So I recently went on another solo (and slightly spontaneous) mini holiday to Edinburgh over the weekend. Part of me was a bit sceptical about Edinburgh because I’d remembered looking there for university and I’d thought it had an air of snobbishness. So, I thought I wouldn’t enjoy spending a few days there. I couldn’t have been more wrong and instead spent a very nice weekend walking around the cobbled streets, listening to bagpipes and almost being blown away by the wind whilst hiking up Arthur’s Seat.
On my first proper day there, I let myself get lost in the city and then ended up coming across an old, tiny bookshop that was almost unnoticeable on the street I’d been walking on. To any book lover who ends up reading this, if you’re ever in Edinburgh, give Armchair Books a visit. I promise it’ll be heaven for you. Anyway, I walked in and spent a good half an hour wandering around the shelves and the vast majority of my time in the antique fairytale books section (whilst also wishing I had the bank balance to buy at least one of them). I’m pretty sure if I had decided to go to Edinburgh for university, I’d have spent most of my time and student loan in that shop, purely because of how homely it felt. As much as I love spending time in the bookshops in Nottingham, the one I went to in Edinburgh is hands down my favourite.
The Sunday in that city then involved climbing up Arthur’s Seat, which is an extinct volcano that overlooks the whole city (can you imagine the looks I’ll get in the future when I tell people I’ve climbed a volcano). In true Scottish style, it was windy as I hiked up and I was complaining to myself about how much my legs were killing me and how I should really be more focused with working on my legs at the gym. It took about an hour or so to get to the top but suffering for the view was worth it (as scarily windy as it was). My only regret is my phone dying once I got to the top so I couldn’t even take pictures to remind myself of the view when I came back home.
As I started to walk down from the top of the volcano, it started to pour down with rain but I carried on walking back to where I was staying. Then, as I walking past the castle, I saw a cute 1950s-style gelato bar on a side street. Even though it was cold and wet, I walked in (I’m one of those people who eats ice cream shamelessly even in the winter) and about 10 minutes later I’d managed to get through two scoops of honeycomb and dark chocolate ice cream. Some say I totally threw all the effort I went through during my diet out of the window but I just saw it a great way to end a chilled weekend in one of my favourite cities.
Images by Ru Sharma