The travels of Tim and Megan: Edinburgh, Scotland

Friday

On Friday we left a very chaotic King's Cross station and made our way up to Edinburgh, in the lowlands of Scotland. We didn't realise that national trains in the United Kingdom are frequently over-crowded, so there were plenty of people standing (or sitting) in the aisles for part of the journey. Fortunately we had reserved some seats, so we were fine. The trip from London to Edinburgh takes around five hours, so we arrived in the Scottish capital at 11.30pm and made our way to Julia and Casey's place, where we were staying for the weekend.

Saturday

After breakfast at Julia and Casey's, the four of us wandered in to Edinburgh's Old Town and our first stop was the Farmer's Market, tucked away at the bottom of Castle Rock. Julia and Casey moved to Edinburgh from New Zealand last year so their local knowledge was brilliant. Casey had been building up the famous Hog Roast, so we had to try it and it did not disappoint. One of the market stalls has a big roasted hog that they carve big chunks of meat off and cram into a bread bun, along with a bit of haggis, some relish and apple sauce. Incredibly messy, but absolutely beautiful. There was all sorts of amazing looking food at the markets, including buffalo burgers, which Casey tried and recommended.

From the market, we climbed up Castle Rock to Edinburgh's main tourist attraction, Edinburgh Castle. Edinburgh Castle is an ancient fortress that dominates the skyline of the city from its spot on top of the volcanic Castle Rock. There has been a royal castle here since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until the Union of Crowns Act in 1603. As one of the most important fortresses in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle has been involved in many historical conflicts, from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century, up to the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and has been besieged, both successfully and unsuccessfully, on several occasions. From the later 17th century, the Castle became a military base, with a large garrison. Its importance as a historic monument was recognised from the 19th century, and various restoration programmes have been carried out since.

Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century, when the fortifications were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The notable exception is St Margaret's Chapel, the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, which dates from the early 12th century. Among other significant buildings of the Castle are the Royal Palace, and the 15th-century Great Hall. The Castle houses the Scottish National War Memorial and National War Museum of Scotland and it is also the backdrop to the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

Unsurprisingly, the Castle and the Royal Mile (the main stretch of road in the Old Town that leads away from the Castle all the way down to Holyrood Palace) were packed with tourists - probably more so than usual, as Edinburgh was hosting the Heineken Cup European rugby final between Leicester and Leinster later on Saturday. We didn't tour the castle, but we went right up to the courtyard, where the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is staged and we saw the main gate, flanked by statues of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, before turning and heading down the Royal Mile.

The Royal Mile was buzzing with excitement - aside from the throngs of rugby fans there were kilted Scots playing bagpipes and even a guy dressed up as William Wallace, war paint, sword and all! Our first stop was at The Whisky Experience - a big whisky shop/museum/bar. Casey is a bit of a whisky expert and he showed us around, pointing out which brands were good and which were not and explaining some of the different tastes you can get amongst Scotch whiskies.

We had decided to do a three-hour walking tour of Edinburgh's Old Town, so we continued further down the Royal Mile to our meeting point for the 1pm tour. The tour was really good and we recommend anyone going to Edinburgh to do it (New Europe Walking Tours). Our tour guide was an Australian guy who had fallen in love with Edinburgh and could not bring himself to leave. He was really knowledgable and extremely enthusiastic.

Our tour took us to many of the Old Town's famous spots, such as St Giles Cathedral, parts of the Royal Mile and some of the narrow closes (alleys) coming off of it, Edinburgh Castle, Grassmarket, past the Elephant House cafe (where author J K Rowling used to sit writing the early books of the Harry Potter series) and to Greyfriars Cemetery.

The cemetery was interesting for a couple of reasons. Firstly it is famous as the burial place of Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye Terrier dog, who is surely the best dog ever. Greyfriars Bobby became well known in 19th century Edinburgh after reportedly spending 14 years guarding his owner's grave until his own death on 14 January 1872. Bobby belonged to John Gray, who worked for the Edinburgh City Police as a night watchman, and the two were inseparable for approximately two years. On 15 February 1858 Gray died of tuberculosis. He was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk (church) in the Old Town of Edinburgh. Bobby, who survived Gray by fourteen years, is said to have spent the rest of his life sitting on his master's grave. What a good dog. When Bobby died, he was buried just outside the cemetery gate, close to his master's grave. There is now a tombstone just inside the gate commemorating Bobby and also a statue of Bobby out the front of the cemetery, by the pub named after him!

