EDINBURGH
Last fall, I spent a few days loose in Edinburgh. A city full of ghosts, morbid history, and pubs to keep me busy the duration of my stay. Anyway, here’s the photos I took along the way that will forever capture my own Edinburgh mood board.
Upon landing in Edinburgh, following 30+ hours of being awake because I cannot and will not sleep on a plane (no matter how hard I try) I had to jump right into action. Action, in this case, meaning pub hopping and drinking as many Innis & Gunn’s as I could for being a zombie. Scottish pub culture was exactly as I could have hoped it would be.
On my first morning, I took a solo walk to the Princes Street Gardens to have a look. I’m a total simp for roses, so pair that with old cobblestone sidewalks and a view of Edinburgh Castle and I’m a happy girl. I had just enough time for a whirlwind stroll before hitting up Tattu for lunch and taking a walk down all the bouginess of George Street.
Because I was traveling in a group, I found myself on a time crunch five minute shopping moment in a Charity Shop in Stockbridge. Personally, I’m beyond impressed at my ability to snag both this outrageous hat and this leopard purse. Like I actually think I set a new record with how quickly I was able to sniff out the most true to brand items in the shop.
Nearby in Stockbridge, we then walked up Circus Lane which is one of those places I kinda can’t believe is real and people live on. Like hello? You exist here? Explain!
Each night I spent in Edinburgh, it was an important to-do to check out a few pubs. And while the ones by the Airbnb felt more chill, it was so incredibly worth it to go to Deacon Brodies, Maggie Dickson’s, and White Hart Inn (the oldest pub in the city). I’m pretty sure each of these are confirmed haunted as well, with Maggie Dickson’s getting its name from a real woman that survived a hanging back in the day.
Among the time I spent in Scotland, I picked up a pretty gnarly cold. It actually seemed fitting for the gloomy aura but was still infuriating beyond belief. That said, I couldn’t let it stop me from enjoying my final last day in Edinburgh.
The first task was a long walk up Cockburn Street, a walk I had done a few times but this time on a solo walk I really had time to soak it all in. That, and I was sipping a mint tea from The Milkman to soothe my throat and my anger so it very much felt slower and more intentional.
At the top of the hill, and after a few turns probably, I first set eyes on the famous and colorful Victoria Street. Fittingly, they were doing some construction in the dead middle of the street so taking photos proved to be a bigger task than I was really up for. Despite that inconvenience, it was still stunning.
One of my top favorite solo walk destinations of all time will always be a cemetary. And Greyfriars Kirkyard was among the most impressive I have ever stepped foot in. The intricacy of the carvings, the crunch of the leaves, the sheer fact that on my walk in I stopped at a crystal shop to buy some black tourmaline…it was pure magic.
Another fascinating layer to Edinburgh is that it’s a city in, well, layers. Just built on top of each other so many times, woven together by tunnels and small passageways.
An essential experience while in the UK is high tea. Yes, even for me who rejects small crustless sandwiches with mayonnaise based spreads. And on a day I was particularly ill, this was even better. High tea at the Dome Hotel is an experience anyone visiting Edinburgh should partaKe in. Ideally, I’d have rather participated in the Tipsy Tea offering which supplies champagne but alas, illness.
A bonus for people like me: the bathroom provides top tier framing for mirror selfies.
Since this was my last night of the trip, I had to prioritize my number one Edinburgh bucket list item: a ghost tour with access into the Underground Vaults. So I braved the walk back up the hill at dusk to get up close and personal with the stuff nightmares are made of.
I’m not gonna regurgitate a bunch of facts on the Vaults, but there are a couple important notes. The first being they’re not actually underground at all, and instead are stuffed into the layers of the city. Forever sandwiched between, and were once sealed off until rediscovered by a shop owner.
The reason they were sealed off, so they say, is the vaults became a hotspot for crime and murders. The city’s homeless lived here in the dark for fear of being fined for being homeless. Yes, that was an actual thing, and I’d imagine things would have to be the most grim for one to take up living within these damp vaults.
I wrapped the tour and got a quick dinner at Nando’s before calling it a night in preparation for an early morning flight to Munich. Edinburgh deserves much more time than what I was able to give, and I hope to return for more.
