Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Old Town Royal Mile Walk (3/5 - Riddle's Close)

Along the Royal Miles, at both sides of the streets, are these alley ways called a Close. Most leads into residential places, courtyard, or different side of town. It was fun looking at all of them. One caught my eye, which was Riddle's Close. I've read about it before my trip, and I knew I could walk in to it. 

It was almost like a tourist attraction, and it was so cool to see the walkway in, like a little covered alley. 

There were proper information found on the walls outside, as well as along the alley way leading into the courtyard. Here was a placed that the philosopher David Hume used to lived at. Again, I was aware of Hume and his writings, but I wasn't aware that he was Scottish, lol. 

Walking in, there is a small courtyard inside, and you could imagine how it would have looked like in the olden days where people used to live here. I love that it was a bright orange! This was the more modern looking part of the building.

Here is a more older looking part, the part that could fit into a classical tale of the old world, with small doors and small windows, and maybe a chimney. The internal was also yellowish orange in colour.

There was also a kind of center located here which we did not enter. It was still our first day in Scotland, so I wasn't sure what was allowed to wander in, and what wasn't. I was just happy to be standing at the courtyard soaking in the history of the place.

And as we made our way out, I slowed down to read the writings on the wall found here. It tells of all the famous people, mainly philosophers and writers I guess, who have once lived here. I didn't know most of them. I only knew David Hume. But it was still interesting to read about them and their thoughts about things. 

Some writing from David Hume himself. I believe he was known as the first atheist at that time, that even during his deathbed, he held true to his belief. I guess that was something very rare in the Christian world at that time. 

Here is a saying to live by, in Latin "By Living We Learn". As we live, there is so much in the world for us to learn from and experience. So I thought that was a great saying to live by. Sometimes I feel that humans work and work, held down by responsibility, by earning money, and doom strolling on their phones that life just passes them by. They do not reflect, they are not curious. They just breath, and live, staying at the same place they were born, never wondering, never asking, never pondering. I wonder, is that a life worth living?

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Old Town Royal Mile Walk (2/5 - Places of Business)

One of the highlights of visiting UK and Scotland was actually seeing for myself the names of some of the pubs and hotel here. Their names were kinda like from a story book. And some of these pubs have been here for a very long time. Above one that is called "The World's End". Interesting name for a pub. It is as if this would be the place to be if the world was coming to an end and I needed one last drink before going down with it, 

 

Clan was also a big thing I learnt about Scotland. So many clans, so proud of being part of clans. Above Clans of Scotland, perhaps a cafe, a pub or a souvenir shops. We have clans in the Eastern world too. We have Kongsi in Malaysia! Based on our surname, same as the Scotts.

Taverns are also kinda cool. Above is Deacon Brodie's Tavern. That brings me back to me reading fantasy books of Dragonlance, where the heroes would always stopped the night at a tavern, for a meal, for a drink, for meeting with someone to get information. Even from the movies I watched. All these were fictional places for me, before I landed in UK :)  I didn't patronised any of these establishment though. But that will change in my next trip, as I have a pub planned in my itinerary.

Or The Inn on the Mile. I can't imagine a building like this in my fantasy stories though, mainly cause this one looked so modern and concrete. I take it that this is a small inn, but it sure does look grand :)  We did stayed in a small hotel later on, during our trip to Isle of Skye. Since we were on a 3days2night tour, the tour company actually helped booked the accommodation for us. It was expensive, but I guess it was also an experience, to have stayed in a typical bed and breakfast local hotel in a small town called Portree. 

We also saw some cheesier looking places that looked geared towards tourist. Deacon's House was one of them. I think this was a cafe or restaurant. For some reason, we didn't frequent these places much as the prices were on the high side, and if we needed a meal, we could eat quite well just out of the supermarket.

They have a British looking statue outside their cafe too. Almost like a themed cafe I guess. The western people seems to love dining in cafe, sitting outdoors, drinking beers. Maybe it's just their culture. Maybe they are just richer, or more YOLO. For me, that would have been a treat, something that I would need to take time to enjoy and appreciate. Not something I would do daily on my travels. I rather like eating alone in my hotel room when I travel solo. 

One shop that I did consider visiting was The Witchery, which was a high end restaurant. But I read mixed review about the place. Some said it was good, others said it was a ripped off. Doesn't really matter, I wasn't interested in spending so much money one a single meal, especially when my husband wasn't the best companion to enjoy such a meal with. But I was surprised they also have a shop nearby, and since it was just a shop, I did went in to check out what was on sale there. 

It was a lovely looking restaurant. I guess if I have unlimited money, I wouldn't mind dining here. But everything I do with my money these days are all a carefully and intentionally calculated expenses. Sure I could YOLO from time to time, but I need to justify it, and I just couldn't justify having dinner here, or paying 60pounds a person for an afternoon tea at the castle. Heck I can't even justify the cost to have an afternoon tea at E&O in Penang, which might cost maybe 30SGD?

