Day 3, Edinburgh

Our second full day in Edinburgh was a memorable one because it was our first full Scottish Breakfast. Eggs, sausage, bacon, sauteed mushrooms (not for me), roasted tomato, and haggis. HAGGIS! It's actually not that bad. My first experience with it was maybe a 5/10 because I was super tired and was thinking way too hard about it being random sheep guts. But it's great when mixed with eggs and toast and such.

We set out from our hotel and headed to the Edinburgh Castle, which is a shortish, but steep walk.







I'll wait while you catch your breath from all of the steps.

The views from the castle are pretty spectacular so it's definitely worth it to go there.







I really enjoyed exploring the castle and even though we didn't take any formal tours, it was great to see such a different type of building. A castle, y'all!







After getting our fill of royal things, we went to the Whisky Experience, which is actually right at the entrance to the castle. This is a super touristy thing to do, but it's a lot of fun so I would still recommend it. First you ride in a barrel to learn about the whisky making process and then you go in a tasting room to try the whisky of your choice: Lowland, Speyside, Highland, and Islay. (I chose Highland.)



At the end of the tour, you get to see the largest collection of whisky in the world. It's quite impressive!



Since we got the Gold tour, our tasting wasn't over. For paying extra, you get to try four more whiskys or you can get a cocktail. Whisky is pretty hardcore so we decided to get the cocktail since we had more planned for the day.

Unfortunately, "the mixologist is off today" so we ended up with four more tastes!



It's actually a lot of whisky. In a short amount of time.



It was FUN!

After all of the whisky, we set out for our ghost tour, which was meeting up on another part of the Royal Mile. Unfortunately, no one in Scotland eats, so we just had beer for dinner at the Jolly Judge.





Our Ghosts and Ghouls tour was So Much Fun! We got to hear a lot of interesting stories about the city and its past inhabitants and we got to see some parts of Edinburgh that we wouldn't have before. Oh, and remember the bathroom at the Real Mary King's Close? Perfect for when all your whisky and beer threatens to make for an embarrassing moment:)



The ghost tour was informative and SCARY. While underground in the Blair Street Vaults, our guide told us a bunch of ghost stories and then...SOMEONE JUMPED OUT OF THIS DOOR, which was behind our backs.



(Super glad we had hit that bathroom! TMI?)

Once they had scared the crap out of us in the underground vaults, we continued on for our "adult beverage" in Megget's Cellar and photos with dead guys.



The only weird thing about the tour is that we finished in a completely different spot than from where we began, so when we came out into the night, we were completely turned around! After a long walk back to our hotel, which picked up some za and went back to the hotel to relax since we had an early morning planned for the next day.

Edinburgh is completely gorgeous and magical. It feels very old while there, which is a lot of fun for us Americans who have nothing like it at home. I would love to go back and focus solely on the pubs- they were fun!

Up next? Our trip to Loch Ness!

XO,
SVR