September 2015: pre-class getaway to Edinburgh!

Right before having to start our second year at Bath, Begoña, Amélie and I decided to have a cheeky three-day getaway and go to Edinburgh. We booked our flights and hostel over the summer and left for the adventure last Friday. It was pretty intense as you shall see… 

On Friday, we woke up at 3am to get ready and catch our cab at 3:40am, as we had to get the 4am bus to the airport. Basically, we didn’t sleep and just ‘zombied’ around until we got to the airport. The bus driver was in a happy mood and I appreciated his energy, but we just wanted to roll back to sleep… Once in the airport, which was very busy for it being 5am, we directly  went through security because we travelled with only our hand luggage. It took us a bit longer than we expected but once we were through we still had over an hour wait until our flight, so we grabbed some breakfast and sat down on some seats to munch and become human again. The flight was also surprisingly full, but the trip was swift and we got to see a beautiful sunrise over the clouds. Once in Edinburgh – at last! – we got the Airlink bus to Waverly Station (circa 30’) and then dragged our suitcases up the hill and across the pebbles until we managed to get to our hostel. Fortunately, it had stopped raining by then and the sun was coming out, just in time. 

We stayed at Kickass Hostels, right next in front of the castle in the Grassmarket area. A few people had recommended it to me and it turned out to be amazing! Although we couldn’t check-in until one and had arrived there at like nine, they gave us some tokens to leave our luggage in the lockers and then we headed to the Kickass Café and crashed on a table. We decided we would rest for a couple of hours and have something to eat before joining the free tour run by the hostel.

Once the tour guide showed up, we found out that we were going to be quite a chill and small group. The guide - who was a Spanish girl in her twenties called Marina -, another Spanish guy, a Japanese girl and us three. We first walked up to Greyfriars Kirkyard, which is a very interesting graveyard in the city centre. Apparently, J.K. Rowling drew up quite an inspiration from it as we were able to see Tom Riddle’s grave, a couple of other characters’ names on the stones and the school right next to it, George Heriot's School, whose students are divided in houses and receive points for the year. Sounds familiar? We also learnt about some ghosts like the Covenanter or the dark story of the mortsafes… On our way out, we stopped by Greyfriar’s Bobby, a monument to the Greyfriars’ loyal lapdog that guarded his owner’s grave until he himself passed away. Then we strolled by The Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book and headed towards the Royal Mile and up to Edinburgh Castle. We then learnt about the stories of the former Nor Loch and walked towards the Scottish National Galleries and Scott’s Monument. Afterwards, a bit out of breath, we climbed up to Calton Hill to see the National Monument and the views of the city which were absolutely breath-taking! I loved that we could see the hills, the city and the sea at the same time, and Arthur’s Seat is impressive... Despite the sore muscles during the way up, it was definitely worth getting there! And the tour was great also. Marina gave us some advice on things to do and cheaper places to go and eat, which was a very valuable info!

Afterwards we returned to the hostel to check-in, which we did without a problem. The place was nice, clean and fairly spacious for a hostel, and the staff were very kind and energetic. The interior had been remade and given a modern twist, resembling the Quads a bit I think. Our room, number 203, had four bunk beds so we occupied two lowers and a top one. It was an 8 bed female dorm. The room was well equipped with your own lamp, locker, storage space, plugs etc. And you could see the castle from the window! Definitely worth a try if you plan on going to Edinburgh for a few days: https://kickasshostels.co.uk/ There is a bar and a café, with good value and great offers, and there are also plenty of toilets and showers which were regularly cleaned, a fully-equipped communal kitchen and a launderette. Anything you might possibly need to be honest!

Anyway, we dropped our bags and went out to find lunch. We finally decided for some savoury and sweet crêpes to eat under the sun in the small square in front of the hostel admiring the castle. We were so lucky to have such good weather! And the crêpes tasted delicious! We then decided to roam around for a bit. Amélie had to buy some flip-flops so we headed to Princes Street, stopping in the way to look at gorgeous rings and my dream vintage shop. I wish I had had more space in my suitcase! I would have gone wild! We ended up in the Princes Street Gardens enjoying the sun while sitting on a bench for quite a while. Once we decided it was time to wrap the day, we headed back through the Royal Mile, stopped at St. Giles Cathedral and then also stopped to watch some street performers including bagpipe players and Amazing Scott and his will to entertain. That was great fun!

That day we had dinner at the Kickass bar. Again, staffed by Spanish people. It surprised me how many Spanish people work there, not only in the hostel but in the city, I nearly heard more Spanish than Scottish accents! Then just showered and had an early night for the long first day. We were exhausted! 

