Kilts, Bagpipes, and Haggis.....Our Trip to Edinburgh

We have been wanting to pay a visit to Scotland for some time and finally had the time to go. We got amazing deals in airfare from Ryanair and the flight was only about 1 hour total, which was great when you have a toddler. When we arrived in Edinburgh we took the Airlink 100 bus right to the train station a few blocks from our hotel. The bus was super easy to use and navigate and only cost us about 7pounds each, including a return ticket.

Airlink Website for more info:
http://lothianbuses.com/timetables-and-maps/airlink

We stayed at "Staycity WestEnd Apartments" which was about a 15 minute walk to Edinburgh castle and kind of out of the way of the main sites but still a great location. The hotel was a studio apartment so it had one full bedroom, bathroom, living room with pull out couch, and a very small kitchen. It was an "Ok" hotel, it wasn't luxury but it served it's purpose for all 4 of us on the trip. There was 3 or 4 supermarkets near the hotel as well as a few restaurants, so it ended up being convenient for us.

Staycity Website:
http://www.staycity.com/edinburgh/west-end/



 At the other end of the Royal Mile was "Holyrood Palace." This was my favorite stop on our trip. Holyrood is the official residence for the royal family when they are in Edinburgh and it is where the famous Mary Queen of Scots added some great history to the palace. The price to view Holyrood was pretty good and included a handset audio guide so you could hear interesting facts as you walked along. The palace wasn't bad for the stroller, they offered to keep the stroller in a small room while we went through the palace, but we opted to keep X in it because he was so tired. Zach ended up carrying the stroller with him in it a flight or two of stairs, and he opted out of seeing Mary's private bedchambers because it wasn't accessible with stroller.  Next to Holyrood is the chance to hike up "King Arthur's Seat." I really wanted to do this, but being so cold and having a toddler with us we opted to just watch people hike to the top and I can only imagine it was every bit as awesome as it looked.

                                                                Holyrood Palace 


In between both palaces along the Royal Mile are several shops, restaurants, museums, churches, and even the Scottish parliament. I would say that Edinburgh is a lot more relaxed than London and full of quirky places. We stopped into the Scotland Museum which was free, and was a good stop for kids. We also enjoyed Camera Obscura which is a mix between Ripley's Believe it or Not and Wonderworks, full of interactive illusions and plenty of fun things for everyone.


The food in Edinburgh was super impressive! We had burgers the first night that were so fresh, locally sourced, and cooked to perfection. The second day we enjoyed slow roasted scottish pulled pork with haggis! It was a tad salty for my liking but not terrible. We encountered one cafe near our hotel that featured the best coffee any of us had ever had. The food was equally as amazing so we stopped by everyday of our visit just to enjoy it!

 There is so much to do in Edinburgh and it really makes me want to see more of what Scotland has to offer.

**The city was super kid friendly in every single restaurant we went too. Everyone greeted X and they all had kid menus or would accommodate his needs. There were nice bathrooms with changing areas at every single attraction we visited, which was a nice change of pace from other areas in Europe.