We had basically about three and a half days to explore Edinburgh and see lots of Fringe Festival events which, at the time we were planning, seemed like a decent amount of time to spend in this city and I think in the end it was just about right. Though we could have done with more evenings to explore all the good food places and indulge in a proper night out (rather than a fringe festival night out …)

Photos here.

Early Friday morning we took the train from King’s Cross which allowed us to get to Edinburgh for lunch time. We’d opted for training instead of flying because although the actual journey time is longer, once you factor in getting to and from airports at both ends, check-in time and getting through security etc. there is little difference. Plus the train was infinitely more comfortable.

After checking in at our B&B we headed to grab some lunch and ended up at the very busy Monster Mash – a 1950s retro cafe whose main offerings are bangers and mash but whose menu is also quite extensive offering other traditional British fare. The guide book says the cafe is so casual that your waiter will no doubt sit at your table (if there’s space) whilst taking your order – and our waiter did! This was my opportunity to try the Scottish style of deep fried ice cream. Hmmm … interesting. Despite how busy the cafe was it was a good place for us to do our planning for the weekend.

Here is what we ended up covering over our weekend in Tourist Edinburgh:

• Camera Obscura and World of Illusions. The Camera Obscura bit is a “show” that is at the top of the tower that the attraction is located in. Its basically a very simple device that uses lights and mirrors to project an image on to a paper/wall/flat surface. In this case the image was a view over Edinburgh. The other floors in the buildings is dedicated to Optical illusions including funny mirrors, optical illusion pictures, holograms, those 3-D pics that used to frustrate and were all the rage about 12 years ago, etc. You can also do all sort of things like merge your photo with your friend and see what a person would look like with your forehead and nose and your friend’s eyes and mouth. Because the nature of it is interactive it engages your senses and imagination. Good fun for all not just the kids and therefore I can safely say that it was my favourite attraction! Oh – good vantage points for spying on people too! ha ha.

• Scotch Whisky Heritage Tour. This tour is basically involes a dude taking you through several rooms where you will either sit and watch a film or some sort of presentation about how Whisky came into being and what is happening with Whisky these days. It was a bit bo-oring but I did come out of knowing a bit more about whisky in general. Plus you get a free taste of a whisky plus a tasting whisky glass to take home as your souvenir. There is a “ride” at the end of the tour as well. Don’t get too excited about the ride folks.

• Royal Yacht Britannia. The Royal Yacht Britannia is in Leith at the Ocean Terminal Shopping Centreabout 20-30 minutes bus ride away from the city centre. The tour is basically self-guided with these super huge walkie talkie type things that you have to put up to your ear. If you’re into this sort of thing I would definitely recommend going in the quieter periods so that you have time to listen to your guided tour and the space to wander around and look at whatever you want. It was surprisingly more interesting than I thought it would be but yet another example of how different the life of a royal is from mine. 😛

• Mus£um on the Mound. This free museum is basically about Money. Get to see money through the ages, designer money, a few interactive exhibitions (such as a opening a safe and printing out your own insurance certificate) and most importantly see what £1 million looks like in £20 notes. Nice one.

• National Gallery of Scotland. I’m sure that true art lovers will find some amazing treasures in this gallery but I have to admit our visit was a fleeting one to see a few highlights such as works by Cézanne, Constable though my favourite piece was this massive breathtaking picture of Niagara Falls by I think it was Frederic Edwin Church?

• Royal Scottish Academy. This is actually connected to the National Gallery of Scotland and we came mainly to see the Andy Warhol exhibition which was a lot of fun. I love all his work though my favourite room was the room of silver balloons which was his Silver Cloud installation.

• Royal Museum. Mainly visited this museum to see Dolly the Sheep but Sandra and I found the kids interactive section the most fun. Here we got to race an F1 car, test our reflexes, and check out our stylin’ in spacesuits. I love this kind of stuff even if it was all mainly targeted at 3-10 year olds! We also had lunch at The Tower Restaurant near the roof top (see below) but the roof itself has good views over Edinburgh if you don’t fancy a meal.

Not all of the attractions in Edinburgh are indoors. There are a number of vantage points about town where you can get nice views and two of them are Calton Hill which is nice and close to the city centre and Arthur’s Seat. Arthur’s Seat is a giant peak that can’t be failed to be seen anywhere you are in Edinburgh. Sandra and I took the two peaks in a long afternoon walk but we probably made our walk up Arthur’s Seat a lot tougher on ourselves because 1. Sandra had on trainers only and 2. we had a strict time limit on getting up there so we couldn’t afford to relax and take our time. We made it to the top though which I was happy about. We also ended up walking around a lot exploring the Royal Mile (we didn’t go into Edinburgh Castle as such though we were there to see the Military Tattoo) and laying around in Princes Street Gardens.

The Food The Food The Food

I’ve just realised that for the first few paragraphs of this blog entry I’ve talked about the food in Edinburgh but since then haven’t actually said much about where we’ve been. As we’ve not had the luxury in the evenings to sit down and have proper relaxed 3-course meals I think we’ve done pretty well to hit some of the highlights including:

• Mussel Inn. Specialising in mussels, oysters and scallops this was the first proper restaurant we headed to an we weren’t disappointed withour scallop starters and 1kg pots of mussels for mains. Yummy. Lines out the door during Festival season as no bookings are taken. However turnover was pretty quick and we luckily didn’t have to wait too long.

• The Tower. Located in the Royal Museum, as mentioned above, the Tower offers Scottish cuisine at an altitude. Nice views to the Castle in one direction the restaurant itself is nicely appointed with service very friendly. Food was pretty nice and my set meal for lunch was good value for money.

• Oloroso is located right in the centre of town and has unparalled views from its roof top terrace tables. The place is cool and chic. Unfortunately for all the good that has been written about this place the service we received on our particular visit was appalling. Although relatively friendly the service (when we actually got some attention) was very slow and at times our table seemed to have been completely forgotten about. Food was so so for the price.

• Frankenstein’s was our funny find for the weekend. A very funky bar stretched across three floors we visited on the Saturday night and then when we went back for quick bite to eat on the Sunday night they’d run out of food! Festival run out! Our waiter/bar man was very friendly and accommodating though and found combinations on the menu we could eat. The food isn’t high quality but the atmosphere and fun is.

Edinburgh is a city I would definitely visit again!