Three days in Edinburgh - a summary

As I told in this post, I had a travel planned to Scotland, Edinburgh more precisely. It's been two days I'm back, everything went perfectly well, I even had ONE complete day of sun (bar the odd cloud) but now, confronted with hundreds (literally) of pictures, I'm left with the impossible task to talk to you about that amazing city. So, I simply decided to start with all the goofy and juicy bits and leave the historico-serious stuff for later... What do you say? YEAH! I knew you'd like it!

First of all, I have to remind you I came from Malaga, Spain. When I arrived in Edinburgh (late at night), even with all those Brexit talks, I was amazed to find a huge queue where anyone would have to show his/her passport to... an Ipad! 

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Well, technically not an Ipad per se, but a machine. With the right hand you stick your passport in the slot and with your face you fix the camera and make your most beautiful smile. A bit chilling. I kinda expected that a custom officer would do that, but obviously, it's also one of those areas where humans have become irrelevant!

That done, I headed straight to my hostel, which happened to be right AT THE FOOT of the Edinburgh castle as you can see (when I arrived i didn't notice the castle at all in the dark of the night!).

No wonder that the castle was the first on my to-do list and i spent the main part of my Friday morning touring it (more about it in a future post) and then I was confronted with the task to find something to eat. Well, not such an horrid task, because I had planned it... But guess what? Impossible to find the restaurant Hernandez & Co which I had tracked online and which had the best reviews around! It drove me mad, so I ended up ordering a pulled pork sandich and a can of Irn Bru from a shop in the famous Rose Street. Fair enough!

Now, when you go to Scotland, you have to keep an eye on the weather. As you can see, it was grey but not so grey, it was raining, but not so much, and the forecast was worse for the following days, so my calculation was... Better to do all the outside stuff NOW rather than lose the sights. So, here I go, Calton Hill! 

On my way, of course, I find out a...

...a magical cow...

...a cryptic slogan on the wall...

... a shameful advert showing how low the Game of Thrones' Black Watch has fallen...

Arrived at Calton Hill, you have not only a great view on the city itself, but also on another hill, the famous Arthur's Seat. Not wanting to lose the momentum, I headed straight to it and started the ascension...

And crossed behind Holyrood Palace to reach the foot of the hill:

And made it up there (well, to Salisbury's Ridge at least):

And to give you an idea about what a difference the sun makes, here is the same picture two days later:

Great isn't it? Scotland is probably the most beautiful country in the world as soon as the sun shines. Which means... 30 days a year. And counting. Then I headed down to the city again.

I started my second day really hungry, so I headed to another restaurant on my list, called Edinburgh Larder and this time it was where it was supposed to be, open, and with a table. So, here I come, Scottish Full Breakfast in all your magnificience:

To be frank, it was great, but it let me a bit nauseous all day long. But at least I could skip the lunch! Since the weather was worse than the day before, I hit the museums, which are awesome! First the National Museum of Scotland...

And then the National Gallery...

And once I was done with what, I mixed with the English and French supporters which had invaded Edinburgh to see the Champions Cup between the Saracens and Clermont. The city had done its job well, installed huge screens, and put out the deck chairs...

...so I allowed myself a well deserved pint of local beer mainstream brand and watched the final.

After that, straight home, a shower, and eventually went to a Couchsurfing event which was pretty nice, and on the way, saw a curious entertainment in Grassmarket, where men are encouraged to show off their strength by grabbing a bar and maintain themselves for 100 seconds without touching ground. The winner takes 100 pounds, but I saw half-a-dozen guys try it and not once break the 60 seconds limit! Not even with a kilt on!!!

Sunday, my last day, turned out much MUCH more nicer than what was expected. My plan was to go to Craigmillar, where there is a ruin of a castle, an empty shell, very well kept, with a great view (more about it in another post):

Coming back from it, I was left with no option with touring again all the outdoor sights I had seen and headed to Arthur's Seat again to take a few proper pictures AT LAST, then, one last sandwich on the lawns of the Princes Street gardens, enjoying the sun and the friendly atmosphere...

... before to head back to the airport with the proper bus:

Keep tuned for more detailed posts about the city, coming soon!