A last notable mentioned, a Museum of Magic and Witchcraft. It was a small private museum that I was interested in visiting. I've even stepped in once. It cost 5pounds to visit, and the internet review said that it was small but filled with artefacts for those who was interested in this subject. The time I stepped in to visit, they had a private event on and I wasn't allowed in until 1.5hrs later. So I decided to browse around the gift shop instead. What was on sale didn't interest me, especially the books on sale. It felt more like a casual touristy themed place instead. How should I put it, I felt like the books sold weren't sincere in their curation. And just because of that, I decided not to visit the museum after all, lol. Interestingly I did came back with a book on Witchcraft, bought at the Harry Porter themed shop at Victoria Street It cost me 30pounds! And I love the book. I have still yet to read it. But it was a solid buy for me :)

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Old Town Royal Mile Walk (1/5 - Landmarks)

 

Remember Adam Smith the economist? Apparently he is from Scotland! When I read about him in my textbook, I just know that he was some western guy, but never mapped it to a country. Glowing up, the Western World was somewhere I never imagined I would ever step foot on. Oh how my life has changed since then. From my travels, I learnt so much! I even know now where Nichola Tesla is from (Croatia), and where World War 1 started (Bosnia). Travelling is awesome!

After checking in, my next target was to walk the Royal Mile to see how long is a mile, as well as to see where the castle was. And since it was free and easy on our first day in Scotland, I decided that we should go take a walk before dinner. And mine mine, there is so much to see in that one mile! This post will try to show all that we saw on our one brief walk of the old town area. For a start, the very first landmark we came across was John Knox's House. His name sounded familiar, but I had to google him to really know what he is most famous for (Presbyterian Church founder). Here at the house, was also found the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Scotland, the land of stories!

Here is more official information about Knox's house.

The Royal Mile is just one straight road, and almost everything famous in Edinburgh can be found here. For example, we walked passed Mary King's Close, but didn't quite realised it until I filter through my photos. We didn't went in on our first day, but eventually we did went in up to the gift shop area to browse around. I am still wondering whether it's worth to pay almost 50SGD for 1hour of story telling in the underground city that was once Edinburgh.... thinking, thinking.... will probably go for it if I have too much time, and enough cash in my upcoming trip.

We also found the Supreme Court, which isn't really a tourist attraction, but still as beautiful a landmark to me. It was situated near St Giles' Cathedral. It was while we were exploring the outside of St Giles' that we found it slightly at the back of the church. We saw some tour group walking around and decided to wander around them.

It was quite a huge square, and in the middle of it was this beautiful statue of a man on a horse. This is what I imagined a European country would looked like. So it was nice to capture this in my adventure here. 

Of course there was also St Giles' Cathedral, the famous church of Edinburgh. Entrance is free, so do go in and take a look around. I'll have more detailed posting coming up about this church, as well as what's inside of it. 

The view of the church at sun set. I love the little building in front that has all those design around it. It kinda reminds me of the different houses in Harry Porter. Oh yeah, Edinburgh is definitely a place for a Porter Fan! I will do one post just on it. I'm not really a fan, dropping off half way along the movie series. But just for this trip, I did managed to read up some of it's location and significants of certain places. So it was fun when I do actually visit the spot  :)

Next we came across this lovely church in the middle of what looked like a city center? Googling it, it says it's known as a Hub, and used to be St John's Church. What I love about this church is the colour of the building. It looked so dark, yet there are splashes of colours on it, like the bright yellow door!

Or the bright red coloured doors and window as view from the side angle. And it's location in the middle between two roads do make it such a lovely sight. I wonder why it isn't equally popular as St Giles'.  Since our visit, I've seen many lovely photos of this building on my social media. I really appreciate that Scotland actually preserved all these wonderful buildings in their city. Walking here, I can imagine that I've stepped back in time, to a different era :)

Lastly, very near our hotel but I only spotted it on our way back is Tron Kirk. It used to be a church, but now it's a place for handmade souvenirs from Scotland. I did went in to take a look, but as beautiful as some of the items were, I didn't really needed anything, and the price was quite expensive for me well. By the way, I learnt from this trip that the word 'Kirk' means 'Church'. And through out this trip, I also picked up so words in Gaelic, and local Scottish slangs. The Scottish slangs were easier for me as they are found quite a bit in Terry Pratchett's book, especially when he writes about the Free Wee Men, which is basically Scottish Faeries :P

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh New Town Brief City Walk

Can't remember this was before after checking in to our hotel, but basically we went around Edinburgh looking for a bank where I could change my old notes to new ones. Fun fact, no bank would change them for me, but a nice man eventually told me that I could change them at the post office :)  But that was before I went around the new town asking around! Still, I managed to take in a lot of sights while wandering around! And the beautiful architecture of Edinburgh was really stunning!

One of the closest landmark point to our hotel and Waverley Station was this grand old dame of a hotel called Balmoral Hotel. I never did went inside. For some reason, I felt intimidated to go into any grand private establishment in the UK for fear of some bias opinion about Asians.... Luckily, we didn't encounter any through out our visit :)  That is more than I could have said for Australia! Hoot!  :X

We went past St Andrew's Square garden on our very first day but didn't went in. I didn't know that Paddington Bear was seated inside! Well, thanks to social media, I finally realised my folly and managed to go in and take a photo with Paddington near the end of our trip. I also recently found out that there is more than ONE Paddington Bear around! There is one at John O'Groats Iconic Signpost which I would probably be around when I visit Orkney this year! Got to remember to look out for it!

