Edinburgh is a fantastic city, with lots of old buildings, interesting views and friendly, creative people. The transit situation is not one of cities strong features; their tram line construction has been delayed, and the only other option are buses. And boy are there a lot of buses downtown…

as far as the eye can see

Once we arrived downtown we were treated to a great view of the Scott Monument

from there we walked toward the Royal mile

and along the way we found Swish, a shop with lots of fun t-shirts, where we each found a new t-shirt. From here we continued on to Royal Mile and toward the Hub.

Royal Mile street view

Anchor close – a close is paved alley branching off the street.

 

The Hub

  
St Columba’s Free Church of Scotland (red door); rubbing Hume’s toe for luck

From here we decided to get out of the chilly wind and have a pint at the nearby Bow Bar.

After our warm-up we were back to exploring, this time heading towared Greyfriars Kirk, the city’s first post-Reformation church, and a church featured in a book series I recently finished. I didn’t get a great shot of the church, but the surrounding neighborhood was interesting.

large cemetery

‘the creepy wee shop in the graveyard’

On day two we started at Edinburgh castle and took so many photos that it merits its own post. However, we left the castle around mid-afternoon, and explored a few other parts of the city starting with a walk down the Royal Mile.

The Hub is even nicer in the afternoon sunshine!

 
Old architecture along the Royal Mile; Scottish Parliament

At the end of the street is Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen’s palace in Scotland.

through the gates

and a glimpse of the surrounding hills we we get into the following days.

Finally, we found that Edinburgh is pretty at dusk too:

9:30pm

11:10 pm