town over to Old Town. I wish I had been in a bit better shape for this trip, but I did get plenty of leg work in climbing up and down! As you can see, the weather was absolutely beautiful our first few days in Scotland! We had very nice sunny days with perfect temperatures. Our vacation was the last couple weeks of May, which is falls between Spring and Summer semesters for me. Most of our weather was quite lovely. |
St Giles Cathedral
Our first stop was to visit St Giles Cathedral.
I love visiting churches on my travels, so of course, I'm stopping in the most significant church of Scottish Reformation. It may still hold the name of Cathedral - conjuring up images of the great and gaudy Catholic churches, but this stripped down church, now the home to the Church of Scotland, holds a simple beauty. There are beautiful stained glass windows, including one in honor of Scottish Poet Robert Burns and one in honor of Reformation firecracker John Knox. There is also a statue of John Knox in the church. You will also find a signed copy of the National Covenant from 1638 (took me a while to find this as it was hiding under some protective drapes). My favorite part of St Giles was the chapel dedicated to the Order of the Thistle, Scotland's only chivalric order. The carvings in this chapel are just exquisite. Don't forget to look up in the chapel and check out the ceiling! |
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More of Edinburgh
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Following our visit to St Giles, Sean and I explored some more of the city. We walked down Victoria Street to Grassmarket. We did stop and have some delightful gelato at a small shop off Grassmarket called Mary's Milk Bar. It was excellent hand-crafted gelato. You also get a very nice view of Edinburgh Castle from just outside the shop.
After our gelato, we walked up to the castle to the Esplanade to take some pictures of the view in case the weather was not as nice the following day when we visited the castle. |
Scotch Whisky Experience
Sean and I bought tickets to the Scotch Whisky Experience for our first evening in Edinburgh. We decided to get their full package that included a "barrel" ride explaining the process of whisky making, then a five-whisky tasting, followed by a three-course dinner with an additional whisky sample for good measure.
I do have to say that the whole evening was very informative to highlight the different regions of Scottish Whisky. We visited some other distilleries on our trip, but since this was not tied to a specific maker, we got a full sense of all types of whisky and the difference between the regions, and a single malt vs a blend. I'm still not a whisky drinker, but Sean sure is. |
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Day 2 Adventures
We did not have breakfast included with our stay at the Bonham until the tour started, so Sean and I found a local place nearby, The Painted Rooster, for breakfast. It was the best breakfast of our entire trip!
Our tour meeting was set to start in the early evening, so we had the whole day to continue exploring Edinburgh. We didn't plan to do too much, as we had plenty of time over the remainder of our days in the city with the tour and after.
Our tour meeting was set to start in the early evening, so we had the whole day to continue exploring Edinburgh. We didn't plan to do too much, as we had plenty of time over the remainder of our days in the city with the tour and after.
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We decided to walk to Calton Hill to get some good pictures of the city. it was a very nice day out - we actually had great weather for all our days in Edinburgh. We walked around Calton Hill for a bit before heading into Old Town for lunch.
After lunch at The World's End, we did a little tourist gift shopping and then headed back to the hotel for our welcome meeting. |