Scotland made it on to our Europe itinerary mostly because my cousin was graduating from St. Andrew’s in June.  We were pretty open as far as which countries to visit so we figured we would take advantage of the opportunity to spend some time with family.

Dan and I arrived a week before the graduation so we’d have some time to explore Scotland on our own.  We decided to start with the two major cities: Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Edinburgh

We flew into Edinburgh and only had one full day to explore the city.  Luckily, most of Edinburgh’s major sites are concentrated in one area: the Royal Mile.

We decided to start at the end of the mile furthest from our accommodations at Edinburgh’s most popular attraction, Edinburgh Castle.

The Castle is actually more of a compound, consisting of various buildings built in different eras.  Walking around provided a good overview of ancient Scottish history.  Highlights included graffiti etched by American prisoners during the Revolutionary War (one of the earliest depictions of the stars and stripes!) and the one o’clock gun which is fired at one o’clock every day for ships to set their clocks by.

The rest of the Mile is filled with minor sites mixed in with touristy gimmicks.  We opted just to walk it, observing the festive atmosphere.

At the far end from Edinburgh Castle, near where we were staying, sits Holyrood Park and its famous mountain, Arthur’s Seat.

Holyrood park is huge, wild and mountainous.  Unlike other manicured city parks that we have encountered on our travels, this was a true slice of nature right in the middle of a big city.  We had finished the Royal Mile earlier than expected and felt we would be remiss if we didn’t spend the afternoon climbing Arthur’s Seat.

The hike was strenuous but it only took about 45 minutes to reach the top. The views along the way were gorgeous.  The climb was definitely a highlight of our short time in Edinburgh.

The first word that comes to mind to describe Edinburgh is ‘grand’.  It is a city filled with absolutely gorgeous architecture that declares its status and importance at every turn.

It is also a very hard city to get to know on a quick visit.  We did make it to a few pubs and got to try our first cask ales (so amazing!) but we didn’t have enough time to get out of the tourist-filled center and explore Edinburgh’s neighborhoods.  Hopefully we’ll get a chance to come back some day.

Glasgow

We loved Glasgow.  Throughout our time in Europe so far we have universally preferred each country’s ‘second city’ over the capital.  With less tourists, Porto, Cork, Glasgow and Munich all gave us a better idea of what life is actually like in their corresponding countries.  Although not home to as many world renowned attractions, these cities were a better fit for our current style of travel where sightseeing comes second to soaking up local culture.

We only spent two nights in Glasgow but our full day there was one of the most fun we’ve had on this trip.  It started with a visit to the magnificent Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum.

The museum is one of the most unique I’ve ever visited. Instead of organizing works chronologically or by genre, the eclectic collection is organized thematically with prehistoric animal skeletons placed alongside modern sculptures, forcing viewers to think about the works in new ways.

My favorite exhibit was about the work of architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the father of the Arts ands Crafts Movement in Glasgow.   I love the Art and Crafts style and Dan realized that the font we used for our wedding decorations was actually named after Mackintosh!

In keeping with the Mackintosh theme, our next stop after the museum was for afternoon tea at the Willow Tea Rooms.  These tea rooms are a re-creation of ones designed by Mackintosh.

That evening it was time to move on to other beverages.  Dan loves Scotch and was excited to try some new ones in Scotland.  We had tried to find a tasting back in Edinburgh but they were all touristy and expensive.  In Glasgow, though, most pubs offer a great deal on a whisky of the month.  We got to try a couple of good ones at the Pot Still, a bar famous for having over 700 whiskies to choose from.

From the pub it was on to our final stop of the night: a concert at small local venue King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut.  For those of you that don’t know, my first job out of college was working as a tour assistant for an exhibit of art from King Tut’s tomb.  So as soon as  I saw the name of this joint I knew we had to check it out.

Aside from the awesome name, though, it is also a fantastic little venue. We hadn’t heard of Thomas Wynn and the Believers before the show but we ended up loving their music and having a great time.

We found Glasgow to be a much more accessible city than Edinburgh.  Without the pressure to cram in a lot of must-see sights, we got to see the city at our own pace and have some fun and unique experiences in the process.