Have you ever - been to Edinburgh, Scotland

I will never forget the first time I set foot in Edinburgh and it was my first time visiting Scotland. I arrived late at night on train with little research on the city and bunk with Arvina, who was the "mayor" of the city studying at UOE. And she became the tour guide of my trip in Edinburgh. She was welcoming me with a bottle of vodka and we hit the club straight after a few shots. It was just the both of us and we went to Silk, a nightclub in the heart of capital just off the Grassmarket. It was super spontaneous and we actually walked home barefoot after the night ended when it was super freezy cold because Uber was busy. God knows how far we have walked that night. Also, what a way to start getting to know more about this city.

Silk Nightclub

There she is 

We had an early start the next day with hangover because I only had a couple of days to spend in Edinburgh with little time to waste. The first stop was the Edinburgh Castle.

Edinburgh Castle

It was purely coincidental that it was St. Andrew Day in Edinburgh and they were giving away free tickets as part of the celebration, including free tickets to many other attractions with no catch. You can get the free tickets online from : https://www.ticketgiveaway.co.uk. Just place an order for the free tickets and get them printed out before you go. On any other days, entrance to the castle usually costs about £16.50 for adults and £9.90 for children.

What you will get here is a walk down of history lane to learn about the castle's history. There were plenty rooms with various exhibits and we were free to explore the castle on our own. The castle is built on top of the hill like every other fortresses and the walk up to the castle is pretty steep. The height gives a good panoramic view of the city. When we were done, we walked down the royal mile (basically a long stretch of interconnecting streets with restaurants, bars and gift shops) to the old town where I saw many Scottish guys with kilts celebrating the St. Andrew Day. If you ever see some guys wearing a checkered knee length skirt-liked garment, that's kilts and they wear it for formal events and occasions like this.

Christmas Market

It was almost Christmas and I am a big fan of Christmas market. I have been to Christmas market in Liverpool, Manchester, London, Birmingham and this one and the one in Edinburgh is one of the largest among all the big cities in the UK and also one of the best. The one we went is located at East Princess Street Garden just next to the train station and there were lots of stalls selling all sorts of stuffs from Scottish food and beer to many handcraft Christmas gifts. One thing that I will always get from the market - Cheeseeeee. It comes with different flavours like cranberry, pesto and smoked cheese and I just love love love the cheese.

There was also a Christmas fun fair with plenty of rides, a ferris wheel and an ice rink that add to the Christmas spirit. We decided to go for the "Starflyer" swing ride that goes up to about 60 metres high above the city. It was one of the bravest decision I had made and also one of the best experience I had even though I am pretty sure that I was out of my mind when I decided to go up there. I managed to take some pictures with my camera up there with my hands shaking like crazy. The view was nonetheless amazing and always better from the top. If you haven't tried it and have the chance to do so, you have to try it for once.

Anteaques

We had some good old-fashioned British afternoon tea session here at Anteaques at Clerk Street. The afternoon tea is served in a vintage tea room with few tasting tables. They offer a good selection of teas and some cakes, tarts and scones. What makes this place different from other tea houses and hotels is that the antiques around here are up for grab including the furniture and tea accompaniments. The whole furnishings and atmosphere made me feel as though I was sipping my tea with my pinkies up during the old British era (Can you imagine?). It is definitely a hidden gem away from the busy city centre and you probably need a local like Arvina to be able to discover a little shop like this. The opening hours are quite limited so always make reservation to avoid disappointment. 

Calton Hill

There are seven hills in Edinburgh apparently and the popular ones are Calton Hill and Arthur's Seat. I was pretty excited about climbing the Arthur's Seat but the weather was disappointing, but at least I still made it to one of the seven hills, Calton Hill. On top of Calton Hill, there is a park with some monuments like the famous Dugald Stewart Monument and Scotland National Museum with some resemblance to ancient Roman monuments. We started climbing before the sun set and we managed to watch the sunset across the city which was amazing.

Holyrood Palace

We also paid a visit to the Holyrood Palace at the opposite end of Edinburg Castle. The Queen used to stay here and the palace has been the official residence for the British monarch in Scotland. I think it still remains as the principal residence for the Royal Family in Edinburgh as at today. The palace is probably closed to public when they are in residence and open to the public on days when they are not. It costs about £14 to get in there. There is a gallery inside the palace full of the Queen's portraits and pictures of the Royal family but the highlights of the palace is the historic 17th century apartment of Mary, Queen of Scots and State Apartments. Pictures are allowed in the gallery but not permitted inside the palace, for good reason I guess.

Deep Fried Mars Bars

Yes. As the name suggests, a mars bar that is deep fried. It is famously known as the Scottish signature snack and commonly found in the chip shops around Scotland. I wasn't really convinced to try them out when Arvina introduced it to me because the sound of it just makes me nauseous. I still did anyways since it is something different. It is actually not so bad it tastes like mozzarella melting in your mouth but it's caramel nougat. Try deep frying a mars bar then you know what I am talking about.

      And that's Edinburgh for me.