I heard many a rave review of the city of Edinburgh with statements varying from “a great city” to “the best city I’ve ever been to”. Of course, I was bound to find out last Saturday (and Tuesday).

We went downtown from our cottage by bus, since we planned to have dinner at the SMWS at 28 Queen Street. The SMWS being a whisky society, I didn’t feel like driving home afterwards.

The Royal Mile
Tourism heaven. An infinite number of souvenir shops selling tartan hats with fake red hair, cheap kilts, and every other thing that can vaguely be described as Scottish. There are some nice attractions on it, the Scotch Whisky Experience being a very good one. The ride is a bit dorky, but the explanation on the process of whisky making is fairly well done and a look at the Claive Vidiz collection is nice.

Edinburgh Castle
The Edinburgh Castle was a bit of a downer, since we expected to visit a castle the way they do that in the Ardennes, for example. This room was this, that room was used for that. None of that. You can walk around a war museum on the premises, but that doesn’t show anything from Scotlands most castle-like period. Also the Scottish National War Memorial is within the walls, which was quite impressive. Apart from that, more or less just a gift shop and a few cafés…

28 Queen Street
This is one of the two SMWS venues in town, the other one being The Vaults in Leith. We had a reservation for dinner here and it was exquisite. Don’t remember everything I had, but it contained loads of perfectly cooked meat, good wine, prosecco and some very fine drams. Highly recommended.

The Real Mary King’s Close
A tour of a part of underground Edinburgh. Our travel companions Rob and Silvia went on the tour, and although we planned to join them, Anneke’s claustrophobia popped up and we just had a leisurely stroll around the city. Bought some kick-ass fudge, though 😉

The whisky shops
Again, a bit of a downer. Although all shops I’ve strolled into had some redeeming factors, they couldn’t really grab my attentions for a variety of reasons. Oddbins didn’t have many special bottlings, not the kind I was looking for, anyway. Royal Mile Whiskies had some more specials, but it was way too crowded and the shops focuses on tourist hits, which is only logical, but I didn’t come for those. The Whisky Shop had loads of independent releases but they were stacked 15 foot high. I want to be able to browse on my own and not need to call someone with a ladder for each bottle I think interesting. Maybe Cadenhead’s was the weirdest one. I went there to pick up a couple of bottles I ordered, but the shop barely displays anything. Its so small that they refer to a chalkboard on which their stock is displayed. Not my kind of thing. Holding a bottle or at least seeing it is key to purchasing, to me at least.

Cakes, pies and such
We went to the Elephant House twice, for a cup of coffee and some sweet stuff to go with it. Apparently its JK Rowlings place of inspiration and there are loads of reminders of that around. They serve great coffee, soft drinks and very, very good cakes and pies.

So, after all was said and done, there are some very fun things to do in Scotland’s capital, but the main tourist attractions didn’t satisfy me. I suggest a good walk through the city to see some of the beautiful medieval architecture.