British Isles 2022: Part 6: Edinburgh, Scotland
Day 1:
After our short stay in Leeds, we’ve finally made it to the final stop on our journey: Edinburgh, Scotland!
After checking into the hotel, we found a place for lunch. Ali really wanted to try haggis, so we decided on Arcade Haggis & Whisky House. He had the Famous Haggis with Whisky Sauce and I tried the Salmon & Haddock Cakes. And if you’re wondering, Ali thought the haggis was great.
Full of haggis, we made our way to Holyrood Palace.
After the palace, we slowly strolled back up the Royal Mile, popping in and out of shops along the way.
Along the Royal Mile, we made a stop at St Giles Cathedral.
After the cathedral, we made a quick break to freshen up at the hotel before dinner. We walked a bit down the street to Brewhemia for some soup and flatbread. And then it was back to the hotel to wind down for the night.
Day 2:
On second day in Edinburgh, we’re up early and swung by Black Sheep Coffee for some coffee and breakfast sandwiches to start the day.
Our first stop of the day is the National Museum of Scotland. Its a huge museum and we only had a few hours to check it out, so we opted to start in the Scottish history section.
After the morning at the museum, we stopped at The Doric for lunch. Ali wanted to try all the local foods, so we had quite the feast: Fish & Chips, Cullen Skink, Haggis Chips, and Steamed Scottish Mussels.
After lunch we hiked up to Edinburgh Castle.
Leaving the castle, we stumbled upon some Scottish themed photos. I can never pass up the opportunity for themed photos!
Next we wondered around town a bit, hiking up to Calton Hill to watch a bit of the sun set. Then it was back to the hotel to rest up because we were going to have an early morning the next day.
Day 3:
We’re up way too early because we have meet up with our tour bus. We booked a tour with Rabbies Tours to take us to see the Highlands and Loch Ness and everything in-between.
We got to see some nice landscape views and the famous Kelpie Statue as we drove to our first stop in the town of Callander. This was mostly just a quick restroom and coffee break. We grabbed some coffee and watched some swans swim by before jumping back on to the bus.
After our caffeine boost, we drove through the Highlands with a quick stop at the Glencoe Visitor Center. It was a bit eerie out with all the fog and rain, but we still managed to get some good pics.
Stop 3 was just a quick photo op at the Commando Memorial .
Then came one of our longer stops of the day: Loch Ness and Fort Augustus. We were given the opportunity to go on a boat tour around the loch or just walk around the town at our own pace. We opted to skip the boat. Instead, we grabbed lunch at The Loch Inn. Then walked up to the loch for some pictures (and to look for Nessy, of course)
Leaving Fort Augustus, we drove through the Cairngorms Mountains and made a quick stop at Pattack Falls, just a short little trail with nice view of a river.
Our last stop of the day was a little cafe/gift shop in Bankfoot, where we got to meet some highland cows!
Then it was back to Edinburgh. It was a long day, so we opted to grab some snacks from the convenience store and chill at the hotel for the night.
Day 4:
We started our day wit a breakfast at Southern Cross Cafe.
Then, we made our way to the National Gallery of Scotland.
Afterwards, we walked over to St Mary’s Cathedral.
For lunch, we were craving some non-Scottish foods and found Maki & Ramen Sushi & Noodle Bar. We enjoyed some Pumpkin Katsu Curry and Black Garlic Tonkotsu. Perfect for the rainy day outside.
Next up, we headed to Holyrood Park for a hike! I made it most the way to Arthur’s Seat Summit, but Ali made it all the way to the top. And then we got caught in a bit of rain on our way back down the hill.
We had some extra time, so we decided to go back to the Museum of Scotland to check out the other half of the museum we didn’t get a chance to see the first time.
For our last dinner of the trip, we went to the Whiski Bar & Restaurant. Tried a non-traditional way to eat haggis: Haggis Spring Rolls. And of course, we couldn’t end the trip without one more Sticky Toffee Pudding.
The rest of the night we just spent packing for the journey home.
Day 5:
Our last morning in Scotland was an early one. We were up at 5:00am to make our way to the airport to head back home. We had an excellent adventure! It was great to get a small taste of the British Isles. I have a list of places I still want to see the next time we come to visit.
The end!
