Edinburgh Through My Lens

After mentioning it in my previous post, here I am, ready to tell you all about my wonderful trip to Edinburgh, a city that I’ve always dreamt to visit!

This holiday was a Christmas present from my parents to me and my sister, because they know how much we enjoy exploring new places together!

We arrived in Scotland on the 11^th of January and, after a quick lunch and a little rest, we decided to have a walk to the castle that was all lit up and, despite the cold and the wind, the view that we enjoyed from up there was phenomenal.

As a huge Harry Potter fan I was sure would fall in love with Edinburgh; there are in fact some amazing places that just can’t be missed if you want to lose yourself again in the magical  atmosphere of the J.k. Rowling’s books:

   

    Victoria Street: a beautiful road, with colorful facades and marvelous shops, expecially the “Aha Ha Ha Jokes and Novelties”, which is full of masks and crazy things and it could really be run by Fred and George Weasley, and “ The Diagon House”, a wonderful place filled up with Harry Potter’s things like wands, feather quills, potion bottles, fluffy owls, chocolate frogs and much more. 

-        The Greyfriars Kirkyard: an ancient cemetery that inspired the names of some J.K. Rowling’s characters; the most important one is “ Lord Voldemort” (Tom Marvolo Riddle), that has taken inspiration from the grave of Thomas Riddle which, I must admit, was quite hard to find and we were forced to walk in the mud to reach it!

The day was very beautiful, with a pale sun and a blue sky, so it was nice to wander around the old graves, spotting some squirrels between the branches of the trees and earing the sound of the little birds.

-         

         The Elephant House: this café is better known as the birthplace of Harry Potter, in fact it is said that the author, during her early years in Edinburgh, used to go there to write because she was short of money and the price of a cup of tea was cheaper than heating her flat!

It was lovely to imagine J.K. Rowling, with her laptop and a steaming cup, looking out of the window at the castle and the ancient graves, dreaming about the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

After an entire morning dedicated to Harry Potter and a yummy lunch with a pie made with pumpkin, potatoes and sage, we decided to explore Holyrood Palace and we lost ourselves in the sumptuous residence of the Windsor, carried away by its charm and enchanted by its history.

Our third day in Edinburgh started with a visit to the National Museum of Scotland, where you can spend hours and hours wandering around all the rooms and looking at the exhibitions.

It was really cold and cloudy outside so, after a quick lunch with a soup at the “Union of Genius”, we went straight to the National Gallery of Scotland, which displays some of the masterpieces of amazing painters like Monet, Van Gogh, Vermeer, Rembrand, Gaughin and many others.

Despite all these important names, my favorite was “ The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch”, made by the Scottish painter Henry Raeburn.

The sun shined again our second to last day, so we took advantage of it and we explored the beautiful Stockbrige. I truly loved that charming part of the city, so elegant and quiet on Sunday morning, especially Circus Lane, a little lane full of picturesque mews houses. It was amazing to do a little bit of shopping in the charity shops and have a walk in the market, which is full of great goodies also for vegans, with a huge cup of chai tea latte to warm our hands.

Our trip to Edinburgh couldn’t be complete without a visit to the castle so, after a delicious fish and chips in a cozy pub, we challenged the icy wind and climbed the hill. Learning the story of the castle and have a look to the stunning jewels of the crown was really interesting, but what I enjoyed the most were the prisons, especially the graffiti left over the centuries by prisoners on the wooden doors.

Time flies when you have fun, so the last morning we did some shopping ( I finally bought a Kanken backpack..yeahhh!!!), we visited many second-hand bookshops and we walked along the Royal Mile, popping down the Closes on our way to Holyrood Palace.

It was time to say goodbye to this wonderful city and, I must confess, I did it with a little sadness…Edinburgh really enchanted me so I hope to come back soon!