Sunday 17 July 2016

A Weekend In Edinburgh

At the start of April (yes, this post is long overdue) Thomas and I visited Edinburgh for the weekend. We got the sleeper train up and were disgorged into a grey and rainy Edinburgh dawn. Luckily, our ace Airbnb hosts let us check into our Old Town apartment straight away. After a cheeky nap and some breakfast, we felt prepared to begin our exploration of the medieval side of the city, upon which my first reaction was.... "Why did no one tell me how beautiful Edinburgh is?!"
Ok, so it's famously beautiful, and Thomas has been trying to get me to visit ever since we met, but still... I was blindsided by just how lovely it was. The Old Town particularly is completely unlike any other place I've visited in the UK, instead feeling a lot more continental: Prague particularly sprung to mind, but there's also a hint of Amsterdam in the tall, narrow, gabled buildings. 

As is our wont, we spent an enormous amount of time diving into bookshops, and I have to hand it to Edinburgh, it does bookshops extremely well. From the narrow, dusty shelves packed with secondhand treasure at Armchair Books in the Old Town, to the chic Golden Hare Books, an absolute gem of a place in Stockbridge, we browsed them all. My favourite, though, was Word Power, hands down the best radical bookshop I've ever been in. I came out with teetering stacks of books - from non-fiction about fat activism to YA novels with trans and intersex protagonists, Word Power had it all.
In between buying books we sampled amazing vegan cuisine at Henderson's in the New Town, ate vegan sorbet from Mary's Milk Bar, climbed endless steps, walked through parks and up Calton Hill, and I had a cracking evening in the pub with the lovely Gwen (meeting internet people is just the best). Unfortunately, Thomas was recovering from a particularly unpleasant bout of flu so we had to take things easier than we'd perhaps otherwise have done. This meant no trip to Leith, no Arthur's Seat... oh well, we'll just have to go back soon. Post-Brexit, Thomas is plotting a move back to Scotland, so perhaps our next visit will be a more permanent one.

18 comments:

  1. This post fits right in with my day. I just spent quite a while puttering around online planning a, at this point totally imaginary, trip to Edinburgh. It looks so beautiful and bookshops will win me over every time.

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    1. Well, that must be a sign telling you to visit Edinburgh then! Seriously, it's worth it for the bookshops alone.

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  2. So glad you liked it! I visited on my first trip over, it really made me fall in love with Scotland. :-)

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    1. I couldn't believe I'd never been before, I kept saying to Thomas, "why didn't you tell me how lovely it was?" and he was like, "erm, I totally did!"

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  3. I love Edinburgh! This post makes me want to go back ASAP. Its also on my list of places I would like to live! x

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    1. If they could only sort out the climate though!

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  4. I'm so glad you enjoyed Edinburgh - it definitely is one of those cities people fall for (me included!), and it was so lovely to meet in person!

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  5. Ah so cool! Edinburgh is a stunner :) I totally agree that it's a city I could imagine living in, I love how green it is. It's a shame the weather was a bit rubbish for you (we only hot one day of sun and we went last month!).

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    1. I wish Thomas had been a bit better when we went, so we'd have been able to really explore (rather than just duck between bookshops!) but it gives a good excuse for another visit. If only we could guarantee good weather...

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  6. Edinburgh is a lovely city. When I go south I tend to visit Glasgow, but this is a reminder that I really should go to Edinburgh again soon!!

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    1. Having been to Glasgow quite a few times now, I think I was expecting more of the same. How wrong I was!

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  7. I loved Edinburgh, only been once when I organised my friend's hen weekend and keep saying I'm going to go back and properly explore. Would really want to read One Day by David Nicholls whilst there too...

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    1. Oh I completely forgot about One Day! I love a bit of location-specific reading when I'm away but I only managed Rebus while there.

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  8. I've been to Edinburgh s fair bit in recent years but have never realised it had so much to offer in the way of interesting bookshops, need to plan another trip!

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  9. I so want to visit Edinburgh. I have been there once for a wedding so didn't get to walk around at all. My husband has been there a few times so hopefully we'll manage to fit in a visit soon.

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  10. This looks like the most beautiful trip. We've been debating a weekend in Edinburgh for a while as neither of us has been, and this just makes me want to go more! x

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  11. I've never been! I am visiting Scottish islands next week on my cruise but that is my first time in Bonny Scotland!

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