There were also many statues of people all over the place, most whom I don't recognised or know of. I did see Adam Smith the economist. I felt kinda uncultured in that sense. But slowly, I am learning! And I will post some that I do know when I come across them. I think there were some philosopher's statue that I encountered too. If I see them in my photo pile, I'll be sure to post them here!

The Scotts Monument was closer and easier to spot than I imagined. It was just right there at Princes Street, near the garden, near the train station, near Marks & Spensers Food Hall! I used it a lot as a reference point, along with the castle. It was easy to spot, and easy to recognise. And inside of it sat Sir Walter Scott the author. I find it so amazing that Scotland honour their writers so much! I plan to visit the Writer's Museum in my upcoming trip to learn more. I may have read some of the books written by them, but sometimes I don't really remember the author's name.....hee hee. 

Some zoom in photos of the Scott's Monument. Beautiful Gothic carving on teh concrete structure. I love Gothic architecture a lot. So it's great to be in Edinburgh where most of the old buildings are build in that fashion. I would think the next country that I would love to visit is Spain, to see the beautiful buildings there.

Gargoyles can also be found here, same as the library we visited in Manchester. I also understand that you could climb all the way up the monument, but that wasn't something that interest me.

Here is a view of the whole monument from the garden. I love how green the grass was, blue the sky was, and colourful the flowers were. We were there in late spring going on summer. Lovely weather. Hope to have equal good luck in my next trip there too!

A lovely curved staircase that kinda looked like it's part of the Scott's Monument, but it's actually taken at a different angle from the gardens. 

Walking around, we also saw some lovely buildings with Greek-like art on them. 

We also walked passed the National Gallery many times through out our trip, but not once set foot inside of it! It's free admission actually, and I plan to eventually visit it this year, along with the Portrait Gallery across the road. 

What a lovely view of the gardens, the gallery, and the skyline of Edinburg Old Town at the back. Edinburgh Old Town is actually on an elevated ground, so it looked like it's at the hill side. Interesting fact, Edinburgh is built on town of a few layers of buildings below it. And you could visit that bottom layer if you visit the Mary King's Close attraction. It kinda remind me about the futuristic world, where the rich rises to the top, and the scums live underground..... or builded on top of an old dying city....

Lovely view almost everywhere you look in this beautiful spring afternoon :)  

This is what I imagine the ideal city to look like in UK :)  (but minus all the stairs!)

Our selfie! I don't get stress so much when I'm travelling in a city which I can understand the language :)

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Lunch at Waverley Station and Oink

 

We found a lovely place to sit down for our lunch.  I love the wordings on the chair. Yes, we all need to take some breathing space in this hectic station! It was a quieter part of the station, and it was fun having lunch here while people walking. It was a train station, so we could see many different types of people walking pass us, some locals, but mostly foreigners. 

We have gotten our lunch from the M&S inside the station. It was a rather small one, but it will do. We later found a bigger Food Hall at Princes Street that became our anchor for our whole stay. Above is probably what my husband had for lunch. We all went for the meal deal and get to pick three things from three category. 

And this is mine. I love this Hand Cooked potato chips. I bought almost 12 bags back from there cause it's a lot cheaper there, plus I didn't have much in terms of things to carry back anyway. And for some reason, I love all the pasta salad here with all their mixed sauce. The food really suits me. I especially love one of the salmon creamed pasta which I think I might have eaten it 3 to 4 times. A small salad was actually sufficient to last me for a meal. It was inexpensive, and felt pretty fresh and healthy. 

I saw this at M&C too, and just had to chuckle. I mean, looked at the price! And I bet it doesn't even taste closed to the real thing.  Of course I could be wrong, but there was no way I was going to spend that amount to find out!

My husband also found Oink! In one of the alley at the New Town area near Princes Street while I was hunting for banks to change my old notes. Oink! was actually on my list of budget eats to try. So when he said he wanted to try it, I didn't object at all cause I knew the price would be ok for us.

There are a few branches all around town, and it was fast and filling meal or pulled pork on bread with sauce. 

I thought there would be a queue since I read it was rather popular. Luckily we went in while it was pretty empty, so we  managed to order one to share. I took just a few bite. Sometimes my taste for meat is rather off and I would rather not eat meat at all. I don't know why that is, but I find meat taste dry to me. I however don't have such problem in Japan where their meat is often a lot more juicier. I think it's the way people cook them, as well as how fresh and how the meat was stored. I know, I'm fussy in a weird way. I can eat anything, but I have some irk in terms of badly cooked meat, seafood, heck even badly made coffee. I felt like life is too short to waste my money and calories or things that doesn't bring me joy! Hahahaha. But on this trip, I found out that hot chocolate in Scotland brings me a lot of joy!