When: 10/04/2012
Where: Edinburgh, Scotland
Stayed: Apex Waterloo Place
Apparently Edinburgh attracts around 1 million visitors every year; effectively tripling its population and making it the 2nd most visited destination in the UK. These figures were no great to surprise to me before we left given all the positive feedback we’d heard. I’d like to be able to say without a shadow of doubt that we loved our trip to Edinburgh – call it sleep deprivation or just unreasonably high expectations but sadly we didn’t come home with quite the same level of rave reviews.
Our trip started with an eye-opening display from what appeared to be a rather disgruntled baggage handler. In travel mode with eyes partially glazed, we stared out the window while waiting to board our plane. A chorus of gasps rippled through our fellow travelers as everyone inched a bit closer to the window to sanity check what they were seeing. Anticipating something of a YouTube moment, we watched with horror as the baggage handler carelessly tossed each bag onto the truck. The smaller the bag, the greater the distance the bag was thrown. Horrified we cringed as bags were thrown several meters. Just as I convinced myself it was a one-off episode, his colleague joined the bag throwing festivities and showed him how it was really done. I guess that’s what you get for buying discounted flights. Mental note, NEVER put anything breakable in your checked-in baggage!!
Our hotel was called the Apex Waterloo Place and was based at the end of Princess Street (main street in Edinburgh), right near Castle Hill. Fairly modern looking, and in a cracking location, at first glance the hotel was perfect for what we needed. That was until patrons left the pub across the road around 3am and stood under our window discussing the finer points of the latest football match for another hour. The downgrade we received when we asked to change rooms went down a treat as you can imagine. Fortunately there was a redeeming feature of the hotel – Elliot’s restaurant. Arriving late on the first night we ducked into the restaurant to grab something quick to eat. Our quick bite turned out to be little short of a white table cloth meal with silver service – without the corresponding bill. Exceptional roast lamb that has set a new benchmark in roasts was an absolutely delightful introduction to Scottish food.
Getting up early we checked out the view of the city from Castle Hill followed by a stroll up the Royal Mile in the Old Town. Wall to wall trinkets, kilts, shortbread, whisky and all things stereotypically Scottish adorned the Royal Mile. Our walking pace became directly proportional to the volume of souvenirs on display. We practically sprinted past the bagpipe playing busker who (from what we could tell) was playing the only song anyone ever plays on the bagpipes. Tourists lined up to have a photo next to the busker in droves. Justin summed it up beautifully – ‘he’s just a dude in a kilt playing the bagpipes isn’t he?!’
With lunch booked for 1.30pm at the famous Witchery restaurant we had 2 hours to check out Edinburgh castle. Arriving at the castle we were greeted by a line of a few hundred people deep and a waiting time of around an hour. Yay. Thanks to the trusty iPhone we swiftly booked tickets online, puffed out our chests and walked smugly straight past the throngs of tourists to the front of the second line for those with pre-booked tickets. Well played us!
Unfortunately after about an hour in the castle we found ourselves wanting to tell the rest of the line not to bother wasting their time. ‘It’s 2hrs of your life you’ll never get back!’ we wanted to warn them. Despite the history of the castle being clearly remarkable, most of the significance was just a bit lost on us. Jam packed with hundreds of people, it was hard to get past the annoying crowds to really take in and absorb what we were seeing. Moving from one line to the next, the final straw was standing in line to view the Scottish jewels for 20mins. A classic Justin call once again summed it up; ‘I just find the history all a bit old for me’. Me too.
We hot footed it over to the restaurant for lunch in the hope that this would pick up our spirits. After all, the Witchery had received rave reviews and was quite hard to get into. Several bland dishes later, a hefty bill and a headache from the dark we left the restaurant feeling a bit deflated. Perhaps the sou chef responsible for seasoning was on holidays for Easter?! Who knows. Nothing a little pub crawl wouldn’t fix. After walking through the new town, we decided to check out several of the pubs that lined the walk way down to Leith. Joseph Pearce with it’s high ceilings, huge windows and oodles of light went a long way towards pulling us out of our funk. Victoria, a few hundred metres down the road continued the trend with it’s bohemian decor and vibrant feeling. The party of pirates ‘arrrring’ like every self respecting pirate should, provided some fabulous entertainment. The Kings Wark on the water in Leith was our final stop for dinner. With it’s 15th century origins, low ceilings, open fire and candle lit interior not to mention fabulous pub style food, it was the perfect way to end a bit of a mixed day in Edinburgh.
Easter Sunday we hired a car and drove north to have lunch with Justin’s boss and family in Elie – a lovely little sea-side town popular with the locals. Afterwards we checked out St Andrews, the home of golf. It was hard not to feel a tad bit nostalgic walking on the Old Course. Knowing that this was where the very first round of golf was ever played in the 1400’s and seeing the club house with it’s members only (for men) signage was a reminder of where the game started all those years ago. The 7 shared greens, individually named bunkers and the fact that the course can be played in either direction are enough to peak the interest of even the most jaded golfing widow. Other golfers with similar (to Justin) dumbstruck looks of awe on their faces meandered across the course and took close up photos of blades of grass. Classic stuff.
Driving back to Edinburgh we saw glimpses of the landscape we’d heard so much about in Scotland. Rolling green hills on a backdrop of dark stormy skies with spectacular castles centuries of years old – all sitting majestically under the arch of an extraordinary rainbow. Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture to capture the moment due to what can only be described as a stubborn streak in the driver..’We’ll be able to get back to the best spot by taking a short cut through here….’ Followed by an extended silence in the car as the rainbow disappeared into the darkening sky. Happy times hubby-to-be!
Cathy & Justin Abroad 