Tiff & Jared's adventures

Scotland here we come! 

Day 1

In 2022, we found a great deal on Scott’s Cheap flights on IcelandAir and alas the time is now here to go abroad again. We flew from Denver to Reykjavik and then on to Scotland (didn’t realize this when we booked but you can layover for up to seven days in Iceland without charge as part of their tourism promotion). We departed Denver around 5PM, landed in Iceland around 6AM, and then got into Glasgow around 11AM where we were greeted with wind, rain and empty stomachs.  

Because it’s a budget airline, we didn’t get any meals on the flight (luckily we got food in Denver beforehand). So at this point, it was time to eat. We collected our rental car, stopped at a sandwich shop called Wizgonies, and kicked it into travel gear. The drive up through Loch Lomond National Park (loch = lake) was beautiful; we hugged the shore of the lake for the entirety of the drive and there were rolling hills in every direction we looked. 

Our first stop was an educational stop – Ben Cruachan hydro generation station. I can’t remember how I heard of this place, but I was intrigued since I work at a utility company, so this was me nerding out a bit, but also as a fan of the show Outlander, this was one of the TV show filming sites. The big selling point to me was that it was an underground generation within the mountain itself that sounded very unique.  The tour itself was short and sweet – we were bussed about a 1/2 mile into the mountain and got to walk around and see where the 4 generator pumps were operating. Some fun facts:

• Cruachan Power Station is affectionately known as the ‘Hollow Mountain’
• Cruachan power station can reach full generating capacity in less than 30 seconds, and maintain its maximum power production for more than 16 hours if necessary. 
• The reservoir has a capacity of 440 megawatts (MW) – enough to power more than 90,000 homes
• This is a standby plant and only operates on peak demand

At this point, we looked and felt somewhat like walking zombies but in the name of beer, we drove to a brewery (Fyne Ales)that I had researched beforehand. It was in an idyllic setting, a farm brewery with many accolades for their beers and probably one of the coolest vibed breweries we’d been to abroad (actual craft beer not just an IPA – I had a good fruited sour). From here, we drove back to our accommodations at The Drover Inn for dinner where I was pleasantly surprised with the food (we split minced meat and tatties, and a goat cheese salad). The inn was also laden with ghost stories but unfortunately, or rather fortunately, we didn’t witness any in our room that night!

Day 2

Feeling somewhat rested, we set out for Glencoe, an area of incredible beauty in the Highlands, close to Fort William. There is a remarkable and tragic history to the area, which we got to learn about at the Glencoe Visitor Center (highly recommend stopping here). The drive itself from Loch Lomond to Glencoe was beautiful; we stopped several times to take pictures of the scenery. Being here in the fall was somewhat advantageous (minus the forecasted rain each day), because the leaves are slowly starting to turn, but we also still get remnants of summer colors through the foliage (heather is my new favorite plant – it’s everywhere here). We had several stops along the way, including Hidden Valley and Hagrid’s Hut filming location (I know, I know). The area is managed by the National Trust of Scotland, which we quickly came to realize that this organization manages various outdoor areas across the country (I think it’s akin to our National Park system).

After pulling off and taking pictures at a few places, we parked at the Hidden Valley car park. Legend has it, this area was once used by the MacDonald clan to hide the cattle that they had stolen. (More to come on clans and the MacDonalds). Our trip shaped up a little differently since Jared broke his ankle over the summer, but his PT told him it was a good idea to slowly start walking to get the muscle memory back, so we ended up hiking about 3 miles! Nevermind I think we did the wrong hike (no signage and hard to tell on AllTrails), but we got some great views of the valley as we continued to climb. We learned Storm Agnes (the first storm of the season with our luck) was coming in later in the day, so we headed back to not get stuck in the high winds and rain. Before going to Fort Williams, we stopped at both the visitor center and the filming location from Hagrid’s hut. Since the films, the hut has been deconstructed but in a quick five minute stroll, we were able to walk to the hillside where the beloved gamekeeper once lived!

Finally, we stopped at the visitor center to learn in general more about the area. Here is a snippet of some of the key points we learned about the massacre of Glencoe:

“The Massacre of Glencoe took place in Glen Coe in the Highlands of Scotland on 13 February 1692. An estimated 30 members and associates of Clan MacDonald of Glencoe were killed by Scottish government forces, allegedly for failing to pledge allegiance to the new monarchs, William III and Mary II.” 

