On our second day in Edinburgh we woke up with the goal to find a local bookshop. We figured out the best route via bus to get to a shop only to find upon arrival they didn’t sell what we were looking for. Frustrating and hungry we googled and picked a cafe at random to have breakfast. Fueled for the rest of the morning we took the bus back towards Old Town.
We had an awkward amount of time to kill before the main event of our day, a food tour with Eat Walk Edinburgh Tours! We stopped at another book shop and walked around before the meet up at 1.
The tour featured five venues and a great history of Edinburgh from our tour guide. The highlight for me was our middle stop at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. We dined on haggis, the famed dish of Scotland (best to not look up what it’s made of). The society specializes in single cast whiskies that are each unique. The one we sampled was described as “a comforting hug in a mug”. We learned the trick is to sample your whisky then add a trickle of water and stir before sampling again. This process is repeated until you get to the ideal taste for you.
Steph and I had been on one food tour before in Seattle and knew it would be a great alternative way to see and experience the city. We spent a lot of time after the tour comparing this to our tour in Seattle. Both amazing, but different! We felt with this tour we got a lot more city history in addition to culinary facts. Additionally the tour in Edinburgh was a lot heavier on the booze provided at each stop.
We had a very very late dinner than evening and went to bed early for another early flight back to London the next day!
Logan’s Tips and Tricks
- Sounds silly, but the bus is a great and cheap way to see different parts of the city! Even though our trek was a bust it was still nice to see parts of the University of Edinburgh and local streets.
- Book your food tour in advance, especially if it is on the weekend as spots will sell out.
- Steph and I realized how much of travel planners we are, and trying to play things by ear came back to bite us. There were a couple of things we didn’t manage to fit in because our timing was just off. Next time I’d love to climb Arthur’s Seat and see Holyrood House.
