With the sad news of Queen Elizabeth’s death leading to her body being held in St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, I was reminded of my first visit to this wonderful city, back in April. Having not blogged about it, I decided that now was an appropriate time to share my thoughts of this ancient city.

As soon as I arrived at Edinburgh Waverley station I wanted to look around. I noticed a gin festival close to the station and was intrigued by the deep gully that divided one side of the city from the other. After dropping off my bags, I took a walk up to Calton Hill, which was incredibly steep but the views were rewarding.

Although it was raining, I enjoyed walking around the old monuments, including the National Monument with its twelve pillars and the Nelson Monument, as seen above. You will also find the City Observatory in the same place.

As I was only in Edinburgh for three nights, I wanted to squeeze in as much as possible. Of course, the evenings were spent tasting Scottish whiskey and exploring local pubs and eateries.

My first delicious meal was at The Dome and its menu was mouth-watering. I went for the fish dish with asparagus and had a very tasty creme brûlée for pudding.

Edinburgh had an intriguing spirit and was really welcoming, with its colourful cobbled streets, charming scenery and remnants of culture everywhere. It is also built on two hills, so walking around it really gets the blood flowing. My legs were aching each morning but the experience was amazing.

This was just the start of my Edinburgh adventure and I have recalled how perfect Edinburgh is as a venue for bookish people in my guest post ‘Why is Edinburgh a reader’s dream?’ which I recently posted on The Grumpy Olive Blog.

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