Essentially there was trouble between the English and Scottish, with the new English king fearing that the Scottish clans would rebel against him, so he forced all the clans to pledge fealty to him. The chief of the MacDonalds signed the pledge but didn’t make it in time to turn it in, so King William III ordered that “‘You are hereby ordered to fall upon the Rebells, the MacDonalds of Glencoe, and put all to the sword under Seventy.’”  So, the English soldiers slaughtered many of the clan, while some members managed to escape only to perish in the mountains during the harsh winter.  For as much beauty as the area holds, there is definitely a sinister past.  There was another quote by Walter Scott on the walls that I also really admired, “Where is the coward that would not dare to fight for such a land as Scotland?”. Over the next few days and seeing how beautiful this country is, I definitely understood the meaning behind this quote.

Having done all of the items we wanted to do in the area, we were ahead of schedule and drove up to Fort William, AKA the gateway to Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in Scotland which we unfortunately didn’t climb). Instead, we went to the West Highlands museum, a quirky multi-room educational center detailing the geology, flora and fauna, and rich Highlands/Jacobite history of the area. Fun fact: Fort William is where you can catch the Jacobite train, or more popularly known “The Hogwarts Express”. We didn’t ride the train because it was a six-hour commitment, but it was on our list to visit the Glenfinnan Viaduct and watch the steam train travel over it. From the museum, we went to Black Isle Brewing for some beers and pizza before calling it a night. 

Day 3

Time for some magic! Our first stop of the day was the Glenfinnan Viaduct, a railway built at the end of the 1800s connecting Fort William to Mallaig. There are two trains daily that are round trip, so four opportunities to time the train going across the viaduct. Us, along with every other tourist in a 100 mile radius must have known this, because the hillside was packed! There were probably 500 people on the hill waiting for the train, and that was with us getting there 15 minutes before the passing. Despite the foot traffic, it was totally worth it! When the train passed, it was magical. We stuck around for a bit and took some more pictures, and walked down to the lake to view the war memorial before heading to Mallaig. Once again, we were ahead of schedule so we changed our ferry time to Isle of Skye from 5:20PM to 2:00PM. So from Glenfinnan, we had a short drive to Mallaig, a small sea village where we’d catch the ferry. 

We got there just in the nick of time (we were racing the train we’d seen from the viaduct to beat the lunch rush), and we went to this wonderful, cozy restaurant called The Cabin that our friend Taylor recommended. We were the first to sit for lunch but it quickly filled from people on the train. I got a prawn cocktail salad and Cullen skink soup, a traditional, thick soup made of smoked haddock, potatoes and onions. Jared got a crab soup and “starter” of mussels – the bowl was huge and everything was very affordable! Such a tasty meal. Just while we were eating, we saw people from the train dressed up in Harry Potter costumes walking around the town. It was ironic because the actor who played Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) had just passed that morning, and there was someone in a group that was in full Dumbledore costume dressed to the nines. 

Wrapping up, we went back to the car and drove four minutes to the ferry, which was a short thirty minute ride over to the Isle. Up until now, we’ve had decent weather i.e. not too much rain, but the forecast for Skye was pretty daunting (rain most of the day for the two days we’d be there). By the time we got to the Isle, it was mid-afternoon and we headed straight north to make it to one of our starred places, the Fairy Glen. I don’t even know how to describe this place.. I felt like I was literally going to see a fairy or other magical being pop out of a hole at any minute? This was a very off the beaten path place, meaning we had to drive up a few miles on a narrow road, but when we got there, there was a car park and a handful of visitors.  There was a circular loop trail to walk through the Glen, and many offshoots where you could just go and explore which is exactly what we did. The landscape was undulating, with vibrant green and white vegetation, and wooly sheep grazing throughout. We walked around for maybe thirty minutes before the rain rolled in and we rolled out. Checking the map, we saw there was an Isle of Skye Brewery down the street in Uig – perfect! We got there though and alas! It was just a bottling and merchandise shop, but there was no taproom to actually drink the beer. (We came to realize this was common on Skye – the two “breweries” that we went to distributed their beers to bars and pubs but didn’t have the setup on site to sample the beers). 

