“Mar sin leat” Scotland

It’s time to say farewell to the bagpipes and kilts and what better place to do that in the charming city of Edinburgh. For the past two days we’ve explored Edinburgh’s old town and castle, checking out a tartan loom and the stadium where they hold the yearly Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Unfortunately, that will be next week and since we can’t exactly afford to stay another week, we will be just missing it.

We have been lucky enough to have really good weather for lunch picnics (I’ll admit we were short on cash and hankering for McDonald’s, so our first ‘picnic’ was fast food) at Prince’s Street Park, which is a great spot for people watching and enjoying the old history and architecture of the old town.

We have come off our ‘plush living’ budget and are back in the hostel world. We’ve kicked this off at the Caledonian Backpackers hostel, on the west side of the city center and within easy walking distance to all the main attractions.  On our second day we came up Edinburgh’s first public park, which provided outstanding vistas of the city and of course, more monuments to oogle.

The crazy thing about UK (and likely most of Europe) in general is that they have so many old buildings that they end up converting into offices, apartments, etc, just like the abbey turned apartments in Fort Augustus.  So, half the time, we’re not sure if the buildings are touristy and worth shooting, or an office space.

Scotland has been our ‘sleeper country’ of the trip, since: A) We didn’t even originally plan on visiting this country and B) We didn’t expect to see such beautiful scenery. In fact, we have given Scotland a half a point better than New Zealand, because not only did the natural landscape remind us of New Zealand, but the historical castles and churches give Scotland that extra “uumph”. This country is probably best explored as a road trip by car, since it gives you so much flexbility. However, it is doable by train, because the transportation system here is just absolutely fantastic. I didn’t realize how deprived we are in Canada (with regards to easy transportation) after seeing the bus and train routes here in Scotland. The intercity buses as well as the trains are so easy to get on, with little hassle and not much prior preparation required, because they run so frequently. Furthermore, the metro buses in even the smallest towns and cities far exceed the abysmal public transport we have in Calgary.

Anyways, I digress. This country has some of the friendliest and most approachable people we’ve met and so long as you’re not coming here expecting fantastic weather, then it’s a cool spot to visit. The locals always complain about the weather and a popular saying here is, “Be prepared to get all four seasons in one day”, which was nearly true in our experience here. Weather aside though, you won’t be disappointed with the landscape, history and culture.  We have completed our UK/Ireland diversion and will now be heading over to ‘mainland Europe’, where we had originally planned on starting. Next stop – Amsterdam, Netherlands, via an overnight ferry from Newcastle.