Two Days in Edinburgh
Underground vaults, half finished Greco-Roman style ruins, twisty blind alleys, moldering graveyards, extinct volcanoes, and a looming castle. These are just a taste of the wonders in the “Athens of the North,” though you likely know it better as Edinburgh. The city, like much the rest of Scotland, as we quickly discovered, is like Shrek and ogres — it has layers.
While Jen and I immediately fell in love with Edinburgh and could have been happy to spend an entire trip there, we had foolishly only given ourselves two full days to explore the city. With that in mind, we hauled ass and saw as much as we could see, while trying to not sacrifice quality for quantity.
Day 1 - Stockbridge + Edinburgh Old Town
Stockbridge
If you're anything like us, you took a red eye to Edinburgh and landed dead tired yet ready to set off and explore the town. Since our Airbnb was located around the corner from the suburb of Stockbridge, we decided to spend the first half of our day exploring the town and easing ourselves in.
First stop: food. We hopped over to The Pantry, which offers up creative takes on traditional meals (like Cullen Skink, a warming seafood chowder) using local produce. Our hearty lunch left us thoroughly warmed to compete with the damp Scottish weather. Some other great restaurants in the area include The Scran and Scallie and the Kilted Lobster.
We gave ourselves a food coma from an order of truffle mac and cheese (with a dollop of mascarpone), and the creamy salmon and whitefish chowder. Highly recommend their turmeric latte or gingerbread latte.
The Pantry is beautifully situated two short blocks from the Water of Leith river walk. The walk itself is stunning, leading you past St. Bernard’s Well, who’s grand Greco-Roman structure rises from the river, supposedly offering healing powers. After about a quarter of a mile you’ll come across The Dean Bridge, which offers views of the charming 19th century Dean's Village. Keep in mind that Dean’s Village is purely residential, so take in the historical houses but save the cafes and restaurants for Stockbridge.
St. Bernard's Well is a beautiful 18th-century, Greco-Roman structure situated on the banks of the Water of Leith. Built as a well, the locals believe the natural spring was capable of curing all manner of ailments.
Designed by Scottish painter Alexander Nasmyth in 1789, the building features Doric columns and a statue of the Greek Goddess of Health, Hygeia. The pump room, now largely closed to the public, is covered in white, blue, and gold mosaics.
If you walk down to the edge of the river, underneath the Dean bridge at the bottom of Hawthornbank Lane, you’ll find our favorite view of Dean’s Village.
After working up an appetite again (it doesn’t take us much), we headed back along the river to Stockbridge for some afternoon treats and shopping:
Smith & Gertrude for some wine and cheese pairings. The flights had very generous pours, and the bartender gave us a full lesson on each glass - way above and beyond what we expected. Would recommend: 10/10.
Those Were The Days for beautiful vintage pieces (explore more vintage along quirky St. Stephen’s Street).
Golden Hare Books, an independent bookseller offering modern fiction, translations of short stories, super unique children's books, and beautiful non-fiction photography books.
The Last Word Saloon for cocktails in a low-lit setting.
Edinburgh Old Town
After a relaxing day, we headed down to Edinburgh Old Town for the evening. As the sun set we headed into the beautifully moody Greyfriar's Kirkyard. Eroded gravestones and lichen covered Victorian mausoleums cover the graveyard, and you can easily spend an hour wandering between the graves looking at the names and inscriptions. You'll be in good company too as J. K. Rowling used the kirkyard as inspiration ... and the tomb of Tom Riddle still stands.
Now that we worked up an appetite (again), we headed to dinner at Ting Thai Caravan, a laid-back and hip restaurant serving up Thai street food, which was only a short five minute walk away. Along the way we passed by the Greyfriars Bobby statue, the faithful Skye Terrier that guarded the grave of his owner for 14 years. Futurama vibes, anyone?
It’s a popular tradition for tourists to rub Bobby’s nose for luck, but please refrain from doing so as it’s damaging restoration work to the statue.
Historically, Edinburgh fell away on either side of the Royal Mile in steep hills, due to the Mile being built on the spine of a volcanic mountain. This lead to the creation of closes — narrow and crowded alleyways running up the hill onto the Royal Miles; some of these closes contained buildings up to ten stories high. While a number of these closes still survive, most of them had the top stories of the buildings cut off with the lower floors now acting as a foundation for Edinburgh’s High Street. The Real Mary King's Close provides a tour of one of these now subterranean closes; it’s family-friendly for those a bit more frightened of the ghost tours (albeit a bit cheesy at times) and it does an amazing job taking you through the real history of the residents.
Day 2 - Edinburgh Old Town Cont.
Prepare yourself and take advantage of your jet lag. Today, we overachieved.