On our second day, we got up early and headed for a nice breakfast at the bar. I had an English breakfast + haggis. The taste isn’t bad, the texture is repulsive. Not that it was great quality anyway, but I can proudly say I tried haggis and hate it! We then went to the Castle and queued for like half an hour to get our tickets for the day. Luckily, it was sunny and not too cold so the wait was bearable. The views from the castle yard are incredible, it was a pity that they were still dismantling the remains of Fringe Festival and one of the sides was closed off to the public… Once we got our tickets, we decided to walk down to the opposite side of the Royal Mile before meeting with my friend Denny. We stopped to buy some souvenirs and also visited the Scottish Parliament and saw Holyrood Palace from the outside. We stopped at the Museum of Childhood before heading to St. Giles to meet with Denny. By chance, a wedding was taking place at the cathedral and we got to see the bride arrive and the pictures with her bridesmaids being taken! So many paparazzi because hundreds of random tourists were also taking pictures of her! Once Denny arrived with her dog, she took us on a tour of the University of Edinburgh. We grabbed some lunch in Sainsbury’s and walked around the different buildings. The University is huge but so spread out! I would have loved to live in Edinburgh but the Uni looks like a pain to get to your different lecture theatres… We visited the central campus and south to The Meadows, were they were training Quidditch. Yes, you read right, Quidditch is actually a thing with its league and all. It was great to meet with Denny again after all this time and I am so thankful for her offering to show us around, so big thanks to her!

We then parted and went back to the Castle and headed in straight away. We got our money’s worth out of the audio guides as they were very concise but full of info and easy to use. We basically explored the castle, each to our own rhythm. I think the views of the city from the batteries were my favourite thing of the whole trip. They had some charts that indicated the names of the buildings and islands you could see, and the day was clear enough to appreciate everything. Even the more windy sides were incredible, despite the cold coming round there… What did surprise me is that the castle is smaller and less majestic than it looks from the outside, but the history it has is amazing and definitely worth paying the £19.50 for ticket and audio guide…

 

Once we were done at the Castle, we decided to give the Scottish National Galleries a try but they were closed by the time we got there. I did get a beautiful Celtic knot ring to remind me of the trip instead though, so the walk was worth it. Since that was closed, we walked to St. Mary’s Cathedral and admired the Gothic Architecture, and then came back to get dinner. We wanted to try The Standing Order, but apparently a rugby match was taking place and the restaurant was full to the brim. We went for Pizza Express instead. We were so tired from the day that we agreed to not go out to try a club or pub (a lot of people went out and the noise coming from the street was obvious), although I would’ve loved to. We went back to the hostel and that was a wrap.

On our third and last day we got woken up by some other girls leaving the room. We had to get up early anyway in order to leave the room by ten, so we got ready despite the showers being extremely crowded and checked out and dropped our luggage at the storage lockers. We then were let back in to have breakfast at the bar – scrambled eggs on toast, the only thing I can say with a Scottish accent, and waffles. We then decided to visit The National Museum of Scotland to see the part related to Scottish history and learn a bit more about the country. It was quite good and they had a vast collection of objects from the history of the Scots. The layout was a bit bizarre but the exhibition very complete. I particularly liked the rooms about the two World Wars and the Scottish migration to Australia during the second half of the 20^th century.

We then headed to the Scottish National Galleries. Begoña and I were more interested in arts so we took our time to admire the works. They have an impressive collection with works by very important painters and sculptors. I was very pleased with them and particularly enjoyed the Impressionist and Post-impressionist works by Gauguin, Van Gogh, Degas, Pisarro,… And the exhibition of Scottish paintings downstairs, with some works that I really liked. Mostly Pre-Raphaelite inspired, but given that we are talking about me, that doesn’t come as a surprise… 

Once we were done at the museum, we went to have lunch at The Standing Order. I chose chicken and avocado fajitas and salted caramel cheesecake. The place was pretty good so if you go to Edinburgh it is worth a visit if you are looking for a cheaper option. After lunch, Begoña and I wanted to visit the remaining Scottish Gallery but we had to pay an entrance fee so we skipped that. Instead, we went with Amélie around Princes Street and the Royal Mile to look for some souvenirs. We didn’t manage to join the 5pm Ghost Tour because it was Sunday so there was no session, which was a pity because we were really looking forward to that, so we went back to the hostel café to chill until six, when it closed. We then limited to picking up our luggage and leave for the airport, because we were so tired and didn’t really have much else to do instead. We took our time and luckily managed to avoid the rain that came in the evening. Everything was fine, although the security check was tedious and long, because it is so mechanical. There weren’t a lot of people so it just seemed even worse because it could’ve been a lot quicker if they had had another structure… Once inside, we settled at Costa and got some dinner. We had to wait for a couple of hours in the lounge before our flight, so we just killed time as we could, either napping or writing postcards or reading. The flight itself was alright, I spent most of it sleeping, although the landing was horrible because my ears popped and hurt. The bus back and all that was pretty straightforward and we arrived late and exhausted, but it was so worth the adventure. 

It was a great couple of days to say goodbye to the holidays. I loved Edinburgh and I will definitely be returning to Scotland in the future. If you have never been to this city, it is definitely worth it!