How can you visit Scotland and not go to Edinburgh?

How can you go to Scotland and not do a Whisky experience?

How can you go to Scotland and not tour a castle?

Well, we decided to knock all of these out in one day.

We boarded a ScotRail train in Glasgow in the morning and took an approximately one-hour train ride to Edinburgh. It was Noel’s turn to do our scheduling for the day – and she planned out a full and active day. We had lunch scheduled at the Witchery Restaurant, a mid-afternoon Whisky tasting experience, a self guided tour of Edinburgh Castle, and a final stroll down the Royal Mile while listening to a Rick Steves on-line audio guide. It was an aggressive plan for the day – and we nailed it.

We also squeezed in stopping by a mailbox and sending some old-fashioned Post Cards by snail mail to family and friends back home. While it was not on the formal schedule – sometimes you gotta be a bit flexible!

Overall – not bad for two 60-something’s!

After our train ride we hiked up hill (it seemed like everything was uphill) to the entrance to the Edinburgh Castle. It was very congested at the castle entrance because they had temporary bleachers set up for the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo – which we were not able to see on this visit.

Our first activity was to browse through a couple of different tartan and tweed shops for souvenirs – there was certainly a great deal of variety! After 30 minutes or so of browsing – it was time for lunch.

Noel had booked us at the Witchery Restaurant – which was recommended to us by Phil and Diane Ohl as a must do for Edinburgh. The restaurant is located at the beginning of the Royal Mile so we were able to minimize some of our walking early in the day.

It was a terrific dining experience in a “garden-like” atmosphere. Noel bypassed any sort of adult beverages since we had a whisky tasting in the early afternoon – I did not exhibit the same self-control and got a unique cherry-gin cocktail. I had smoked trout, a mushroom tart, and a slice of English cheddar cheese from the “Set Lunch”menu. Noel went with Lobster Bisque, the mushroom tart and the cheddar cheese. What can I say? Great minds think alike.

After a bit of additional browsing in some shops – it was time for the Scotch Whisky Experience or as Rick Steves put it in his audio guide – “Malt Disney World”. This was an immersive educational experience that provided visuals on how single malt whiskeys are made – as well as discussion on the history of distilling in Scotland. The tour described the five distinctly different regions of Scotland which produce different tasting whisky. We also spent some time viewing the largest collection of unopened Scotch Whisky in the world – all brilliantly displayed in glass cabinets that was part of the tour. The final stop on the tour was in a bar area and we were guided through tasting of 4 very different whiskys to see which we liked the best.

By way of background – I enjoy a dram of single malt whisky every now and then. Noel does not like most of the Scotch I have at home – so one of our goals was to find a whisky that Noel not just tolerated – but enjoyed.

Mission accomplished.

We both liked Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve – so I will be sure to grab a bottle (or two) for the whisky cabinet back home to go along with my plentiful smoky/peaty whiskys.

After our Scotch tasting experience we headed to Edinburgh Castle. Noel had purchased tickets ahead of time and we were able to download a self guided tour to our phones in advance. We popped in our ear buds and enjoyed an excellent audio walking tour (with 24 stops no less) around the castle.

It was past 5 p.m. by this time and we were both getting a bit tired – but we wanted to be sure to do as much of the Rick Steves Audio Tour of the Royal Mile as possible. It was also downhill – which was a bonus at the end of the day.

I wasn’t sure what I expected on the Royal Mile. It was one of those experiences that is good to do … one time. It was really crowded and the number of places to buy shortbread and tartan must be over 50. On the positive side there were a number of sidewalk entertainers playing the bagpipes, guitars, doing street shows or one enterprising individual had a live owl that you could pose with (for a fee of course!). If you have read my blog entries before – you know I am a fan of Rick Steves audio guides for many walking tours throughout Europe. Despite the crowd of people it was nice learning a wee bit of history from Rick’s commentary as we strolled down the Royal Mile.

It was time to head back to Glasgow – so we made our way back to the Edinburgh train station and walked right onto our train.

We had no plans for dinner and decided to find something that we walked by that looked good (as long as it was not an American fast food chain). Kirk found a Spanish Tapas restaurant in Glasgow that served both modern and traditional Tapas. Most importantly – they had Tennant’s on draft so I enjoyed an ice cold beer along with small plates of olives, chicken donuts, paella, and ham croquets for our last dinner in Scotland.

Our time in Scotland went by quickly. We enjoyed many friendly people, found it easy to get around on public transportation, and got to try some more traditional Scottish cuisine. We will certainly be back!

It was time to head south to London … and the British Museum.

Until next time ….