On the far side of the Edinburgh Old City is Holyrood Park and Arthur's Seat. Thought to be named after King Arthur, it is one of the two dormant volcanic peaks in Edinburgh (the castle being on top of the other). The peak offers stunning 360 degree views of Edinburgh and there are multiple ways to reach the summit. To make it for sunrise, Jen and I went up the steep face of the mountain, which is about a 60-flight slippery stone staircase (but there is also a slower and more gentle circuitous route up the mountain you can take). Give yourself at least an hour and a half for a slow hike to soak in the views (and wear sturdy shoes).
Not pictured: sturdy shoes.
A 45 minute hike down from Arthur's Seat is Dishoom Edinburgh, an elegant and affordable Parsi restaurant serving up Bombay street food. While the food is filling, tasty, and unlike any other Indian food we've had before, the real show stopper was the house chai. It was without a doubt the best chai we've ever drank ... and they offered free refills. Another cozy option for breakfast is The Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote her Harry Potter books. If you’re just here for coffee, stop by The Milkman and help yourself to a warming brew.
We highly recommend drowning yourself in their house chai and satisfying your appetite with Kejriwal (two fried eggs on chilli cheese toast) and the bacon naan roll with chilli tomato jam.
Aim to arrive right when they open as lines start forming pretty quickly soon after. We had a warming start to the day with an order of traditional scottish oatmeal and scottish pancakes with maple syrup.
The most visited location in Scotland is Edinburgh Castle, a stunning fortress that has been in use in various capacities almost constantly since the 12th century. For the historically inclined, the castle features numerous interactive exhibits and has been the site of significant events in both Scottish and English history.
For the more aesthetically interested, the castle provides incredible views of the rest of the city. The fortifications and the buildings within the castle are stunningly austere. While we chose to roam the castle and take in the history through the exhibits, the provided audio tour of the castle comes highly recommended! Be warned, however, that the castle becomes mobbed with other tourists. So the earlier you can bring yourself to visit, the better.
Do you like whisky? Do you want to know about how Scotland's national drink is made? Do you simply want to rest your feet after all the walking you've been doing and go for a ride in a whisky barrel? If you answered yes, come along to the Scotch Whisky Experience. To be honest, the fast-paced and visual tour makes the process of distillation a bit more confusing; but it’s still a good time, and the second half of the tour does a fantastic job explaining the five whisky regions of Scotland and the differences in their products. The silver level tour includes one whisky sample from any of the regions, time to see the world's largest whisky collection, and then ends in a tasting bar where you can purchase a flight of whiskies containing a range of samples from Scotland's regions.
Back in the Old Town across the street from the Scotch Whisky Experience is Camera Obscura & World of Illusions, a fun house with five stories of various optical illusions. While the exhibits were definitely the right blend of trippy and unique, be warned that it can get incredibly crowded. Our favorite optical trick was the full functional camera obscura on the top floor, which was constructed from three mirrors in the late 1800s. The camera obscura still functions and projects a changeable image of Edinburgh onto a table in the room.
For those who aren’t squeamish, we present to you the Surgeon's Museum. Like Mary King's Close, the museum does not allow photos — which may be for the best, as the museum is largely comprised of anatomy specimens and exhibits about the evolution of surgery and medical care. The museum reception recommends two hours, but Jen lasted for only thirty minutes and I found myself being worn down not long after.
If you’re hungry after seeing all that anatomy, and if you like creamy chicken, spiced lamb, chai, fragrant chutneys, and lavish desserts, Mother India's Cafe is for you. A follow-on restaurant location to the Mother India restaurant in Glasgow, they specialize in tapas-style Indian food.
A quick jaunt from the old town is Calton Hill, another panoramic viewpoint overlooking the city. Aside from the views, it is also littered with stunning neo-classical buildings, the best of which is the National Monument of Scotland. Intended to be a Greco-Roman inspired monument to the Scottish soldiers who died during the Napeolanic Wars, the developers ran out of money half way through. The building, now lovingly known as Edinburgh's Disgrace, stands as mostly empty columns.
Calton Hill also is home to The Lookout, which offers high-end Scottish favorites in a glass-sided restaurant. The restaurant's views are spectacular, the food was delicious, and they have whiskies for cheap (a common theme throughout this our time in Scotland).
So disgraceful.
Since it’s already your last night in Edinburgh, it's time to get funky. Hit up some bars all the way home to lull you into a good night’s sleep:
Secret Arcade, a small vodka bar hidden off Cockburn Street with polish food and snacks.
The Devil's Advocate, a two-story pub in a surviving close. The pub features outdoor seating on the upper level, and has a huge selection of whiskies, craft beers, and amazing house cocktails.
Panda & Sons, a speakeasy without the pretensions of being a speakeasy. Panda & Sons has some of the most delicious and weirdly inventive cocktails we've ever had. Greek salad cordial and bathtub gin? Sugar snap pea cordial and absinthe? Absolutely.
Have you been to Edinburgh? Any other must see locations or favorite haunts of yours? Feel free to let us know what you love about the city in the comments below!
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