As I said in my last post about visiting Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands, it took me 6 years to return, but it was well-worth the wait! In 2012, I made 2 trips to Scotland–one trip with a friend and another trip for my Dad’s birthday.
My friend Virginia and I decided to take a long weekend and head up to Edinburgh to tour the city and to explore a teeny bit of the Scottish Highlands. We chose to rent out an apartment that was within walking distance of the Castle, but far enough away to where it would be quiet at night. We stayed at the Fountain Court Apartments on Stewart Street. The apartment was in pristine condition and in a great location for our needs. I highly recommend staying here.
We booked 2 day tours so that we could explore outside of the city. We chose the Whisky Explorer (now called Whisky and Waterfalls) through Haggis Adventures and Rosslyn Chapel and Scottish Borders day tour through Rabbies.
The tour through Haggis Adventures definitely had more of a ‘party’ feel, but it was great nevertheless. On this tour, we visited The Famous Grouse whisky distillery, a William Wallace Monument, Loch Lomond, Trossachs National Park and also popped in to a famous tourist trap to visit Hamish the Hairy Coo. The whisky distillery tour was interesting and the whisky was pretty good (except for the nasty ‘women’s whisky’ they had us taste). The William Wallace monument was also very cool to see, but the highlight of that tour was spending a bit of time in Trossachs National Park. I absolutely fell in love with the park and still daydream of returning there. I’ve never been to a forrest that actually smelled green!
The very next day, we set off to visit Rosslyn Chapel and a teeny bit of the Scottish Highlands with Rabbies. I had been wanting to visit Rosslyn Chapel for many many years and was quite excited to take this tour! The Chapel did not let me down and I even went back for a second peek on my next trip to Scotland (my pics will be posted there). The Rabbies tour also took us to another William Wallace Monument, Scotts View, Melrose Abbey (where Robert the Bruce’s heart is supposedly buried), and Eidon Hills. Melrose Abbey was very cool to see, but my favorite part about the town was that it had the absolute BEST Sunday Roast I’ve ever had (and one of the cheapest)!
The tour with Rabbies definitely had much more of an ‘adult’ feel (which was nice), but our guide was a bit boring at times. We mentally wished we could have combined our tour guides from Haggis Tours and Rabbies together to create the perfect experience!
On our final day in Scotland, we took a break from ‘official tours’ and walked around the city, ate some good food, did a bit of shopping and went to Edinburgh Castle. We had a very busy long weekend in Scotland, but it was great fun and absolutely worth it!
Stay tuned for part 3: Rosslyn Chapel (again!) and visiting the West Highland Lochs, Mountains & Castles via Timberbush Tours!
Want to see more pictures from Scotland? Check out my portfolio!
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