Edinburgh - perfect - winter or The Festival

My first impression of Edinburgh involved arriving on a cold, rainy day in November and getting out of the train station to see the castle looming up out of the mist, as if it were coming alive.

The second time I arrived in Edinburgh was during the festival, with crowds of people--the atmosphere is amazing; there is so much to see and do.

The tattoo was inspiring. When the lone piper played, lit on the castle battlements, it sent a chill up my spine. Book early!!!

Quick Tips:

Don't miss the castle - get a guided tour; they are very informative, and if you are lucky, you will get a Scotsman with an accent you can drool over all around the ramparts.

Walk the Royal Mile to get a feel for the Old Town, and then head to the Georgian architecture in the new town down the hill. An inside view of both is available at Gladstone's Land and the Georgian House, respectively. Highly recommended.

Best Way To Get Around:

Most of the sights are in the centre, so walking is a good option. Try and walk the length of the Royal Mile (which runs from the Castle to Hollyrood House) for a real feel of the old city. There are plenty of buses, but be warned: they only take exact change. The most common ticket is 80p. There is an airlink shuttle to the airport from Waverly Bridge for £5 return.

I think all backpackers have a "hostel horror story," and mine just happened to be at this hostel. At 4:30 in the morning, a rather drunk individual peed in the wastepaper bin and then tried to get into my bed by mistake (with no pants on) and could not be convinced to move!

Now that I have your attention, I should say that the hostel was very helpful. The fellow on the desk got the guy back into his own bed and offered me the option between shifting rooms and getting clean sheets. The hostel also looked after my luggage for free.

The hostel itself has a great location. It is near the train station, but not too far up the hill, so you don't have far to go with luggage. It is also well placed for both the old and new town. It is a pretty standard hostel, with a kitchen and pool table. There is a cafe downstairs, which you get a discount in, but which didn't strike me as special.

The showers are not very well set up, which means that there is usually a lot of water all over the floor, and being winter, this meant they were quite muddy. But at least they were hot.

I would be willing to stay here again if I needed to, but I am sure that there are better (and worse) options.

You could almost miss this place if it weren't for the great smell and the queues to get in. Edinburgh has a number of baked potato outlets (for want of a better word) but apparently this is the most popular. The place is tiny, but there is a small table in a corner if you want to eat there.

I must admit to being surprised at how much I liked this place, given that is vegetarian, with vegan options, and I am normally a dedicated carnivore. But I visited four times in just two trips to Edinburgh.

Prices start at £1.05 (plain), £2.50 (filled) upto £3.40 (any three fillings). The potatoes are huge! Fillings range from the standard things like corn or cheese, through to mexican salad or guacamole. You can also get salads or filled pitta bread. The menu also includes veggie haggis, whatever that is. I didn't try it, 'cos it contains peanuts, which I am allergic to. It is open 9am - 9pm daily.

A student discount of 10% is also available.

This place is a bar rather than a pub. It is very light, rather than the typical dim and smoky place in Edinburgh that you can go for a pint, which is fine with me. The place is furnished with lots of comfy couches and chairs. While it is fairly spacious, it is sufficiently popular that it can get crowded later in the evening.

As a bar, you can get typical bar food, but the variety is pretty good. I tucked to the chicken nachos which were recommended to me, and they were superb, although rather messy to eat.

The plate was large enough that I couldn't even finish them. This means that you won't actually be able to get an appitiser, main and dessert for under $10, but since you can still stuff yourself stupid, I figure it deserves to go in this category.

I have to admit the reason I decided to visit this cafe is the story that this is where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter books, because she couldn't afford to heat her flat. It was during my cold, winter visit that I walked past and in, so in some ways my motivations was the same.

As I was mainly just looking for somewhere to get out of the cold, and having recently had lunch, I didn't have anything to eat, but it did all look quite scrummy.

Rather I ordered a hot chocolate as I always do, and was very pleased to be served the best hot chocolate I have ever had. Perfect richness, bitterness, amount of cream, everything! The chocolate fish on the saucer just topped everything off. Bliss!

Edinburgh Castle dominates the city from every angle, and it is hard to imagine a visit to Edinburgh without visiting. It also performs as a spectacular backdrop for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo during festival each August.

I joined a guided tour on a rainy, misty day in November. Walking through the entry in the mist really felt like stepping into another time. It probably helped that most other tourists may have been deterred by the weather. Our tour guide had a gorgeous Scottish accent, which I could have listened to even if he weren't so good at bringing the castle and its history to life.

The castle is also the home of the Scottish Crown Jewels. The Stone of Destiny, the coronation stone for Scots Kings, is also on display. It was returned in 1996 after a stint down in England.

Practicalities:
It is open April – Sept. 9:30am – 6pm
October – March 9:30am – 5pm
Tickets to get in are £8, but it is worth it.

A friend who lives in Edinburgh recommended visiting this museum, and I am glad she did. If you would like to spend an afternoon contemplating Scotland as an entity on its own, then this museum will interest you as much as it did me.

The museum is free, which of course adds to its appeal for budget travellers.

