Scotland: A Trip to Edinburgh and the Highlands

Edinburgh Castle

It has been two years in UK now and after visiting various destinations in England and Europe, a notable absentee on my travel map had been Scotland.
One of the main reasons was that my wife had already been there and we always snubbed it as it was within the country and hence can be visited anytime.  That ‘anytime’ arrived with my parents visiting us over the summer. Europe was not an option with them due to visa issues so for that one long trip, Scotland would be ideal.
As far as cities go within UK, there is very little interesting to see outside of London within England. While London offers lots of historical locations to visit and offer some touristy delights, this cannot be said about the other big cities within England i.e. Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. All these cities mostly have a similar template which can keep a tourist interested for not more than a few hours.
So, outside of London, the next best big city to visit in UK was undoubtedly Edinburgh. The city had the history, the natural beauty and the touristy liveliness especially during summer.
We started off on a Friday evening by the National Express bus from London Victoria. This was a nine hour bus journey. The problem with such journeys is that you reach your destination too early.  No hotel will ever allow you to check-in before 1 PM therefore reaching at 5 AM in the morning would imply that one is homeless till the time the hotels commence check-ins.  We were booked in an apartment through airbnb.com and the check-in time for that was not before 1 PM.  So the bus station was to be our home for the next eight hours. As a traveller we were used to this. Even parents had experienced this before. We freshened up at the bus station, caught up with some sleep and managed to have a McMuffin breakfast from the nearby McDonalds which we found while my father and I went for a walk around. We deposited our luggage at the cloak room and hit the city at around 10 AM.

Edinburgh Castle Entrance

The beauty of the city could be felt during these initial walks. The historic feel that is there in many European cities and the retro effect at the town centre made us eagerly look forward to a wonderful day of new experiences.
As the sun shone brightly, our first destination was the Edinburgh castle.  This was on a hill top, a view of which can be seen from the main road which we reached after a short walk from the bus station. The road had trams plying on it and lined with souvenir shops and eateries.  The castle would be reached by a short walk. Even though it was up a slope, it was not steep and hence it was not too taxing for parents. Soon we were in the cobbled roads zone and through the lanes we walked and reached the door-step of the castle.
The entrance had a huge modern day amphitheatre which probably is used for various shows relating to the castle showcasing the history or could be anything else.  We entered the castle premises and were now in retro zone.  In order to go further we needed to buy tickets. My mother was never a fan of historical places and my wife had already visited the place earlier so it was only my father and me who would queue up for the tickets for a tour of the castle.  The entry fee to any of these historical places is so exorbitant that it only makes sense to decide judiciously whether to take the tour or not.
The tour was well worth it and in addition to the history; it gave us a great view of the city of Edinburgh from the hill top.

As we came out, we were at the start of the most iconic road of Edinburgh – The Royal Mile.  One had to just walk along it to soak in the atmosphere and live Edinburgh to the fullest. We first started off with a souvenir shop followed by a museum for Scotch. The museum did not appeal to us much so we avoided paying an entry fee to go inside. After that it was all about walking along the Royal Mile.  We took an ice-cream break and walked along the Royal Mile, flanked on both sides with beautiful buildings, souvenir shops, restaurants, cathedrals and tourists in huge numbers, the greatest sight for a summer. We walked about half a mile after which turned towards the left to the Edinburgh Waverly station close to where we had a good ‘hot-dog’ lunch along with some beer. The heavens opened up a bit and by this time we were sleepy as the tiredness of the journey and the unsettled state since morning was taking its toll. We decided on a relaxed tram ride to the last destination and back. The tram went till the airport so we bought day tickets and boarded one of them which took us through the city towards the airport.  I enjoyed the surroundings for a bit after which I crashed into a deep nap and so did rest of the members of my family. When I woke up we were on our return leg and soon we were back at the bus station to collect our luggage and proceed towards our apartment by taxi.  Our apartment was at a convenient location overlooking the beautiful hills which was known as the Arthrur’s seat. The place was right at the end of Royal Mile close to the famous Holyrood Palace and hence in the proximity of tourist hang-outs. So much so that the red coloured double decker hop-on hop-off buses had their route through the road where our apartment was located and had one of their pick-up and drop points.

The Royal Mile

We settled into the apartment. It was a one bedroom kitchen.  A second bed was prepared in the living room converting the sofa.  Since we had a lovely kitchen and all possible amenities required for cooking, we planned to cook dinner instead of eating outside. And to top it all there was a Tesco Express right down the lane from where we duly did all our purchase of food and drink items for the next couple of days.
The next morning after a sumptuous home-made breakfast we made our way to have a tourist’s day out in the gorgeous city of Edinburgh.  As a group we split up. My mother and wife headed for the Royal Mile as they wanted to check out the shops while my father and I started our walk around our area.  Right opposite our apartment was the Dynamic Earth which was a dome shaped planetarium like structure showcasing the history from the big bang to the present day, showcasing futuristic science and nature. We were not all that interested so we walked towards the hill which was the Arthurs seat. I trekked a bit upwards before descending to join back my father. As we walked further we were outside the Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament.  Unlike other European Cities, the parliament building was just a normal one and not an architectural marvel. After all Scotland was part of UK and the real parliament was still in London.

