I spent a weekend in the beautiful city of Edinburgh last February and seeing as I still fondly remember it and the comedy festival is on at the moment there I thought it was a good a thing to post about as any!

I’d heard people raving about the nightlife and pubs (but 7up is pretty much the same everywhere ) but i hadn’t been expecting it to be so beautiful. Since I had no digital camera back in those days I can’t show you the proof but it is simply stunning. There are so many old buildings and lots of little winding streets with loads and loads of steps as you go up and downhill. It’s wonderfully quirky and the people are very friendly there.

One highlight of the trip for me was Edinburgh Castle. Unfortunately we visited on Sunday so we missed the famous one o’clock gunfire! The most memorable bit of the trip was climbing the Scott Monument. It’s basically like a huge church spire that you can climb up to the top of. The view is great and it’s a laugh doing it. However be warned it can be a tight squeeze in places and quite claustrophobic! I probably would have died if we had gone at a busy time

The other thing I remember is how bloody cold it was! If you’re going there in Winter or early Spring bring really warm gloves. A hat is essential since it’s wet and windy too. And it’s a different type of rain to Irish rain - I can’t really describe why but just trust me on that! I know now what Travis were moaning about
Foodwise, I can recommend the World’s End Pub and The Filling Station along the Royal Mile.

We stayed at the Allison House Hotel which was fine and very quiet. Our room had plenty of storage space and was clean and comfortable. Breakfast was nice too. It is a bit out of town and it’s about a 15 minute bus ride from Princes Street, although the bus stops almost just outside the door. Ideally, I’d prefer to be more central.

I only spent a couple of days in Edinburgh and I’ll definitely be returning to see some more but I’ll go in the summer next time!

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 15th, 2004 at 7:36 pm and is filed under travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.