The Top Floor Flat

Although I had a good five hours in Edinburgh between arriving in the city after my train from St. Andrews and my flight back to London, I found it was quite an awkward amount of time for properly exploring the city.  It didn’t help that I had a 15lb backpack stuffed with four days worth of clothes, shoes and travel accessories to carry around town with me.  All the same, I was determined to make the most of my brief time in the city and so began by making my way up to the highest point above Edinburgh where, naturally, sat the castle.  Compared to the small St. Andrews castle ruins, the Edinburgh Castle was a stunning feat of masonry, history and vantage, looking in every way as a highland castle should.  Despite the rather pricey entrance (12 quid plus another 3 for the audio guide), I made my way into the castle proper and found that it was going to take a lot more time than I had expected to do the castle right.  There were a vast number of rooms, chapels, monuments, passages, dungeons and turrets to explore and the crown jewels of Scotland themselves were on display.

One of my favourite parts of the castle was the view over the rest of town.  With the audio guide providing bagpipe music and a narrated history of Scotland as a soundtrack, I spent quite a bit of time appreciating the sun, warmth and spectacular view.  There was a lot to take in.  So much so, that as I started to push three hours at the castle, I felt I had to at least take a quick look at the rest of the town.

I left the castle by way of the Royal Mile, a road that leads down the hill from the castle into Edinburgh.  I took a brief detour into the tartan weaving mill tour – basically an outlet shop for tartan and cashmere goods but with a working weaving mill in the basement that allowed visitors a glimpse of the process.  Because it was a Sunday the mills were silent but it’s probably a good thing it was a quiet day or I would have quite certainly have been suckered into getting my photo taken in full Scottish tartan regalia.

I continued down the Royal Mile, bypassing the Whiskey Tour (if only because I had a lot more walking to do and a plane to catch), and crossing the entire town to make my way up the hill opposite the castle where a vast public park overlooked the town.  There, eating an ice cream, lying half-asleep in the sun, overlooking the North Sea on one side and Edinburgh on the other, I could not imaging a better way to spend an afternoon.

Dinner was a quick sandwich to go, eaten in the lovely Princess Street Gardens situated between the National Gallery and the train station before it was back on the bus to the airport.  It was a fantastic trip and I am very much looking forward to returning to Edinburgh for a bit more indepth look at what the town has to offer.