Disappointed, we drove back in the rain to the town of Portree where we stayed at the Tongadale Inn for the night. With the rain not letting up, we decided to go out for a drink – I read about this cocktail bar on top of its restaurant, the Scorrybreac, which, in perfect weather conditions would have provided a perfect view of the rainbow houses. We were kind of able to see them; the bar was cute and we ordered some whisky cocktails to compliment the torrential downpour and played some cards, before walking back to our hotel and eating dinner there. 

Day 4 

Today was predicted to be a little bit of a washout but our plan was to make the most of it. We slept in a bit since there was a forecast of rain all day; after stopping at a cool coffee shop called Birch close to our hotel, we drove up to the Quiraing car park. This hike is known for its stunning, unique scenery but unfortunately due to the weather, we couldn’t hike it. When we got to the park, it was SO windy we went back into the car to wait it out for a few minutes (so windy that when we paid for parking, the ticket flew out of the machine and was blown away in about 5 seconds). After it calmed down slightly, we started walking the path and as luck would have it, some of the iconic parts of the hike are right at the beginning so we still got some really cool views. Actually, it was really cool with the clouds and sun bravely trying to break through the sky. A few minutes in, the weather started to turn for the worse again so we got in the car and started driving for the next spot – Kilt Rocks. 

This was a quick stop for scenic views of the cliffs with a waterfall. At this point, we’d decided to probably not do any other outdoor activities for the rest of the day as the weather forecast was still not good. That decided, we switched gears into a more food and drink type of day. We stopped in a small town, once again pursuing a brewery and once again getting bamboozled by no taproom. However! The brewery, Cuillin Brewery, distributed their beer to the tavern next door so we went and got two really good ones – a coffee milk stout and a rhubarb and sea salt sour. Next, and something I was looking forward to but not getting my hopes up in case we couldn’t squeeze it in, we went to the Oyster Shed for lunch. This place came up in my research as a high-quality, fresh seafood place at a reasonable cost. We ordered ahead and balled out with a seafood platter. Driving here, we passed through the quaint town of Carbost, which is where the Talisker distillery is located. It was a picturesque drive along a lake before we got to the shed – there was a food truck outside cooking the food and a small building with some seating and merchandise. We waited a short while for our food, and then received our monstrous platter consisting of prawns, oysters, scallops, lobster, a crab salad, smoked salmon and chips and we ate standing around barrels, looking out onto the lake (or “loch”).  I had picked up beers from Fyne Ales the other day so we had a lovely room temperature, award-winning blonde to compliment all the seafood! We agreed this was probably the best seafood meal we’d both ever had, which the timing wasn’t great because we had a seafood reservation later that night! 

Fully stuffed, we headed to our hostel, the Skyewalker, to check in. It has been a while since we’ve stayed in a hostel but this one was super cool! We got our own hut outside and the owner said just last week they had seen northern lights right behind our hut. The owner was helpful in terms of figuring out our next plans – we told him that we planned to go to Dunvegan Castle, but he persuaded us that the Fairy Pools would be a much more enjoyable experience. (It was interesting because he mentioned the family at Dunvegan are “unionists”, implying the owner was a non-unionist, still in favor of an independent Scotland – he made a joke we should elbow one of the vases off of its stand at the castle. Super interesting and somewhat surprising to hear some people are still divided.) After dropping our stuff off, we headed back the way we came to the Fairy Pools, which was definitely the right choice (also the weather had cleared up a bit). The car park was quite busy, and it was about a mile walk to the pools themselves, a series of short cascading waterfalls in a picturesque valley. The path was very well kept and it was an easy walk. While the weather was starting to cool again, we did see a couple get in the water! Apparently in the summer it’s a popular swimming hole spot.

After returning back to the carpark, we headed out for about a 45 minute drive to The Three Chimneys restaurant, where I had booked us a unique kitchen dining experience, meaning we would be eating at a community table in the kitchen and getting to interact with and watch the various chefs. There were three other couples at our table, and they were all from the UK. It was lovely getting to converse and talk to everyone throughout the seven-course meal, and to hear about everyone else’s awesome worldly travel experiences. From caviar to fried oyster to perfectly cooked sea bass to lamb three ways, it was definitely a delicious meal! Would we go back for the price tag? Probably not. The chefs came to the table and explained each course as it was presented to us, but other than that they were pretty busy in the kitchen. Jared and I walked up and around to watch them plate our mussels dish and had some interesting conversation with the chef, but I wish we had more of that. Good experience though, the meal started at 7 and didn’t end until 11! I didn’t realize a tasting menu would be as much an experience as it is a meal itself. After saying goodbyes to everyone we met, we made the drive back to the hostel (thank goodness for Jared being comfortable driving in the UK AND in the dark AND with sheep literally in or off to the side of the road). With an optimistic outlook of the weather the following day, we planned to hike Old Man of Storr before heading out of Skye and back to mainland Scotland. 

