July 13, 2026

We boarded a small plane to hop over to Edinburgh, a little over an hour flight. Our second time in Scotland, and second time in Edinburgh, but this time we’d be in the city center and have two whole days in the same hotel, thank goodness!

Uneventful and quick flight led to a long bus line queue to get over to the city center. Then we realized the quickest way to the hotel, in Old Town Edinburgh, was up an alleyway of stairs, many stairs, with too much luggage, par for the course for us, maybe we’ve learned our lesson going forward.

The medieval 500 year old staircase alleyway was called Advocate’s Close… don’t carry suitcases up it.

Wish I had a photo, but it’s a busy staircase and our hands were quite full.

Once checked-in we marched upward to Edinburgh Castle, sold out for the day but we had advance tickets luckily. Lots to see!

The 1 O’Clock Gun is fired daily, a tradition established in 1861, it originally helped ships in the Firth of Forth set their maritime chronometers. Nowadays blanks are fired, and we were there at the right time!

A small structure amongst the buildings at the top of the castle hill is St Margaret’s Chapel. The oldest surviving structure in Edinburgh, built in the 1100’s, and the only structure not destroyed when Robert the Bruce captured the castle in 1314.

Edinburgh Castle, home to a small display of the Scottish Crown Jewels, and the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots successor, James VI and I.

A souvenir I always hope to find, though we struck out on our Japan trip last year, is street artist artwork. Edinburgh did not disappoint. We stumbled upon Omair, EdinburghInkon social media, with fantastic cityscapes.

For dinner we had our options full with many popular and historic pubs, we opted for Greyfriars Bobby, named for the dog who remained loyally by his owner’s grave for the rest of his life. Greyfriars Bobby is honored with a few statues in the area, including a gravesite close by.

We also saw the Scott Monument, the largest monument to a writer in the world.

And spotted Paddington eating a marmalade sandwich in the park.

Very much enjoyed the city, it was busy but in a way that seemed calmer than Dublin. Tomorrow we will be on an all day tour, so we walked much of the city today.