Holyrood Palace

Holyrood Abbey

Holyrood Palace was the Queen’s summer retreat and was the star attraction of the area. After a lot of deliberation we bought tickets and entered the palace. The palace was great enough to spend the next couple of hours. The tour inside the palace was fascinating and equally beautiful were the gardens outside of it.  The most interesting part was the Holyrood Abbey which was a ruined structure and a site for many a royal funeral.  Both of us were enamored by the palace and my father even listened to the commentary on the headphones with eagerness. In fact he made the trip within the palace twice as for the first time he could not switch on the commentary out of excitement. While in Scotland it was impossible to escape from the rain.  Ironically what is called the English weather is actually prevalent in Scotland. There were quite a few intermittent bursts of shower followed by sunshine once again. We cheated the rain a few times by being inside the palace and enjoying the tour.  Thankfully when it was time for us to move on, it was bright and sunny. We walked up the Royal Mile seeing many a building on the way. At about the half way point up to which we walked the previous day, we caught up with my wife and mother.  It was time for lunch now and we found the best place to eat some great English breakfast at an open air cafe. There can be few things better than having lunch on a bright sunny day at the Royal Mile Edinburgh and it remained one of the best memories of the trip duly captured well on camera.  During our lunch a fellow Indian IT consultant, a Bengali, incidentally working for my wife’s former company greeted us. We learnt that he was working with RBS and stopped by to have a coffee before proceeding for a movie. Post lunch, we indulged in a bit of souvenir shopping purchasing caps and those typical red checked Scottish scarves.  Our next destination was the Carlton Hill. A short walk and then a few steps up which my parents managed with some difficulty and we were on top of a hill which provided us a 360 degree view of the city. We could view the Arthur’s Seat, the Holyrood castle, Edinburgh castle, the Royal Mile all from one view point or the other.  While parents rested on one of the benches, we went around and checked all the points.  We descended and headed straight to a pub on one of the main crossings to catch up on some coffee and hot chocolate. The reason why it was needed was that we could not cheat the rain atop the Carlton Hill.

View from Carlton Hill

We were on to our last act of the day with tired limbs. Much like the aimless tram ride the day before, it was time to take a bus ride sitting on the front row seat on the upper deck of a double-decker bus, drive to its last stop and return.  No better way to view the city without making much of an effort.  Before doing so we did our Tesco shopping for the dinner late at night.
We had an early start to the next day as we were lined up to go for the all day Scottish Highlands tour. We had to reach a point closed to Edinburgh castle by 8-30 AM after which we boarded the Timburbush Travels bus for a long twelve hour tour towards the north of Scotland through Glencoe and the Lochness Highland.  The tour takes us towards the north of Scotland to the Loch Ness Highlands, the Loch Ness (lake) which is most famous for the Loch Ness monster Nessie, up to Inverness and then back southwards towards Edinburgh.  There was also an option to visit the Urquihart castle next to the Loch Ness and an optional cruise ride which take you past the castle. Based on past feedback from my wife and also friends, this was not a very great tour due to the fact that the landscape is probably similar all through.

Scottish Highlands

Once the tour started, it was time for some relaxation as I was feeling drowsy due to the early start. As expected, the surroundings were quite normal and nothing that we have not seen earlier in the English countryside.  In addition it was raining so till the time we hit the highlands it was the best time to catch up on a few winks. Our first stop was at a cafe cum shop for breakfast.  It was here that we got a glimpse of the Highland Cow, a hybrid cow with long horns and fur located mainly in the Scottish Highlands.
The rain relented soon and the skies turned blue providing us some great views outside the window. Lakes and hills with all the greenery looked as beautiful as ever even though it was a bit repetitive.  It was a bit frustrating that we were not taking enough breaks to take photos and breathe the highlands a bit more but due to time constraints and the distance to travel our guides could not afford to give us more breaks. We stopped at a war memorial followed by the lunch break.  The next stop would be at the point where we would have the option to visit the Urquihart castle on the Loch Ness, which we chose to skip. But at the following stop, we decided on taking the cruise on the Loch Ness (‘Loch’ means ‘Lake’ in the local language), most remembered for the legend of Nessie the monster as per Scottish folklore.  This was an addition to the tour which we had to pay separately.  We were lucky that we got the best weather of the day on the cruise with the sky and the water both at their blue-est, surrounded by the greenery.  The cruise traveled towards the Urquihart castle, picked up all the passengers who opted to visit the castle and headed back to the base where we started from.  The bus now moved further on towards the northern city of Inverness.  Inverness itself was a place worth a visit by its own right. It is the place from where one can travel to Isle of Skye.

Loch Ness

Urquihart Castle

After crossing through Inverness, it was now time to head back towards Edinburgh. It was more of a lazy drive with some lovely, melodious Scottish music playing. The sun was still out providing us some great views outside the window. The one prominent place where we stopped was the small town of Pitlochry.  We managed to walk and click a few good photos.
We reached Edinburgh at around 8 PM when it was still day-light and most souvenir shops still open. My parents and wife went on a shopping spree carrying Scotland home as gifts for various friends, the most prominent gift being the red coloured checked scarf.
Our final task for the day was dinner which we planned to eat outside today and not cook at our apartment.  Mainly due to my insistence, we settled for an Indian restaurant named ‘Bay of Bengal’ on the Royal Mile which served us some seriously delicious biriyani.
A nice walk through Royal Mile and the lanes took us back to our apartment.
The next day we took the day journey back to Milton Keynes. It was a nine hour journey through a sunny day through Newcastle. The disappointing part of the journey was the fact that our only food break came after five long hours when we were famished.