The other interesting thing about the cemetery is the mausoleum of Sir George MacKenzie - said to be one of the most haunted places in Britain. MacKenzie was a Scottish lawyer, Lord Advocate and writer, who died in 1691. He is buried in a large mausoleum in the Greyfriars cemetery, where he lay in peace until 1990, when a homeless man looking for shelter inside the mausoleum alledgedly stumbled into the grave, disturbing the remains of MacKenzie. Between then and 2006, more than 500 attacks had been reported (more than one per fortnight for 16 years!). Visitors reported being cut, bruised, bitten, scratched and most commonly blacking out. Some complained later of bruises, scratches and gouge-marks on their bodies. Most attacks and feelings of unease occurred around MacKenzie's mausoleum. An exorcist, Colin Grant, was brought in to perform an exorcism ceremony, but soon claimed that the forces were too overpowering, and feared that they could kill him. A few weeks later, he died of a heart attack. The Edinburgh City Council have closed the mausoleum, but we didn't really fancy going inside anyway...

The tour ended in the beautiful Princes Gardens in the New Town and by late afternoon it was very cold. We sought shelter in a few pubs as we walked back to Julia and Casey's house. We visited a pub on Rose Street in the New Town and then we made our way down a host of familiar street names (Heriot Row, Queen Street, Howe Street, Great King Street, Dundas Street and Cumberland Street) to another pub on the corner of Cumberland Street. Finally we stopped in at Julia and Casey's local, called Hamilton's Bar, which was really cool.

We knew that Dunedin was largely modelled on Edinburgh, hence its nickname "the Edinburgh of the South", but we were surprised just how many street names and suburb names were copied directly from Edinburgh - it really felt like we were wandering around Dunners again! Back at Julia and Casey's, we were treated to possibly the best steak pie in the world ever for dinner and we had a nice relaxing evening, getting some more expert opinion on Scotch whiskies from Casey.

Sunday

We were a bit slower out of the blocks on Sunday morning. After breakfast, we all went for a drive out of Edinburgh through the Scotish countryside to the Glenkinchie Whisky Distillery. It was a beautiful sunny day - a perfect day to take in the views of East Lothian. The Glenkinchie Distillery is set in farmland near the village of Pencaitland. The Distillery was founded around 1825. Glenkinchie is a Scotch single malt whisky. The standard 12 year old Glenkinchie is a fairly typical lowland whisky in that it is fresh and light in character, a good light whisky for beginners! It is one of only three remaining lowland malt whiskies in production.

We went on a one hour tour of the distillery, where we learned a bit about the history of not only Glenkinchie Distillery, but of all whisky production in Scotland, as well as how the whisky is made. The tour ended with a tasting session. We both liked the Glenkinchie 12 year old single malt, so we bought a bottle of that.

We then drove on to a little seaside village called North Berwick. The sunny weather had brought all the locals to the sea and the little town was packed. We had fish n chips by the beach for lunch on our hosts' recommendation. They were so good. Fish n chips always taste amazing by the beach! North Berwick is a very pretty place and the beach is beautiful - probably still a bit chilly for swimming - but it would be a great place to hang out in summer.

After lunch we drove back in to Edinburgh and Julia and Casey dropped us off at the base of Arthur's Seat. Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park, a remarkably wild piece of highland landscape in the centre of Edinburgh. The hill rises above the city to a height of 251 metres, provides excellent panoramic views of the city, and is a popular walk. We did not climb right to the top but we got stunning views right over Edinburgh from around three-quarters of the way up. It is a lovely walk and definitely worth a look if you're in Edinburgh!

We were pretty tired by Sunday night. Julia cooked an amazing fish pie for dinner and we had a quiet night in front of the TV, watching "Britain's Got Talent". The guy calling himself Darth Jackson, dressed in a Darth Vader costume imitating Michael Jackson dance moves would suggest that Britain does not have talent...