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Published: December 29th 2008
We have now finished the last leg of our Christmas traveling adventures! We spent the last 6 days in Edinburgh, Scotland. We were hoping to see snow while we were away but despite getting quite cold at night, the weather was fairly mild during the entire trip. Our trip began with a fright at Stansted airport in London. We made our way to the check-in desk on the morning of Dec.23 only to find out that our flights were actually scheduled for the previous day! We have booked most of our trips through Expedia and have never had a problem, but this time the agent made a bit of a mistake when selecting our date of departure with the airline. Luckily, there were still seats available on the outgoing flight that morning and we were able to reach Expedia’s customer service and have our flights re-booked. After this little blip, the rest of the flight went smoothly; we were in the air for just under an hour.
We landed and then caught a bus into central Edinburgh. We were both completely knackered at this point seeing as how less than 12 hours before we were in Belgium! We pretty much got
home from Belgium, re-packed our bags, grabbed an hour of sleep and then caught a taxi to the airport to leave for Scotland. Needless to say, our first day in Edinburgh didn’t consist of very many adventures due to how tired we were! However, we were ecstatic with the apartment we had rented for the duration of our holiday. We stayed at the Royal Garden Apartments and were treated wonderfully by the staff. Our fridge was stocked with milk and water so that we could make ourselves coffee or tea right away. The king size bed was super comfy and the living room and kitchen were very welcoming. Internet and laundry facilities were free of charge. We were therefore able to do some research on the sites we wanted to visit and also do our laundry before returning home at the end of our trip! Coffee, tea, cappuccino and espresso were available in the lobby all day at no cost. Every evening from 5:30 to 7:30pm, wine was provided in the lounge room on the ground floor, also free of charge. On Christmas Eve we returned to our apartment after a long day out to find a Christmas card, a
box of truffles and a bottle of white wine from the owners as a Christmas gift. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who is coming to visit Edinburgh. The staff couldn’t have been any more friendly or helpful!
Day 1: Once we checked into our apartment and unpacked, we promptly fell asleep for about an hour and a half. Once we awoke, we felt rejuvenated and headed out to do our grocery shopping. Since we had a fully-furnished kitchen and wanted to be fairly budget-conscious, we made most of our own breakfasts and dinners and treated ourselves to lunch while we were out during the days. After dinner we enjoyed a walk through the German market on Princes St., the main shopping strip in Edinburgh. The market was very festive with beautiful Christmas lights and lots of people enjoying the home-cooked food.
Christmas Eve & Christmas Day (Days 2 & 3): The next day was Christmas Eve. Our first destination was Edinburgh Castle, located on Castle Hill at the end of the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is the oldest thoroughfare in Edinburgh and runs from the castle down to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. We walked around
the castle grounds for a couple of hours admiring the historic landmark. After our visit to the castle we went to Camera Obscura, another tourist attraction. Camera Obscura provides live images of the surrounding city. The roof of the attraction provides free telescopes and offers a fantastic view! The other floors of the building had various illusion galleries and were quite entertaining to explore! We then slowly made our way back down the Royal Mile stopping into what seemed like a thousand tourist shops. We stopped to visit St.Gile’s Cathedral, a church built in the 12th century. We returned to our apartment and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine and lovely conversation with another couple staying in the building. The following day was Christmas! Will woke up first, collected our Christmas presents from the living room and brought them back into bed for us to exchange. We each bought each other one gift. Bri received an 8GB iPod Nano, a pink one to be exact! Will received some black dress socks (Bri keeps trying to make him understand that white tube socks are not appropriate with dress pants!). In addition to the socks, Will received a white-water rafting adventure
that we plan on using in the new year. As it was Christmas day, the city was very quiet and most businesses were closed. So, we decided to go for a very long walk up Salisbury Crags, a large rock face that surrounds an extinct volcano. The summit of this extinct volcano is called Arthur’s Seat and is 250 metres (822 feet) high. We climbed for over an hour to reach the summit. From the bottom there were two routes we could have chosen from. We later found out that we chose the much steeper, more difficult route to take. No wonder the climb took so long and we had to stop a few times to rest! The hard work for the long trek was worth it to see such an amazing view of Edinburgh from Arthur’s seat, the highest point in the city. We returned to our hotel with sore legs and hungry tummies! For Christmas dinner we made sirloin steak, roasted potatoes and green beans. It was delicious! However, it’s not the same as a big turkey meal with family. We missed everyone dearly and we hope you all had a lovely Christmas!
Day 4: Boxing Day! Not
much needs to be said here. We walked all day and shopped!
Day 5: We spent our fifth day on a day trip that we booked through Rabbie Trail Burners Ltd.. The trip took us to Stirling Castle, through the Trossachs, ending at Loch Lomand National Park. Stirling Castle was another great historic site to see, surround by steep cliffs and fantastic views. The weather was quite cold but it was the first day we actually had blue skies for the entire day! To the north of the castle we could see a clear view of the 220ft high National Wallace Monument commemorating William Wallace, Scotland’s great hero (played by Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart). After our visit to the castle we headed into the Highlands and an area known as the Trossachs.The Trossachs mark the point where the Lowlands meet the Highlands. The roads in the Trossachs are much more rugged and the scenery is gorgeous. We passed by many lochs along the way, enjoying the mountainous countryside. We stopped for lunch in Aberfoyle and then made our way to Loch Lomand. Loch Lomand is Scotland’s largest loch, stretching over 22 miles long. We stopped for an hour
Saint Margaret's Chapel
This is the oldest building in Edinburgh. Located at Edinburgh Castle.to enjoy a scenic walk through the ‘bonny banks’, up to a viewpoint for a fantastic view of the loch and the mountain it’s named after, Ben Lomand. This area was once the home of Scotland’s famous highland folk hero, Rob Roy MacGregor. This concluded the end of our day trip, so we headed back to Edinburgh. We had a fantastic day full of sunshine and beautiful sites. We ended our day by treating ourselves to a lovely meal at Bella Italia for our final dinner in Scotland.
Day 6: Our final day in Scotland arrived. We checked out of our hotel and then spent our day visiting a few last sites. We began with a walk to the top of Calton Hill. Calton Hill was formed by volcanic activity 340 million years ago and gouged by glaciers during the Ice Age. The top of the hill is home to a few monuments: the National Monument, Nelson Monument and the Dugald Stewart Monument. After Calton Hill we made our way to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The Palace was originally founded as a monastery in 1128 and is now the official residence in Scotland of Queen Elizabeth II. Our last stop
before heading back to Edinburgh airport was the
Royal Yacht Britannia. The Yacht was launched by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 16 April 1953 and was commissioned on 11 January, 1954. The ship was later decommisioned on 11 December, 1997 and is now permanently moored at Ocean Terminal in Edinburgh. The ship now serves as an exhibition accessible to the public and can also be rented out as a conference and banqueting venue. During the Royal Yacht's operation, it sailed the Queen and other members of the Royal Family for foreign visits all over the world. Prince Charles and Princess Diana took their honeymoon cruise aboard
Britannia in 1981.
This concludes the end of our Scotland adventures! After a meal, we boarded a bus back to the airport to head back home to England. If you're one of the people who actually take the time to read through what we write, thank you for making it this far and for taking an interest in our travels. We miss you and can't wait to visit in April!
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CJ
non-member comment
Merry Christmas!
So I'm guessing there were no spottings of the Loch Ness monster while you stayed in Scotland?? Too bad. That would have made for some great photos. :P But otherwise, your trip sounds like it was amazing! Can't wait to see you guys in April!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to both of you!!!