Hello Edinburrah!
Having to travel alone a lot has made me some kind of an O.C. traveller. I would usually do my research on my destination months before, and then create my day by day itinerary in an excel file. I would diligently list the directions, tube stops, entrance fees to attractions, opening times, and even what I would wear. It got tiring after a while and I realized that sometimes, the less you expect from a place, the more beautiful it turns out to be. So when Aoisoba and I decided to go on a trip to Edinburgh, I simply took care of booking the flights and accommodation and let her do the rest . =)
It was almost 10 pm when we arrived in Edinburgh. We had to fly to Glasgow and take a train from there because the price of the airfare from Cork to Edinburgh just shot up at the last minute.
My first impression of Edinburgh was that it was quite dark at night.
Finding our hostel was already an adventure. The map shows that Cowgate street was 2 blocks away from Edinburgh Castle. What it doesn't tell you is that you need to go uphill first and then walk downhill to get there :p. With the help of a kind man who gladly got off his bike to walk with us, we were able to find our hostel. That's another impression I got on the first day, Scots are nice people!
We finally got to our interesting hostel. :) But I saved that story for my hostel review which you can also find in this blog. :)
We wasted no time. We walked around to familiarize ourselves with the area but the streets were deserted by 11 pm. We walked along the Royal Mile and got some night shots of the Edinburgh Castle and High Kirk St. Giles.
We didn't have much luck with the weather the next day. It rained the whole morning and the skies were gray most of the time - not good for pictures. That didn't stop us from going up the muddy and slippery Carlton Hills. From there we had a view of the Edinburgh skyline. It was worth the walk.
I know many people who have sworn that Edinburg is the most beautiful city they've ever been too. At that point, I was starting to see why.
|
|
|||
|
|
I guess it's my fault that I didn't research about Edinburgh beforehand because when we got there, we learned that maps can be deceiving. In the map, Cowgate looked like it was just 2 blocks away from Waverley Station but what we didn't know was that we have to go up and down the hill first.
The hostel itself was nice. It had colorful interiors, a cozy common room with tv, internet kiosks, kitchens, and a reliable hot water supply (very important during winter). We booked a twin room with a bunk bed and surprisingly the room was big. There was no sink in the room, though. The beds were clean and comfortable, but what freaked me out about the room was that it had a window with a view of the Greyfriars Graveyard which is right across the street. When I sleep facing left, I actually have a view of tombs! Haha, I know, I'm such a scaredy cat. Actually, I really thought that graveyard was beautiful and we even visited it twice during the day. It was one of the most hauntingly beautiful cemeteries I've ever seen! Greyfriars Bobby was buried there!:) I didn't know about the ghost stories at that time so I was brave. But after we went on the City of The Dead Graveyard Tour and learned that Greyfriars was the site of one of most notoriously known poltergeist activites (so famous that BBC had to investigate it) it suddenly became hard to sleep.:p
The hostel had common showers, which might be good news for some.;) We ended up having to walk a little further from our room to use the strictly-for-females one.
Overall, I think it's a nice, clean, and reasonably priced hotel for which you need a good pair of walking shoes and a bit of courage. Considering that Edinburgh is mostly built on a volcano, I guess the location is as good as any you can get.
|
|
|||
|
|
|
