Inspiration
can be found in the strangest places. In my case, the inspiration for my
travels (therefore, for my posts) even comes from Anne Hathaway’s movies. To be
more precise, from one of my favorite movies with her: One Day. The story,
which I adore (despite its not so happy ending, but… shhhhh! I don’t want to
spoil the magic of seeing it by yourselves), starts early in a grey slightly
blue-ish morning in Edinburgh and… bummmmm! It struck me! Next thing, I was
searching in IMDB what amazing city that was and, immediately after, I was
buying a ticket to go to Edinburgh. It was already two weeks ago (seriously, I
know it is a tremendous cliché but, indeed, “time flies”) but it feels like if I
was still there. The energy I received from the people I met and from what I’ve done
and discovered is still with me… At least until my next trip!
View of the old part of the city (from the new one).
The Scott
Monument or Edinburgh Tower.
Hotel
Balmoral, the meeting point...
Enjoying
the statues on the North Bridge… While crossing to the other side of the city.
The city narrow
streets or “close” gives it a very mysterious flavour that the Edinburghians know
how to use for their own profit. Every day, when the sun goes down, you can
join one of many Edinburgh Mysterious/Terror/Dark Tours. Interesting, although
a little bit creepy!
Saint Giles
under the snow!
No matter
how the weather is, never forget to spot and spit on the heart in front of the
Cathedral, it brings you good luck in love. Because I was staying quite close
from High Street, where the Saint Giles Cathedral is, I passed it several times
and each time I stopped and spitted on the heart. In my case, every bit of good
luck is needed!
The
Edinburgh Castle, one of the most important castles in the UK. One of the most
beautiful they also say…
I didn’t go
in though (Upssssss! I must confess that I prefer museums than castles),
nevertheless I loved the view from the Castel hill with the Ocean at one side and
the snowed mountains at the other.
The view
from my room the next morning.
Despite the
weather, Martina (my host from Couchsurfing) and I went for a walk.
Quite close
from her place we found a perfect sightseeing spot to the Arthur’ Seat, the
extinguished volcano that you can also see in the movie One Day and that in Spring and Summer is a
perfect natural “balcony” from which you can see the entire city. Although this time I had to content
myself with just enjoying the view from the city to the mountain. I have to go
back to Edinburgh some day soon, in Summer, to be able to enjoy Arthur’ Seat in
all its full potential (well, in Winter you can also do it as some guy – which you
can’t see by this picture – was doing… he was skiing and making the most out
of the circumstances, although apparently – and according to Martina – it is forbidden
to ski in Arthur’ Seat).
But because
the weather was terrible and wasn’t getting any better we decided to go
indoors. In Edinburgh there are a lot of cool museum and Martina is as
interested in art as me, so we had a wonderful time visiting them all and
hiding from the snowstorm.
The
previous and the next pictures were taken inside the Scottish National Portrait
Gallery, and as you can see there are portraits even in the windows made out of
stained glass.
The idea is
very interesting (of course the museum is not so important as the National
Portrait Gallery in London but it has its particularities, being this one of
them)…
… And the
reflection of the light in the walls create a beautiful effect that photographs
very well (not like us)!
But, for
me, the most interesting part about museums in the UK is that they “invite” you
all the time to touch, to smell, to see from up close, to experience. I
remember the very first time I went to London, I must have been 10 years old,
and that in the Natural History Museum I was able to interact with almost
everything. It is perfect! And not only for the children, also for grownups
this makes everything so much fun. As a matter of fact, this is something that
I was expecting to see in New York, for example, but didn’t. I think that it must be something from the UK… In Edinburgh I felt this “welcoming” attitude
again. In every single museum I’ve been visitors were invited to
interact, especially in the Royal Museum of Scotland, where this picture was
taken.
That second
day we had an amazing lunch (the haggis from the first day in The Last Drop were
very tasting as well) but the mash and the sausages from the Mum’s Great Comfort Food were so yummy!!! And, even better, the Whiskey Cider they served me was a very
nice surprise and a first, that I wished to have repeated more often but no one
else in Edinburgh seems to know about this kind of cider. A pity! But hopefully
next time I’ll be in London I can find some.
Walking in
the high part of Victoria Street...
The other "face" of the Edinburgh Castle, seen
from Princes Street.
Saint Cuthbert church and its cemetery covered
with snow.
As said before: creepy city!
But not everything was creepy… And neither the
snow matter all that much! Actually I kind of really liked it. It was the first
time in my live, despite the fact that I travel a lot, that I was able to
wonder in a city covered with snow. So, as you can imagine, I found it pretty
cool!
In my last night we gather together in a bar
near Martina’s flat, with all her flat mates, to celebrate her birthday.
All the girls are from Bulgaria, as my host,
and they’re super nice, young, full of energy and with amazing stories to tell…
It was an amusing night in the Southern Pub, a lovely begin of Martina’s birthday (although I had to leave in only a couple
of hours to catch my plane to Amsterdam and from there to Madrid) and a perfect
closure for my three days escape to Edinburgh.
It was so nice to meet every single one of the
girls (it was the first time I was couchsurfing, although I already host more
than 10 people in my flat in Madrid, and I was super happy with the experience
and with my hosts). I was very very lucky to have found all these charming
ladies and really appreciate their hospitality! ♥ U! The previous picture, from the
drawings in the snow, goes for all of you…