Day 5

Waking up early to make it to Storr, we hit the ground running about 7AM for the hike. When we got to the trailhead, it was already quite busy! We suited up to start walking the 4km hike up the hillside. As a quick caveat, Jared broke his ankle earlier this summer and was in a non-weight bearing boot for two months. He had just gotten the OK to put weight on his foot three weeks before our trip and he killed it! As we continued to climb upwards, we were rewarded with beautiful views of the lake below and rugged hills around us.

Now, there are a lot of legends around the Old Man,  the most famous of which are about giants and fairies. (See here for various legends: https://hiddenscotland.co/legends-from-the-old-man-of-storr/) We made it to the top and got a panoramic view of the hills, the Old Man, and the lake below, which was absolutely stunning and photographed way too much by us. Now we’ve done a lot of hikes, and this one was definitely pretty spectacular (ignoring the plethora of people and several drones flying in the skies). Also – we had sun!! We timed the hike perfectly because on the way down, the fog started to roll in and you couldn’t see the top anymore. It was quite a steep but scenic jaunt down, albeit a pretty large number of people on the trail. 

At this point, it was getting close to lunch and we needed to get off of Skye (unfortunately) and continue on with the PowerPoint plan! On the way out, we made one more stop. I really wanted to see some freakin’ cows. So,  we stopped at Hector’s Highland Coos (“Scottish Cows Farm-Hectors Highland Coos” on Google), and low and behold, the magnificent moo-machines were there! They were shaggy, long-horned and beautiful (and not really doing much of anything). Some fun facts about Highland cows:

• Highland Coos are the oldest cattle breed in the world, appearing in the 6th century in the Outer Hebrides.
• These types of cows are commonly found in the Highlands of Scotland. In the old Scots language, ‘coo’ means ‘cow’ so you may find many people still refer to this breed as either Highland cows or Highland coos. Scots language is a variety of English that’s been spoken in the Highlands for hundreds of years. But it’s not the same as Gaelic. In Gaelic, you’d call a Highland cow a ‘ Bò Ghàidhealach’. 

After snapping some pics, we finally said “Bye Bye Skye” (cue NSYNC) and headed back towards mainland Scotland. We were staying in Inverness for the night, and stopping at Loch Ness on the way there. We didn’t have anything planned for Loch Ness, just to stop over and see if we could spot the slithery monster. No such luck. We stopped at the visitor center but didn’t want to pay to go through the museum, so we just took in some scenic views. We did visit the Great Glen Distillery right next to the visitor center, which is the smallest distillery in the country! They have one pot used to distill all of their gin (I didn’t think it was all that great but we got some free tastings). 

Satisfied (or disappointed) in the nonexistence of Nessie, we continued on to Inverness, where we only had one night there. The city of Inverness is known as the “Capital of the Highlands”, and its name literally means the ‘mouth of the river Ness’. We got into town midday so didn’t really have too much time, but we were pretty exhausted from the last few days’ of travel. After checking into our accommodations, we went downtown to grab dinner and walk around. The city was super lively, and all of the pubs and bars we passed were packed! We ended up going to the Victorian Market, an indoor market with shops and eateries. While the market itself was outdated, the food hall must have gone through a recent renovation and had some good options. We got a good vegan bowl at Salt N Fire, and some Cullen Skink soup at Redshank (I am hooked on the smoky flavor of that soup). After, we walked around downtown, including along the River Ness. We were almost tempted to go into a pub and join in the fun and revelry, but decided to go back and get some sleep. 

Day 6 

We were definitely leaving the solitude of the Highlands at this point, as we headed to the Cairngorms and then ultimately Edinburgh. We had about 3 hours to travel from Inverness to Edinburgh, with several stops in between. 

