This week Scotland was all over the news. For those of us interested in the outcome of the vote, we anxiously waited thinking "yes or no to independence?" Scotland decided to remain a part of the United Kingdom and in it's honor I'd like to bring back some pictures and a blog of an unforgettable trip to Edinburgh. Scotland...my first impressions:
Feb 24-26, 2012 Edinburgh, Scotland: major historical city in the UK. Edinburgh has been nicknamed by historians the Athens of the North because it was one of the major centers during “The Enlightenment”. They city is divided into two districts: Old Town and New Town, where Old refers to the medieval side of town and new to the Georgian side of town – to me it all looked old and I loved it. In 1995 UNESCO named both districts as a World’s Heritage Site, a title which I think the city definitely deserves.
**Bold Statement Alert**
**In just a day and a half Edinburgh has earned a spot on my top 5 favorite cities in Europe. **
I fell in love with the city the minute I stood over the bridge that connects Old Town and New Town. Draped across rolling hills and overlooking the sea, sit two gorgeous towns. Old Town is formed by a picturesque jumble of medieval buildings and churches that surround the Royal Mile which ends at the top of the volcanic Castle Rock, which houses the Edinburgh Castle that dominates the city’s skyline. New Town sits on a much more “neat” grid, influenced by the respectable neoclassical style of the Georgian era. Embellished columns, pilasters, decorative moldings, and symmetric arrangement of windows are predominant on this side of town. Honestly, no words do justice to what I saw. I did my best to take pictures to capture it all. Most of the weekend was overcast, so the pictures are not optimal, but something is better than nothing =)
The official tourism and sightseeing didn’t begin until Saturday morning. We arrived late Friday night and the forecast for Saturday was overcast and windy, so we decided there was no need to wake up extremely early. The next morning we left the hotel around 10:00 am. As we walked down one of the main streets of New Town, on our left side we passed by churches, restaurants and of course shopping stores. The right side was a completely different story. Parks, hills, monuments, and in the distance on top of the tallest hill, the Edinburgh Castle. I spent most of the day walking around Old Town, admiring the beauty of the city, and enjoying the company of the friends I was able to meet up with. At night we went to a bar and spent some time people watching before dinner. All the bars and restaurants we walked by were crowded with rugby fans from Scotland and France. People were wearing interesting outfits to support their respective teams, which made people watching much more entertaining. For dinner we went to an authentic Indian restaurant, where we had some delicious traditional Indian food. I was surprised to find out that most of the bars/pubs in Scotland close around midnight. I assume it’s because day drinking is more common. Although it would have been fun to stay out longer, it had been a long and exhausting day so heading back to the hotel after dinner was nice.
Sunday morning, we made the hike up Castle Rock to take a tour of the famous Edinburgh Castle. The views from atop were breath taking. At the Castle we also saw some people wearing interesting customs. Our theories regarding the outfits included = bachelor party (although some seemed young), some sort of scavenger hunt or race, and most likely fans touring before the big rugby match. Whatever the reason was, I definitely wish I had taken pictures with them. I did capture some of the outfits in my pictures. To see pictures of this adventure click here.