The museum focuses on the history and culture of Scotland, from the early Celts, the Battle of Culloden, right through to what is happening today. The museum strikes a good balance, providing information without being overly academic.

The free sound guides available at the entry desk provide a lot of interesting information. But...they are triggered by walking past an electronic sensor and can get it wrong, which is both confusing and annoying. If you want to avoid this, you can join a free guided tour at 11:30am and 2pm (and 6pm Tuesdays). Apparently, there is also a free themed tour at 3pm, but I am not sure what this involves.

Their website is www.nms.ac.uk

Practical stuff:
Open:
Mon. – Sat. 10am – 5pm
Tues. 10am – 8pm
Sun. noon – 5pm
Tel: 0131 247 4422
Fax: 0131 220 4819

Situated near the top of the Royal Mile, this building included the 17th-century home of a prosperous merchant. It is now owned by the National Trust of Scotland, which has furnished it "to avoke the old town of 300 years ago."

Wandering through the house doesn't take that long because it is so small, but there is and was a lot crammed into a very small space. After visiting Gladstone's Land, you can visit the Georgian House in the new town to see what the rich moved to, as soon as they could.

This visit includes guides in each room, who are there to both keep an eye on you and answer questions. This seems to attract little old ladies who really would like a chat and will answer the same question three times, even though you haven't actually asked it. There are also information sheets in each room.

Unfortunately, Gladstone's Land is only open from March to October. Each year the exact dates vary, and unfortunately, on my first visit to Edinburgh I arrived the day after it closed.

To find out opening dates and times you can ring 0131 226 5856 or try the National Trust of Scotland website: www.nts.org.uk

The music played by the lone piper standing on the castle ramparts will send a thrill up your spine, regardless of whether you are a fan of the bagpipes or not. This is one of the regular perfomances in the annual Edinburgh tattoo.

In 2003 we were able to see the regular marching bands, various foreign and exotic bands, a unit of motorbike stunt riders, highland dancers, and an American unit throwing bayonnets at each other. I should admit, I didn't see all of the Americans, I had to keep shutting my eyes.

My personal favourite was the swiss drumers who never missed a bit while creating amazing patterns, drumming on each others drums and throwing their drumsticks at each other. Hmmm, this is hard to describe, but it was extremely impressive.

If you want to get good seats you will need to book well in advance, but you can do so over the web here. I booked in January (the tattoo is in August) and got moderate seats. A lot of the formations are much better seen from the main stand, which is why the ticket prices are so much higher. But I reckon that the experience will still be amazing if you buy a £5 ticket.

A friend who lives in Edinburgh recommended that I go to the Museum of Scotland. Since it is right next door I ended up at the Royal Museum of Scotland instead.

After a quick wander around I decided that this museum was not for me and headed next door to my original destination. I have to admit that I am not big on museums that focus on areas that are not local. I would rather see Chinese vases when I finally get to China, for example. That said, this is my personal preference, you may feel differently and really like this museum. If you like musuems that focus on local culture and history, head next door to the Museum of Scotland.

If you do like this kind of thing, the musuem's promotional material states that ‘highlights include the Ivy Wu Gallery of Chinese, Japanese and Korean art, and culture and the World In Our Hans Gallery which looks at the environment and issues of conservation and pollution.’ Entry is free, which means that you can check the place out and lose nothing since it is so central.

Practical stuff:
Tel: 0131 247 4219
You can get more info at www.nms.ac.uk.
The musuem is open every day.

The Georgian House offers another opportunity to step back in time. This time to get a glimpse of the new town lifestyle at the end of the eighteenth century. The house has been restored and refurbished by the National Trust of Scotland in painstaking detail. Some rooms even include sounds and smells, as well as the usual chatty NTS guides, who can can give fascinating insights on both life in the 18th century and conditions in Scotland now. Be careful what you ask if you don't have plenty of time to spare.

In the basement a video presentation gives a glimpse of a day in the life of the original owner as well as background on building of the new town and its architecture.

Outside in Charlotte Square you have can admire Robert Adams stunning architecture.

A visit here combines really well with a visit to Gladstone's Land on the Royal Mile.

Apparently the house is specially decorated for Christmas. Unfortunately when I tried to visit in winter I arrived just after closing time, so my visit ended up being the following summer.

Practicalities:
Tel: 0131 226 3318
It is open from:
10am - 6pm April - October
10am – 4pm October - April
More info is available at: www.nts.org.uk

It's difficult to know whether this place should be described more as a shop or an exhibition. I guess that is why the name includes both.

If you are interested in tartan, then this is the place to find out more. You can wander through various exhibits explaining the history of tartan, as well as seeing a number of weavers at work. Whether you see the weavers or just the looms may depend on when you go.

You can buy any tartan, or a kilt, or get your photo taken in a traditional outfit.

Upstairs is a souvenir shop. Pretty standard really, although not quite as tacky as some in the new town.

The shop is at the top of the Royal Mile near the castle and near the Scotch Whiskey Heritage Centre, if you need somewhere to send the blokes.