Edinburgh - The medieval Old Town
A visit to Edinburgh. It was on a Saturday, early morning around 5:40 am we left our accommodation. An hour's walk to the Buchanan bus station, took the 6:30 bus to Edinburgh. The journey from Glasgow to Edinburgh in megabits took almost an hour's time, not so peacefully but still got some sleep in the bus. The roads in the UK are very much similar to the Indian roads, full of bumps and humps. We reached Edinburgh around 7:40 am. Edinburgh the cultural city of Scotland, felt it way better than Glasgow in someway couldn't figure out exactly what made the difference. I always get a shady feeling in Glasgow, have always thought it was in my head but when I saw Edinburgh it's only then that I realised Glasgow does have a shady feel.
The first place on to visit was the St Arthur's Seat. It was a 50-minute walk from the bus station. The city is a mixture of the old and new architecture. We hiked the St Arthur’s Seat to the summit. Near the summit, it was similar to rock climbing - a small one though as we took the trail less travelled. The weather was just perfect. We were so tired and hungry after the hike that we went to the nearest not so fancy restaurant to get a takeaway burger. In Scotland, the takeaway price is always cheaper than dining in for the same food, it does not make much sense though. It was around 11am that we walked and had our brunch as in lunch burger, we strolled around the University of Edinburgh - comparing it intensively with our University of Glasgow. As it was a Saturday, they had farmers market near the castle - the famous Edinburgh castle. Honey, jam and cheese are the highlights of these farmers markets, so fresh and tasty. They even had a stall for cheesecake, I had to have their coffee cheesecake which was not so good nor bad, it was a typical cheesecake.
The first place on to visit was the St Arthur's Seat. It was a 50-minute walk from the bus station. The city is a mixture of the old and new architecture. We hiked the St Arthur’s Seat to the summit. Near the summit, it was similar to rock climbing - a small one though as we took the trail less travelled. The weather was just perfect. We were so tired and hungry after the hike that we went to the nearest not so fancy restaurant to get a takeaway burger. In Scotland, the takeaway price is always cheaper than dining in for the same food, it does not make much sense though. It was around 11am that we walked and had our brunch as in lunch burger, we strolled around the University of Edinburgh - comparing it intensively with our University of Glasgow. As it was a Saturday, they had farmers market near the castle - the famous Edinburgh castle. Honey, jam and cheese are the highlights of these farmers markets, so fresh and tasty. They even had a stall for cheesecake, I had to have their coffee cheesecake which was not so good nor bad, it was a typical cheesecake.
After getting done with the farmers market we sat down and chilled with a hot chocolate. A guy was playing some good music in accordance with the weather, slightly windy with no rain - Perfect. Later we went to the National Museum of Scotland, most of the museums in Scotland have free entry. 
The museum consisted of 3 floors divided into various sections. They had a section about animals, it was so lifelike - amazingly done. We played the scientific games and just went around the whole place. After that we went to the rooftop of the museum from where we could see the Edinburgh Castle and the whole city, it was beautiful, visit the museum if you happen to go to Edinburgh. We were literally tired and couldn't walk anymore but still we went on, it's not that you come to Edinburgh every day. We went to Victoria Street which is famous for being the Harry Potter alley, it was just so perfect. A crooked road with brick buildings and side walks, it just had this amazing feel to it. We went to the harry potter store which contained anything a harry potter fan could literally dream off and kept going in and out of most of the shops. Had the oink, which was highly rated pork sandwich. To be honest, I hated it - tasted like chicken with no flavours in a bun with some sauce. There was the grassmarket which had a lot of handmade stuff, wine and food. We kept trying out the wine samples - they were so sweet never knew wine could be this good. We did have quite some wine.
We had plans to stay in Edinburgh for the night and travel to Glasgow the next day, booked our place through Airbnb. It was our first experience with Airbnb and thought we would check in first. The entrance to the place was so creepy like those old Rolla building with stray cats around which freaked us both a little bit but inside it was pretty neat, the place was rented out by a student couple studying in the University of Edinburgh, it was a great way to make some good cash. After freshening up, we thought we will just walk around and chill. Our accommodation was next to Royal mile street, we went out around 9 pm, walked for some time and later went to the Royal Mile pub. It was a great place with an amazing crowd and live music. Being someone who doesn't like partying and loud music this was the best place to be. The place was filled with old and young alike and we shared our table with a very sweet old couple, who had come to visit Edinburgh from Sweden, the couple might be in their 60's or 70's but they were living their life. They were amazing dancers, was so cheerful and friendly. It was a great evening, I had my apple cider which turned out to be a flop and Nachos. We went back around 12 am and were dead tired, all I could think about was sleeping.
The next day was a complete drag on, we were dead tired after walking around for almost 25 km the previous day. So we decided to just roam around the city and shop.I would not suggest shopping in Edinburgh as there is nothing much to shop, it's a great place to get some drinks thou. My enthusiasm was completely diminished by the time for lunch, we wanted to eat fish and chips and walked the whole way to the highly rated fish and chips place which apparently turned out to be closed on Sundays - do check the timings before you walk the whole way. Even though our bus back was at 7 pm we thought if we reach early they might let us in but we were completely wrong. We asked every single bus driver between 5 till 6:45 pm if we could get in as there was a bus every 15 min but apparently not even if the bus is half empty. Eventually, at 7 pm we got into our pre-booked bus and finally reached back home. This was my first trip to Edinburgh and would definitely say it's a great place to visit, a not so complete two-day itinerary for Edinburgh.
The museum consisted of 3 floors divided into various sections. They had a section about animals, it was so lifelike - amazingly done. We played the scientific games and just went around the whole place. After that we went to the rooftop of the museum from where we could see the Edinburgh Castle and the whole city, it was beautiful, visit the museum if you happen to go to Edinburgh. We were literally tired and couldn't walk anymore but still we went on, it's not that you come to Edinburgh every day. We went to Victoria Street which is famous for being the Harry Potter alley, it was just so perfect. A crooked road with brick buildings and side walks, it just had this amazing feel to it. We went to the harry potter store which contained anything a harry potter fan could literally dream off and kept going in and out of most of the shops. Had the oink, which was highly rated pork sandwich. To be honest, I hated it - tasted like chicken with no flavours in a bun with some sauce. There was the grassmarket which had a lot of handmade stuff, wine and food. We kept trying out the wine samples - they were so sweet never knew wine could be this good. We did have quite some wine.We had plans to stay in Edinburgh for the night and travel to Glasgow the next day, booked our place through Airbnb. It was our first experience with Airbnb and thought we would check in first. The entrance to the place was so creepy like those old Rolla building with stray cats around which freaked us both a little bit but inside it was pretty neat, the place was rented out by a student couple studying in the University of Edinburgh, it was a great way to make some good cash. After freshening up, we thought we will just walk around and chill. Our accommodation was next to Royal mile street, we went out around 9 pm, walked for some time and later went to the Royal Mile pub. It was a great place with an amazing crowd and live music. Being someone who doesn't like partying and loud music this was the best place to be. The place was filled with old and young alike and we shared our table with a very sweet old couple, who had come to visit Edinburgh from Sweden, the couple might be in their 60's or 70's but they were living their life. They were amazing dancers, was so cheerful and friendly. It was a great evening, I had my apple cider which turned out to be a flop and Nachos. We went back around 12 am and were dead tired, all I could think about was sleeping.
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