The first stop was the Culloden Battlefield. I had wanted to stop here because I was interested in all of the history we had learned about the Jacobites and failed uprising, as well as the fact I have watched all of Outlander. (For those that don’t know what this show is about, it’s “a historical romance time-travel series about British nurse Claire Randall who time travels from the 20th-century to 17th-century Scotland. There she finds love and adventure with the dashing Jamie Fraser, a Highland warrior”. The battle of Culloden essentially quashed all hopes the Jacobites had of the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the British throne (the Bonnie Prince Charles). As a result of this rebellion, the Highland culture and way of life essentially deteriorated. The clan system was dissolved, and the British government imposed restrictive laws including the banning the wearing of tartan (plaid textile designs differentiated by clan), and the playing of bagpipe music. The government also cleared the way for outsiders to acquire much of the land in the Highlands, hence the “Highland Clearances” (forced eviction of inhabitants from the Highlands). A defeating time in the Scottish Highlands for sure. 

Our second stop was a 10AM reservation at Glen Grant Distillery. While we still don’t love whisky, we felt we had to stop at at least one distillery in Scotland to try some Scotch. Fun fact: “There are over 130 active whisky distilleries spread across Scotland, which are split into five whisky-producing regions: Campbeltown, Highland, Islay, Lowland and Speyside. Where a whisky is made can have a huge bearing on its flavour, everything from the source of the water to the presence of peat in the local area”. We decided to go to a distillery in the Speyside region, the largest (by number of distilleries) and debatably most famous of Scotland’s whisky regions (notice the spelling of whisky – the Scots drop the e at the end; whisky is derived from Gaelic ‘Uisce beatha’, meaning Water of Life). 

Fun facts; in order to be officially called Scotch whisky:

• The spirit needs to mature in oak for at least three years
•  Production and maturation must take place in Scotland.
•  Single malt Scotch whisky must be made from 100% malted barley.

The tour at Glen Grant was great, even for someone who doesn’t love whisky. It was really interesting to see the production across the various buildings on campus. Some facts we learned on the tour, (1) Glen Grant was kept in the family for a few generations before it was sold externally, and is now owned by Italian company, Compari, and (2) the distillery makes approximately 80 barrels of whisky a day. At the end of the tour, we went back to the tasting room and got to try the 10-year Scotch and the Arborist. As predicted, we didn’t like the taste of straight whisky, but luckily they gave us to-go vials to take with us. 

Satisfied with our Scottish whisky experience, we continued to make our way south through Cairngorms National Park. We didn’t really have too much time to experience the area unfortunately, and definitely didn’t have time to do a hike. So instead, we went to Aldi (kind of crazy the number of Aldi stores we’ve been to abroad without having visited one in the US yet), and got some snacks for a light picnic. 

Our last stop before we made it to Edinburgh was Ruthven Barracks. While this didn’t truly fulfill my itch to see a Scottish castle, it did satisfy the want of seeing some old ruins, and also had some interesting history that tied in with the Jacobite history we learned about earlier. The barracks were set atop a hill,and they were built in the early 1700s after the failed Jacobite uprising of 1715. Ironically, the Jacobites rallied here in 1746 after their defeat at the battle of Culloden before surrendering to the British. 

Finally, it was time to head to Edinburgh and back to city life. We were going to be there around mid-afternoon, so we made reservations to go to The Cauldron for drinks before going to dinner at our first Michelin-Star restaurant, Timberyard. We stayed at the Travelodge on Central Queen Street, which ended up being the perfect location and we were able to walk almost everywhere. Unrestricted on previous days with our car, we now had to spend some time finding parking. Luckily, the day we got to town we were able to park close to the hotel. After checking in, we walked literally around the block (couldn’t have planned this better) to a bar called The Cauldron that someone had recommended to us at our Three Chimney kitchen experience a few days prior. The Cauldron was a fantastical and magically-themed bar that offered immersive cocktail classes to awaken your sensory experiences. Unfortunately we didn’t have time for a class, so we opted to get drinks only. We were seated at the bar area and our server promptly came over. Because we had to book a table in advance, I also booked our drinks in advance; we each got a Bubbling Shot of Death (ooooh) and then signature cocktails that we could choose. I got the Dragon’s Breath, a drink with strawberry simple syrup, rum, and oh yeah, fire! The bartender brought the drink over, along with a cauldron of “magic”, to throw into the drink and wake up the ~dragon~. It was really just cinnamon that I was throwing in, and it made a cool chemical reaction that created a bunch of fire and flare! It was fun watching others don their cloaks and wands in order to make their own cocktails as part of the experience.

