Haste Ye Back (Edinburgh in General)

Member Name: Good_Guy

Product:	Edinburgh in General
Date:	22/04/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plenty to see

Disadvantages: High demand so not many deals on travel and accomodation

Edinburgh was a place I had never been to, in fact, I had never ventured to anywhere in the East of Scotland. Then recently an opportunity came up to book some Easyjet flights; only £10 each way for the first flight of the day in and the last out. Seems ridiculous to go for one day but with fares so cheap it was too good to mis and I had always wanted to go to Scotland's capital city. I'd read about it, heard about it and saw it on TV and Internet so it was time to go!

Arriving bright and early, an bus was available just outside the arrivals concourse, to whisk us to the city centre via a convient and frequent bus service, there was one every 10 minutes and we could enjoy the sights along the way. Dropped off on the bridge near the main rail station, breakfast was taken and all this before 9 o'clock so what to do we our day?

It was obvious that this city is geared for the tourist and adjacent to where we arrived, bus tours were being touted, thers was maybe three or four tours being offered. Take just one tour or, for a few pounds more be able to hop from one tour to another and maximise the ground covered. Mulling this over we decided that would be too much for a day visit and something we could do on a return in the future, the tour tickets were valid for 24 hours. What we could cover on foot would give us a better chance to see the city centre and soak up the atmosphere.

Having the better half with me there was no way some serious shopping was going to be missed, so Princes Street with it's big high street and fashion brands and some of the "New Town " boutique shops had to be explored. A lot of these stores can be seen in any city so, for me, the highlight had to be Jenners, one of the original and oldest names in Scotland. Most memorable part of the shopping expedition had to be lunch partaken while overlooking Princes Gardens with the castle towering above with a medieval menace. Sorry I can't remember the name of the hotel where we had lunch but there can't be many places across the Princes Street from the gardens, serving a self-serve type lunch on the first floor. Ask a local! Talking about locals, an example of how friendly the scottish people are was demonstrated when we were looking for a table in this quite large and crowded dinning area an eldery couple, seeing our predicament, offered their window seat that they were about to vacate.

The heart of the city combines the medieval Old Town, the Georgian New Town and some award winning modern architecture. Exploring Edinburgh at our leisure on foot, we were able to take in some of the mysterious winding streets, elegant terraces and an abundance of shops, bars and restaurants. The Old Town, the area where you'll find the Castle, Royal Mile and Grassmarket, was easily accessible to us and ticked all the right boxes as a place we needed to come back to in a visit of, at least, three or four days. There's a lovely feeling and buzz that I can't put my finger on; maybe it's the history or more likely the successful mixture of the old and new. I can't wait to go back! As they say "Haste Ye Back!"

Summary: Old and new; shopping and sightseeing