A Letter From America
Things about Edinburgh.
The Castle
The city sits between two massive volcanic outcrops, one being King Arthur's seat and the other upon which sits Edinburgh castle. As with most places these days there's a not insignificant charge for actually going into the castle. Hence we didn't. We did look at it from the outside though. There's a sizeable car park out the front of it which offers an excellent view over the rooftops of Edinburgh and beyond. Oh - and they fire a cannon from the castle ramparts every day at one o'clock for some reason.
The Whisky Museum
Just down from the castle gates there is a Museum of Tartan and a Museum of Whisky on opposite sides of the road. We opted for the Whisky option but in a non-toursity way we just looked round the shop where they sell what I assume to be every different type of Scotch in existence. The most expensive bottle came in at £6,000 - which was somewhat of a bargain as it came in it's own wooden box!
The Roads
They're all very straight. Coming from a city where the road system is sometimes like an explosion in a spaghetti factory where they wind around the hills, this did seem very odd. Everything was straight lines everywhere.
The Hills
What Edinburgh does have in common with Sheffield however is the fact that it's built on hills. Lots of them. Steep ones. Now this did make me feel at home!
There are a number of tours operating around a similar area but we opted for the City of the Dead tour, claiming as it did to have had a number of it's customers fainting and being attacked by spirits.
Leaving several times a night you are met by your guide at Merkat Square who then takes you off for a walking tour of some of the older parts of the city whilst regaling you with tales of Edinburgh's more gruesome past.
Be prepared to join in with the tales as members of the party are regularly called up to help re enact some of the events!
The bulk of this particular tour takes place in the Greyfriars graveyard which is home, according to our guide, to any number of ghosts. Wandering around a graveyard at night is always going to be a little spooky and with the guide expertly raising the tension with grisly and ghostly tales everyone is decidedly jumpy by the tour's end.
You have to do the tour yourself to discover the highpoint but you're guaranteed to finish the night with your heart racing!
One thing to bare in mind - much of the tour is spent wandering around a graveyard which can get quite muddy so you'll need to make sure you have suitable footwear.
|
|
The bar was very well stocked with wines and spirits and the service swift, accommodating and friendly. Despite this being late afternoon it was still very busy and we had to wait for a table but the waiting staff were very attentive and we were soon ushered into a sort of conservatory to order food.
The menu consists of traditional restaurant fayre with a modern twist and was much more reasonably priced than the uber-cool nature of the décor might have implied. The highlight were the chilli-coated fries which are available as an accompaniment and were just the right side of spicy to be delicious.
The toilets were somewhat obscurely located and you're asked to opt for tigers or lilies rather than the more usual male or female (so it appears you decide how much of an animal you are feeling?) but once again they are exquisitely decorated.
Excellent food and excellent décor – one for all the hip and trendy to hang out.
As with many places of this type the tables are squashed in tight together but that doesn't detract, in fact it adds to the cosy atmosphere. The staff were all extremely cheerful, friendly and accommodating, finding us a table even though we’d turned up about twenty minutes before our booking.
The menu is expansive but reasonably cheap and there was a large selection of vegetarian dishes to choose from (which is always important on my outings).
If the prices looked reasonable on the menu they looked even better when the food arrived. Everything came served in hefty portions and only the most ravenous diner could genuinely expect to clear their plate. Each dish comes in it's own serving bowl placed on a long hotplate down the centre of the table which not only kept your curry nice and hot but also encouraged mix and match between everyone as you got a taste of all the dishes.
The food itself was delicious, excellently cooked and just the right attention to the spicing and it did seem a shame to leave any but my appetite has never been the largest.
I've no other curry house in the area to compare it to but I couldn't argue with the assertion that it's a top notch place and worth seeking out if you’re in the vicinity.
|
|
|
