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! 

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Waverley Station and Sir Walter Scott

 

Photo of the exit we came out at from Waverley Station. There are a few exit, and this was the one closes to our hotel. We actually went to deposit our bags at the hotel first, but since we were still early, we couldn't check in yet. So we decided to go back to the station to look for some food as we've spotted a Mark and Spenser inside the station.

The small but crowded Waverley Station waiting lounge. The main highlight was the ceiling design. You would often see this in social media post on the station. So I also wanted my very own photo. I did thought it was rather crowded. But I've seen worst in photos posted by other people.

Here is a wider view.

While walking inside the station, I also noticed a Great Scott! Exhibition kinda being displayed all over the place. I have no idea whether it was permanent or just a pop-up, guess I'll know when I visit again. But I love it so much I went around taking photos of all the word display I could find. It seems everything was by Sir Walter Scott, a Scottish author.

The wordings can be found all over the station. I bet I missed a few as I didn't really went into all the places. I only captured those I saw on our way to or from our destination.

 

Something about story telling seems to be a very strong concept here in Scotland. And my my do they have amazing stories to tell. Even now, I often watch one influencer sharing stories and folklores or Scotland. I find them all so fascinating, especially their faeries, and monsters. Very Very cool! 

Some wordings to ponder and stay curious in life :)

Leaving you with this one. You can also find a similar heart on the road at the Royal Mild :) I like how Scottish people seems to love reflecting on things and talking about it, from their movies to their songs to their poems and stories. One of my favourite comedian Danial Sloss is Scottish , and he has this amazing set called Jigsaw that really makes you ponder about love. I was going to go watch his show when he finally perform in Singapore in 2026, but the irony of it all, I'll be in Scotland when he is in Singapore -________-   

Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Arriving in Edinburgh Premium Inn Hub Area

When you hear about how bad and unpredictable the Scottish weather would be, it seems amazing that we pulled into Edinburg with just nothing but blue skies! I wasn't sure what to expect of this city. All the buildings looked so old. Naturally I am always afraid and have my guards up when I'm in a new city. And Edinburgh did looked scary with all it's old buildings. 

We went looking for our hotel upon arrival. I've booked us into a pretty central but cheap location, so it was slightly at one end of the Royal Mild. The photo above shows the Balmoral Hotel behind (I think). I just thought what a contrast the little red car was, parked there among the gloomy architecture behind it. I guess if it rains, the whole of Edinburgh would just be one gloomy looking city. 

Can you fault me for conjuring images of English crime stories in my head, with rowdy Scottish people rolling out of bars? It would have smell of damp air and mold too, but luckily the weather was pretty cold to smell anything :P

I was trilled to find that the Scotsman Step was just nearby. I've seen it many a times on my social media. I've always though it was a building named as such, but later found out that it is actually a public walkway, connecting you to the elevated part of the Royal Mild. Yes, Edinburgh is a city of layers. I find myself pretty breathless here without knowing why, but then again, you're climbing steps and walking up and down hills everyday when you are here. 

Yes, the entrance looked eerie enough. But inside it's all stone or marble stairs leading up. It's pretty wide too, so it was very comfortable to walk. I think I only took it once time, when I go lost along the way and walked down from there while carrying my luggage. Breathless indeed -____-

Almost every building in Edinburgh is a historical monument. Here are some information about the Scotsman Steps. There are no modern skyscraper in the city of Edinburgh, making it one of the most unique city in the world that looked stuck in a time long gone by.

The drinking culture is also strong here. There was a lovely big brewery nearby our hotel too, just opposite one of the exit/entrance of Waverlay Station. We didn't visit any pubs on our own on our last trip, but I do plan to visit one in our upcoming trip, a pub that was part of a scene from Good Omen :) Don't worry, I did visit at least one scene from Good Omen on our trip in 2025, will post more about that when the time come.

I'm stunned at how beautiful the brewery looked. It's almost like a work of art. So very different from my concept of a drinking place that is gloomy and rowdy, and probably smelly. This one looked bright and shinny and almost flowery!

There were some very weird shops along the walk to our hotel. I'm not much into themed dining. But I like looking at shop decos, and this one kinda stands out too, cause they have dinosaurs!

After going to the wrong hotel on our first attempt, we finally found the correct one. So Premium Inn has a Hotel, and a Hub on the same road. Hotel is a  more expensive and higher class accommodation compared to a Hub. A Hub is almost like a dorm, super cram, but also a lot cheaper than a Hotel. We were going to be spending most of our time outdoor anyway!

And here is what our room looked like. That is basically it! Haha. Behind the glass is our super small toilet and bathroom. And I actually paid more for a bigger room since we were going to be staying here a few nights. I did the same for our upcoming trip too. There was hardly enough space for our luggage! Thankfully, Japan business hotel has trained us well! Hahahahaha. We have become very good at playing sokoban in the room with our luggage.

What I love about the room was the bed headboard, which has the whole map of Edinburgh on it. So every morning, or evening, while resting, I could just look at it and reflect on my day plans without looking at my phone. Aren't it awesome! I think more hotels should do this!

After the day's hard work, above is our food spread from Mark & Spencers. Although we ate out from a supermarket most of the time, I think we ate quite well. We always have great seafood, and lovely fresh fruits and milk. It was a lot cheaper to eat well in Scotland than it was in Malaysia or Singapore! I enjoyed every meal there, and it was often below my daily meal budget too. Plus, the milk in Scotland is so much better than the one in England! More about food in future post! Promise!