Trip to Edinburgh

Trip to Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the biggest city in Scotland and it is on par to London in terms of the number of attraction it has. The first impression that I have of Edinburgh is that it is the most beautiful city I have seen in UK till date. The roads are wide by British standards. The buildings are mainly built from big stone bricks that make it look very sturdy but also have the old feeling. The streets are clean as compare to London but this is probably because London is more populated. The best view of the city is that it has a castle as it’s backdrop. With lights illuminating the castle at night, the city just look beautiful. During the day, I had a closer look at the city and found that it is built in a very orderly fashion unlike in London which is in a mess. Another feature I like about UK is that there is always a park right at the city where one can take a stroll and relax in. At Edinburgh the park is just right at the foot of the castle. And there are already people strolling in the park as early as 8am in the morning. This is quite a rare site at London and Manchester during the weekends.


Why did I say at the park is right at the foot of the castle is because, the castle is situated right at the top of a hill which is right in the heart of the city. It is not surprising that the Edinburgh Castle is the number one attraction. The trip to the castle is worth every pence collected at the entrance of the castle. Every moment in the castle is mystifying. Even the walk to main entrance is thrilling. This is because that was the same road that was use to access the castle since it was built. The road is known as the Royal Mile. In fact the most important building and most attractions can be found along this stretch.

Although the castle was built on a summit of a hill, the castle I still quite huge and there are many exhibits for visitors to look at. Probably the best thing I saw was the entire view of the city and the war museum. There was also exhibit on the crown jewels own previously by the Scottish Royal family. But these were no longer use since the Brits invade and occupy Scotland about 120 years ago.

Other than visiting places, one must engage their local dishes to understand more about their culture. I tried their tradition dishes such as haggis and venison at their local restaurant. Haggis is actually minince intestine of lamb serve with mash potatos and carrots I think which is very nice. However I cannot say the same for venison since it is very tough and the sauce is quite unique.

I also manage to make a trip to St Andrews the home of golf. The place is quite remote and they don’t even have their own train station. But none the less the place is beautiful and very peaceful. It is no doubt the home of golf with many shops selling golf equipment along the roads and it has up to 5 different golf courses in a town with it’s own rail station. Other than golf they also have a very nice beach. In fact chariot of fire was film along the beach of St Andrew in 1981. Hopeful I get to see the highlands where Braveheart was film when I travel to Inverness. Guess that is enough of Edinburgh so I will talk about Dublin next week.