Passing Through | An Edinburgh Picture Post

I never expected to like Scotland more than I did Ireland. The spiritual connection always, somehow, lacked. And yet, my recent visit overseas proved me wrong. It was, by and large, a Scottish visit, with Ireland as a quick pit stop. Since we had to land somewhere, why not make it exciting and get two birds with one stone, you know?

After three days in Dublin, we flew to Glasgow. And from there, on to Edinburgh. And here was I, thinking Edinburgh was too touristy. Far too Instagram-ish to hold water. I couldn't have been more wrong, it turned out. The architecture alone is enough to stun you. Gotta admit we were also pretty lucky in terms of weather. Even those gloomy neo-classical Edinburgh buildings look like something else in the glinting sunlight. Though I reckon Edinburgh works even through the pouring rain.

Yes, it's really that gorgeous.

Arthur's Seat

We bypassed the more touristy Edinburgh Castle. Well, to be fair, it was sold out when we got there, but all for the better. Judging from the crowds thronging the castle gates, it would not have been my kind of jam. So, much to my delight, we headed for Arthur's Seat. A hill within a city. The place fascinated me ever since I first read about it.

Nestled in the heart of Holyrood Park, Arthur's Seat is actually an extinct volcano (which, no pun intended, blew my mind). It's thought it erupted some 340 million years ago. Now, it's just a fun, albeit challenging tourist attraction.

I can't say I'm a born hiker, but there is a certain peculiar gaiety about randomly deciding (for no good reason) to climb this big fat hill. And passing by other people who randomly decided to climb this big fat hill, and being all smug and proud, and "aren't we something?"

My mom, @ladyrebecca, did a wonderful post about the climb. What I loved in particular was the photo op. Brimming with bright yellow flowers whose name I wish I knew, Arthur's Seat is a natural haven. It's a joyous climb which, in truth, is probably what kept us going. I don't care about doing something just to say I done it, you know?

But I could've stayed there, taking shots of it forever. And sure, looking out over Edinburgh, and the vastness of the North Sea is something pretty neat. Way more in tune with my interests than crowding with a bunch of strangers to gawk at art. I love art. It's just, there's something pretentious, I feel, about only going to see it on holiday, you know? Just because it's what people do. I have a few lovely small art galleries here in town where I go with a friend quite regularly. Deserted, every single time.

At 250m (or 800 ft) above sea level, Arthur's Seat gets its name, presumably from the legendary King Arthur who, at one point, might've been a real man. Or at least, a concept of a hero. A story figure. An explanation I prefer is that it's a corruption of the Gaelic Àrd-na-Said, meaning the "Height of Arrows".

There's a possibility Arthur's Seat had nothing to do with the legendary Arthur, but rather, was a derivation of the more likely Archer's Seat. Nevertheless, it was a lovely morsel of wilderness in the heart of a packed, crowded city.

Scott Monument

The Scott Monument is, thankfully, located right outside Edinburgh Waverley (main train station), else I don't think we would've bothered. And what a shame that would've been, because it's quite a lovely monument. At about 200 feet skyward, it's the second highest monument dedicated to a writer in the whole world. The first one's in Havana, but maybe I make it there someday (so obviously, Imma leave that for that post xD).

As one might expect, it's dedicated to Sir Walter Scott, famous author whose statue sits, dripping bird-poo, right underneath the monument. All in all, it's a rather impressive sight. We caught it in the morning, though I expect it creates quite a few photo ops at dusk.

What makes the Scott Monument stand apart is the architecture. It's got all that Scottish gloominess you expect, you know? I think you can climb it, but our legs were weary already, so we gave that a pass.

Apparently, they held a contest after Scott's death about who could design the neatest monument. A guy using the pseudonym John Morvo (a nod to the medieval architect) won, and did this thing here. Pretty cool, huh?

North Berwick

In a bid for Scottish cliffs, and overall edginess, we took a short trip over to North Berwick, only to find the sun was so warm and the beach so lovely that we only wanted to stay there, instead. They did have a wonderful coffee shop, called Steampunk Coffee, which we made it to. And what a lovely place. Excellent coffee, and lots of coffee-related cute souvenirs.

Just take a walk.

One of my favorite things when traveling is just walk aimlessly through a new town. Not go to any tourist destination. This does not include bookstores, obviously. Quite a bit of time on this trip was spent chasing those, but my my, just look at the streets.

If you're in Edinburgh only a few hours, you could just take a short walk around the city centre, and you won't be disappointed. I love the narrowness of the streets that harkens back to those tiny, crowded Italian streets, but also not. I love the colors...

... and the old houses...

...and the alleys within alleys which lead to someplace else.

For me, Edinburgh was a marked contrast to Glasgow, where we stayed in the latter part of our trip, and which was probably the only destination I've been eager to get out of. Having lived alone in quite a few foreign places now, this was the only place I felt scared in, and that's saying something. The city center is dirty, and thronged with litter, junkies and drunks. You're frightened to walk down the street at three in the afternoon, let alone three in the morning. Which is probably why Glasgow isn't getting one of these nifty picture posts.

Books, again?

Once again, if you're (like me) a book person, Edinburgh is a gem. I loved quite a few here, chiefly Topping&Company, which is a two-storey (or was it three?) bookstore with an excellent selection in whatever you could possibly want. I was glad to find books I'd been looking for for a while, like Rob Holdstock's Mythago Wood (a lovely, old-timey fantasy about stories, and mythical figures, and how the human mind crafts gods and legends, including that of King Arthur above :)

Then, you've got Transreal, a small, but well-stocked bookstore right next to the infamous statue of Bobby, this cutesy little dog who apparently, when his master died, spent the next fourteen years sitting on his grave. Well, right off to the side of that, there's this lovely little bookstore to take you to a different world. Or several.

Armchair Books reminded me of the famous Shakespeare&Company in Paris. It has the same wall to wall book arrangement. Very cozy, and with lots of amazing, rare finds. All of them pre-loved, but I feel that works great. You get awesome books for cheaper, so why not?

Anyway, that's about it for me, though I'm sure there's a lot more cool things to do in Edinburgh that didn't get mentioned here.