Thadhail sinn air Dùn Èideann

Our trip starts off in Edinburgh, the biggest city in Scotland that is a treasure for every lover of architecture, photography or scottish history. In September, tourism was still blossoming and the streets and restaurants packed with people.

The city is incredibly welcoming and the steep streets and small pathways make walking around exciting, but we imagine driving can be a pain ;)

Edinburgh

The architecture of Edinburgh is a stunning assembly of old houses and churches, overlooked by the castle. We even found an old graveyard worth visiting.
Unfortunately, there don't seem to be many regulations for cars and busses, tourist coaches seem to be everywhere.

In case you were in doubt.

Look at that castle! We haven't read about Edinburgh prior to our holiday, so we did not know that Edinburgh had such an amazing castle. So obviously we have a tons of photos of it from all angles around - not from inside, though, as the amound of people wanting to get inside was huuuuge.

Fun fact: Edinburgh Castle is built on the so called Castle Rock, which is volcanic rock.

Huge stands that were about to be taken down. We assume they stem the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

A hillside graveyard built into the slope that we fount by accident.

The view from the graveyard to the other side of Edinburgh, promising the kind of landscape we could look forward to later into our trip.

The old part of Edinburgh has these small passageways every few houses. This one was the home of a few pigeons.

Our Accomodation: The Ardmillan

Our accomodation for our stay in Edinburgh was The Ardmillan, a small informal hotel not that far from Haymarket and the city centre but still an area that didn't feel very touristy.

The hotel has only a couple of rooms which makes the atmosphere very personal. The hotel also has a small restaurant which served our breakfast and a bar.

When photographers claim a room and spread out their devices ...

The location of the hotel was perfect for us. It was in a quite area, surrounded by graveyards (which offered a nice place for walking), there were busses close by, but with the city centre only being about 2-3 km away it was no problem to walk there.

Edinburgh Zoo

It can't come as a surprise that we of course visited the zoo in Edinburgh. It has become a kind of tradition to check out the zoos in the cities and countries we visit (London, Amsterdam).

We had a very nice walk to the zoo as we didn't pick the right tram to get out right in front.

Just like in Amsterdam, the zoo was very nice to walk around in as all kinds of trees and plants lined the paths. The squirrel seemed to agree in our approval.

Apparently, usually you walk through the lemur enclosure just like in the London zoo. However, it was closed during our visit, so we had to make do with this lemur shot compared to the awesome one we got in London.

To Jonathan's joy, the zoo had cassowaries! They are from New Zealand and are pretty awesome murder-birds. Look at these eyes. It's considering how it would kill us if the fence wasn't there.

Some kind of insect shedding its skin.

The National Museum

The National Museum say is worth a visit for photographers because of the stunning light and the view from the roof top. The overall exhibition is usually pretty interactive and perfect for kids 6+.

Scottish Food

During our trip we of course tried Scottish disches and delicacies the most famous one being haggis. It actually turned out to be less dramatic than expected from the ingrediens it includes (Jonathan being less inclined to eat it again than Judith). It actually tasted rather boring compared to the hype around it - you can practically eat haggis all day round and apparently with a lot of different dishes.

However, we also found other smaller weird things in regards of food (that partly aren't only Scottish but can also be found in the rest of the UK).

Apparently, peas are a thing in Scotland. Twice we got them as a side for a dish, apparently representing what in other European countries tends to be a small salad.

Also, a slice of ham with a fried egg on top and fries (sorry, chips of course!) also seem to be a weird combination for dinner. Not bad, just ... unexpected.

One of the many rolls you can get in the UK - this one actually being a roll!

PS: (The Scottish Gealic title is according to Google Translate. Please let us know whether it makes sense or not!)