Somebody asked me before our trip, What do you want to see in UK?” Without thinking, I immediately blurted “The Stonehenge.” Then he sarcastically said, “Really? But those are just stones.”
Well, indeed that was true, they are just stones, but there’s more to that which made me want to see it. Continue reading “A Trip to Roman Baths and Stonehenge Last Summer | Golden Tours UK”
The cobbled stone pavement of the Royal Mile was filled with street performers and viewers, as the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Event (annual military performance every August) was celebrated by the city that time. We were a bit exhausted and hungry after visiting some places, so we took a break and decided to eat at Oink. It is a small eatery located at one of the famous streets in Old Town called Victoria Street. They are known for their hog roast rolls which is kinda unique for my taste. Continue reading “Our Two-Day Itinerary in Edinburgh (Part 4) | Exploring the Rest of Royal Mile”
The city of Edinburgh has two well known areas, they call it the Old Town and the New Town. Most of the tourist attractions can be found at the Old Town which is also considered the historical and medieval part of the city. The New Town on the other hand was the result of an expansion made during the 18th century since the Old Town was beginning to be overcrowded. It was named as such since it was “new” during that period, but not at present time. Classical Georgian style buildings dominate this part of the city, which apart from being a residential area, it also houses some restaurants and shops. Continue reading “Our Two-Day Itinerary in Edinburgh (Part 3) | Exploring the Rest of Royal Mile”
After our visit to the castle, we went ahead and walked to a place that offers Scotch Whiskey Experience. It is literally located outside the gates of Edinburgh Castle. Once again, we bought our ticket on that day only. We were lucky because they still have few slots left for the last tour that day which was around 5:20pm. They offer various tours, but we opted for the basic or they call it silver tour, which will let you see and try the following:
The tour will start by riding a whiskey barrel. It will travel you through the history and the process of producing Scotch whiskey. This ride is complete with narration, sounds and lighting effects.
After the ride, we went into a room that displays the stages of grain in the production of scotch whiskey. You can touch and smell the grains on display.
Then we were escorted by our tour guide to another room. He played a short video showing the different places where Scotch whiskeys are made, and how they are different from each other. They gave us a card, that you need to touch or rub in order to smell the aromas of each type of whiskey. From there, you can choose which kind you wanted to taste by placing your glass on the colored circle. Since we were on a silver tour, we only get to taste one, and I chose Speyside because it smells sweet. As for the others with a Gold tour, they can taste all the flavors.
Once all glasses of the guests were filled up, we proceeded to another room, to view the World’s Largest collection of Scotch Whiskey. This was the time that we tasted the whiskey. Despite the sweet smell of Speyside, it is still so whiskey, meaning bitter and strong. They surprised us by giving to us as a gift the glasses that we used during the tasting session. The tour ended there. They have a restaurant and shop where you can dine, buy whiskeys of course and other items as souvenir.
I learned some stuff and had a great time during this experience, even though I’m not really into heavy liquors. But I would not recommend it, unless you are a fan of liquors, a drinker or just wanted to try different types of it. If you want to visit this because you want to learn how whiskeys are produced, then I would advise you to just go to distilleries around Scotland, where they will properly show you in actual how it is made.
Then we’re off to our next activity which was a visit to the Edinburgh Dungeon. The place was a few minutes walk from the Scotch Whiskey Experience. There are also other Dungeons like this in London and in other cities, but we chose to do it here because according to some reviews, the one in Edinburgh offers the best experience.
The trip inside the Edinburgh Dungeon takes 80 minutes. You will be in a group and there are full cast of actors that will guide and lead you from one show to another. Each show have different themes based on the real history and legends of Scotland, and each sets are decorated with state of the art designs and special effects. All the performers were really good and convincing. Aside from the shows, there were also 2 exciting rides that you will get to experience once inside. I don’t want to be a spoiler, but if you decided to do this tour, you must be ready and attentive in every show. It was a fun, scary and awesome activity. I would recommend this one if you have at least 2 days to spend in the city, but if not, you may skip it and opt for other must see attractions in Edinburgh. By the way, it’s not allowed to take photos inside, but they do take pictures upon your entrance and exit which you will have to buy of course.
Before we head back to our accommodation, we had a quick dinner at Mc Donald’s because we were very tired and don’t want to search for other places to eat. We also stopped by a Tesco store to buy some food for breakfast the following day.
That concluded our first day in Edinburgh. It was a tiring but fun filled day.
What you Need to Know:
Edinburgh was the second city we visited during our UK trip last August 2016. It is the capital city of Scotland and we were fortunate enough to spend 2 full days at this beautiful and historic place. A popular annual event (every August) called the Edinburgh Military Tattoo was also celebrated when we were there. The reason why there were performances and events happening all over the city. Continue reading “Our Two-Day Itinerary in Edinburgh | Part 1: Exploring Edinburgh Castle”
I always keep on saying that Titanic has been one of my favorite movies. Well it is true, that is why I really got so excited when we went to the Titanic Museum last year during our visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland. Not sure if I’m just dumb, but I only learned that Titanic was built in this city when I was researching on the activities to do there. Anyway, here are some of the pictures of what we have seen and explored inside. Continue reading “What to Expect on your Titanic Belfast Experience?”
When we were preparing our 16 day UK trip itinerary last time, we had an ambitious intention of visiting all the 4 countries, just to say that we went all around UK. Unfortunately, we were on a tight schedule and budget (yes, transportation is very expensive), that is why we did not make it to Wales. Anyway, we scheduled our first weekend to visit the capital and largest city in Northern Ireland, Belfast City. During our first day, we took a Game of Thrones tour which I already shared with you last month on this post. Then, the following day was spent within the city. Continue reading “Our Last Day in Belfast City”
The sun was slightly peeking through the clouds on the last day of our tour to the Highlands, but that did not stop the rain from giving us showers from time to time. We checked out from our accommodation early in the morning, and started with the tour lined up for the day. Continue reading “Discover the Beauty of Scotland – Highlands (Part 3)”
Maria Ingrid 