We had a five hour drive to Edinburgh from York. We were thinking about stopping at a few castles along the way, but decided to drive through. Glad we did. We ran into a road closure that took us on detour through the country roads. It would not have been that bad expect the road was only 5 feet wide with not much shoulder. It was also not a one-way. Had a few harrowing moments when on coming traffic had to pass us. Good thing I am driving a rental!

Edinburgh Park Central APCOA Car Park

Parking in Edinburgh is expensive $35/day in the city and the airport was $28/day.We did find free parking along the tram into the city, only to find out overnight parking was not allowed. However, Sandy found a car park in an industrial area along the tram from the airport to the city for $12/day.

The tram into the city was easy, except the tram had to stop shortly before the city due to technical issues. I heard that power lines were on the tracks ahead. We got off and took a bus the rest of the way.

Intercontinental Hotel on George

We are staying at the Intercontinental Hotel on George street. This is another one of the American Express specials we get with a free room upgrade and $100 to spend in the hotel. No upgrades were available, but the room was very nice.

I had scheduled a Literary Pub Tour on Airbnb Experiences for tonight. It started at 7:30pm, so we had just enough time to check-in relax a bit, then catch a cab to our meeting place in the Old Town area of Edinburgh. Old Town is up on a hill, so a cab is very useful when during in to this area.

I will admit that when I booked the tour, I was focused on “Pub Tour”, I glazed over the “Literary” part. We met in the upstairs of the Beehive Inn pub. That is when I realized the Literary part of the tour. The guide was talking about all the famous literary figures in Scottish history. A “participant” would interrupt and challenge the things he was saying. They were both actors providing different views on the writers of the time.

There are many famous writers from Scotland, namely Sir Walter Scott. We heard many stories about him. We also learned about William Brodie, the person who inspired Jekyll and Hyde. He was a respected citizen by day and gambling thief by night. When caught, he was executed by the gallows that he had invented. How ironic!

The tour took us to the Beehive Inn, Jolly Judge and The Castle Arms pubs. We also went past The Elephant House, where JK Rowling supposedly started writing her books. (They sell Butter Scotch Beer there, hmm sounds familiar ) The actors gave a great presentation and I rather enjoyed it. We were able to grab a pint at each of the pubs between performances.

One of the actors recommended the Ensign Ewart pub for live music. So we stopped in and enjoyed another hour of music and good company. We sat at a long table with a bunch of young people staying at the local Hostel. I also tried my first Scottish Whiskey.

The walk back to the hotel was easier as we only had to walk down hill.

The next day, we took a tour of Edinburgh Castle. I hired a guided tour with Airbnb. Admission tickets to the castle were sold out, but I was able to get a tour with admission tickets included with this tour. The tour was ok, he was not allowed to take anybody into any of the buildings. We were able to do this ourselves after the tour. It would have been better if there was a guided tour in the buildings as well.

We wandered the Royal Mile. It was mostly cheeky souvenir shops and of course bagpipers!

One of my daughter’s friends spent a semester abroad at Edinburgh University. She gave us a list of restaraunts to check out.

Union of Genius

We ended up at a soup cafe called Union of Genius. I got the Tomato Basil soup with Borek and Sandy got Grandma’s Chicken soup with a salad. The chicken soup had potato, carrot, celery, thyme and curry. Grandma must be Indian! Everything was delicious !

Tomato & Basil soup with Tomato, basil & Red Cheddar Borek.

Grandma’s Chicken soup with salad.

Alandas Gelato

We love our gelato, so we were happy to find a shop nearby. Alandas was perfect!

As we asked back towards our hotel, we stopped at McGonagall’s Gin and Whiskey Emporium. I had to stop and try one of their gins!

The next day we did a Gin and cheese tasting through Airbnb experiences. This was at a distillery called 56 North. Gin has become a very big business even up here in whiskey country. Our presenter, Neil, did a fantastic job of explaining each gin. He also focused on pairing it with various tonics as well as what cheese to pair with it.