Don't Cry for Me Edinburgh..

A delightful town , and a bit of a city split very neatly in to two parts by the railways station. The old town, and the new one. Both World heritage sites. Now, is that not an honour?

Edinburgh, though at the extreme south of Scotland, revels in being Scotlands capital. Scottishness is felt, as you walk through in any part of the town. Tourists visit – so the town is geared up for them. Hop on , hop off buses, souvenier shops filled with tartan pieces, kilts and the like. The two big festivals are in August ( The Edinburgh Festival) and Hogmanay (new years) – traditionally, the Scots worked on Christmas and had their holidays in the New Year, where apparently Edinburgh transforms into one huge street party.

Our first night was at the Parliament House hotel, an old world hotel. Remarkable was the 70 year + night porter who single handedly takes care of the hotel all through the night shift….cleaning, wake up calls, attending the door etc etc. Breakfast had an option of haggis for the cooked part – and I tried it out. Strong smelling and tasting, but well worth it. Black Pudding will have to wait for a while?

Could not visit the Castle, or more importantly the whisky trail. The castle looms over the city – especially when all lit up at night, so you cannot really miss it. The Royal Mile stretches from the castle up the hill all the way to the Hollyrood Palace ( the residence of the UK monarch). The heart of the old town, it has any number of Wynds, Closes and other old English words. Good ny day, suitably mysterious by night.

The part of Edinburgh that seems to be a little off the tourist circuit but is priceless is the Hollyrood Park. With crags, moors, meadows, lochs, mountain paths – and any other geographic feature that you can care to think of , it is fabulous experience well within the city. Our last morning there, in the clear weather was an enchanted one.

Scotch Whisky? But where is it? All over Edinburgh, but at the same expensive prices as elsewhere. American Jack Daniel’s is surprisingly popular, or very aggressively promoted!! The one sneaky experience was to sniff out the free sampling in a few stores, and quaff down some single malt of unheard of distilleries…..

Loved the Scottish ties – replaced my much loved one that M had got almost a decade ago.

Yup, Edinburgh…you are on my list of cities that I will be visiting again…..