Satisfied with our pre-dinner drinks, we walked over (again, my hotel selection was on point) to Timberyard for our 5-course tasting menu. The restaurant had received the Michelin star within the last year; Edinburgh has, if memory serves, 5 Michelin starred restaurants so I spent quite some time narrowing and choosing. Boy, was I glad we landed at Timberyard. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted with heightened ceilings, minimalist decor and a cozy, candlelit atmosphere. I asked about the history of the building and it had sat vacant for years before being purchased by the family-run restaurant. Historically, it was actually an authentic warehouse dating back to the 19th century when it was built as a props & costume store. How quirky! Once seated, we made our selections for the 5-course menu (we got everything the same with the exception of the main course), and I opted for a strawberry whisky cocktail. 

The first course knocked it right out of the park. It was a deconstructed charcuterie board with cured meat, pickled vegetables, green broth, and this delicious mini loaf topped with honestly I’m not sure what, but it was flavors I’d never experienced before. 

The courses just kept building and surpassing each other (for my full review, check my Yelp account 😉 ). Everything from the Girolles appetizer with cured saddleback, hen’s egg, unripe blackcurrant and a delicious broth, to the dory fish with leeks and a smoked butter sauce, was phenomenal. While it’s not typically in our nature to splurge on food when we travel, I would definitely come back again. After that, we had about a twenty minute walk back to the hotel to get some beauty sleep before our full day in Edinburgh.

Day 7

Our last full day in Scotland! We were going to make the most of it. We started the morning by going to The Milkman for breakfast and coffee, a place that came recommended in my research. One downfall of being back in the city was having to deal with our car. There was limited parking near the hotel, so we drove downtown to a garage and left the car there for the day. Once parked, we were able to walk around everywhere in the city that day (we got something like 8 miles of walking in!). 

After breakfast (at Milkman location #1 – didn’t realize there were two locations), we walked to Edinburgh Castle for our 10 AM self-guided tour. Fun fact (which loops in with the Harry Potter tour we took later); it’s said that Edinburgh Castle gave JK Rowling the inspiration for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We ended up renting audio guides that were synced with various locations around the castle and we could key in a number to hear about that specific location. The castle stands on Castle Rock, and there has been a castle on top of the rock since at least the 12th century. Throughout the course of its history, it transitioned from a medieval residence to a military barracks. Inside the castle walls, we were able to tour the old prison, The Great Hall, Mons Meg (cannon from the 1400s), and St. Margaret’s Chapel (one of the oldest buildings in Edinburgh). It was cool that there were multiple free museums within the castle walls, including the National War Museum, Museum of the Royal Scots and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Regimental Museum. In total, we ended up spending about two hours here. While it was a very cool experience and I’m glad we did it to learn the history and see the views, it was VERY busy and I think we could skip it next time we find ourselves in Edinburgh.

Having checked our educational box for the morning, we started walking down the famous Royal Mile to window shop. The Royal Mile is the stretch of street that runs through Old Town Edinburgh, connecting Edinburgh Castle with Holyrood Palace. We were both astounded with how many tourists there were walking around. The further we walked away from the castle though, down the Royal Mile, the less engulfed with tourists we became. Jared found a highly rated sandwich shop where we ended up going for lunch. We opted for takeaway and brought our meal to Greyfriars Kirkyard (which will once again come up in our Harry Potter tour later). I actually tried to look for some of the headstones that gave inspiration to the books but didn’t see any off the bat. 

Food in our bellies, we continued the trek back to the Royal Mile and Jared found a pub called The Halfway House, which claims to be one of the smallest pubs in Edinburgh! We sat right at the bar, and each got a guest tap from one of the four handpumps. We were killing a little bit of time before our 2PM Harry Potter walking tour. 

The Halfway House was about two streets over from the Royal mile, so we walked back to the main drag to meet our tour guides (would highly recommend the FREE walking tour organized by City Explorers). As luck would have it, we had an American woman living and going to school abroad in Edinburgh, who happened to be a huge HP fan. The tour itself was about 1.5 hours, and the main places we stopped at were places that had some impact on the books (none of the filming actually happened in Edinburgh). It was a very engaging tour – Emma (tour guide) sorted us into houses and asked us trivia questions throughout the entirety of the tour. We started on the Royal Mile, seeing where JK Rowling imprinted her hands outside of City Chambers, and then looking at some of the buildings that had mythological creatures, inspiring some of the animals within the books (i.e. unicorn). We then turned off of the Royal Mile and walked down the street to…… Diagon Alley (! or more commonly known as Victoria Street). This was a beautiful, curved street with cobblestone buildings, of which the first stories were brightly colored. In the books, Diagon Alley is described as “A cobblestoned shopping area for the wizarding world, where Hogwarts students can purchase necessary supplies” and Victoria Street is absolutely that.The tour guide said that several of the shops inspired some of the shops of Diagon Alley. After the tour, we ended up going back to this street and going into some of the shops, including the Museum Context, which is the most famous Harry Potter shop in Edinburgh supposedly. This is the building I mentioned earlier – it used to be home to a brush shop established in 1873, and believed to be the inspiration for Ollivander’s Wand Shop. 

After walking through Diagon Alley on our tour, our next and last stop was Greyfriars Kirkyard, where there were several tombstones said to have inspired characters within the book (the most notable is Riddle, but also McGonagall and Scrimgeour). From the kirkyard, you could also see the Elephant House cafe, where JK Rowling worked when she was a newly single mother and it’s said she would take breaks and come down to the kirkyard and work on her manuscripts. Our tour ended here, where Emma awarded the house cup to Gryffindor (not to toot my horn but I got almost all of the trivia questions right on the tour). After tipping, and walking back through Diagon Alley/Victoria Street, we were pretty tired at this point. Our next scheduled event was a 5PM tour with The Real Mary King’s Close (close = alleyway). We wandered off of the Royal Mile again to the second Milkman location and got a tasty Turmeric Latte and got off our feet for a little bit. We then decided we could also use a beer, so we walked down the Mile a bit to Tolbooth Tavern. After drinking some Guinnesses, we headed to our last tour. 

This close is located under City Chambers, and has a rich history. It was partially demolished and buried due to the building of the Royal Exchange in the 18th century, and this was where the people at the bottom of society were said to have lived. We learned how social classes lived together stacked on top of one another in tenements, we learned about how the plague struck the close, and stories about the historic residents of the neighborhood. There were other tours we could have done to explore the undergrounds of Edinburgh and hear more ghost stories, but I enjoyed hearing more of a historical account (and not getting freaked out by any paranormal activity!). (pictures weren’t allowed so this is as good as we got.)

Fully worn out from all of our walking, we said goodbye to the Royal Mile and headed back to the car park, and then back to the hotel. At this point, it was about 6:30. We parked a block from the Travelodge, right in front of this bar I had wanted to try called The Alchemist (I got hooked on the theatrics of cocktail-making). We went for a pre-dinner drink and got some super fun, Instagrammable drinks (I got a lava lamp drink, lights and all, and Jared got some sort of minty drink with dry ice and lots of fog). 

Keeping a move on, we then went to dinner at The Abbotsford Bar, “one of Edinburgh’s best preserved elaborately designed and ornamented bars to have survived from the ‘Golden Age’ of Scottish pub design”. Luckily there was no wait and we were able to find a seat downstairs, near the island bar in the center of the room. Since it was our last night, I felt I had to drink a whisky, and the bartender was very helpful in picking one out that I actually somewhat enjoyed. We were looking forward to having some authentic, classic pub food on our last night, so I got a steak and ale pie, and Jared finally got his haggis. Both of us enjoyed our dishes (I had one bite of haggis just to say I did), and I was able to use almost all of my remaining pounds to pay for the meal. Finally, our last stop of the night, we went to Fierce Beer, a brewery we had passed the previous night on Rose Street (lots of cool restaurants and bars on this street). As typical, we had some playing cards and enjoyed a nice stout before heading back to the hotel to pack for our 1PM flight the next day. 

Day 8 

Our last day in Scotland! Packed up, we had one last meal in Edinburgh at Greenwoods for breakfast (once again, my selection of hotel location was superb) around the corner from the hotel. With bags packed, we drove the 1 hour to Glasgow to catch our flight back through Iceland, and then home to Denver. What an amazing trip it was, and how lucky we were to see as much as we did in only 7 days! Scotland was a land of rugged beauty, underrated food, a rich history and culture, and magical charm.