Edinburgh: Calton Hill and the Royal Mile

We were thinking to visit Blackness Castle in the village of Blackness, but since we were on a budget, we all agreed to spend our last full day before our departure only in Edinburgh - the capital of Scotland. 

Did you know that:

Tantallon Castle

I visited the castle 13 years ago and I must say it hasn't changed much since then ;-) This time, however, I had a whole lot more time at my disposal to relish this gorgeous place. 

On the way to Tantallon Castle: North Berwick

Edinburgh Waverley station

Our journey started at Edinburgh Waverley station which looked really nice and neat despite being refurbished. We bought round-trip tickets at £6.80.

Portobello, Edinburgh's seaside

Welcome to Portobello Edinburgh's Seaside!

After almost an hour 's drive from Roslin, we arrived at Portobello - the North Sea beach and the suburbs of Edinburgh. 

We were rather tired, so we only chilled out on a bench and enjoyed the calm sea. 

Roslin Castle and the surroundings

After we'd left the chapel, we took a wander down to the nearby Roslin Castle. 

We passed a cementary - Commonwealth War Graves and a few meters further, we saw

The Da Vinci Code & Rosslyn Chapel

It took us a few minutes to get to the Chapel from the bar. The admission fee cost £9.00.

Towards Rosslyn Chapel: the Quest for the Holy Grail

The village of Roslin is situated about seven miles (eleven kilometers) south of Edinburgh. It's convenient to get there by local buses operated by Lothian Buses (bus nr 15 from Princess Street) that run regularly. The adult day ticket is affordable as it costs only £3.50. We paid at the bus driver, which took us a while as we had to pull and collect all the small change from our pockets (the bus driver turned out to be an extremely patient man, which is fairly rare among, for instance, Polish bus drivers!), and we finally took the front seats of the double decker bus to get the best views.

Edinburgh in the morning: Princess Street

Despite our best efforts, we didn't manage to get up early. As we all had agreed on taking things easy, we simply took our time. Before heading towards Roslin, we had some light breakfast at this modern, but cozy coffee bar in Princess Street (the main shopping street in Edinburgh) and took some pictures on the way to our bus stop. 

Upon arrival

So, here I am! Edinburgh - the capital of Scotland!

Guess what? The first picture I took upon arrival was this cute royal mailbox with an advert next to it (again, in order to teach some language to my students - fun and fun work - all in one ;)  ).

Arriving in Scotland

I'd had a long break from traveling by plane and generally, I lost my self-confidence as a globetrotter ;) I felt somewhat diffident and weird at the airport. I probably asked the airport staff too many silly and naive questions on the way to my gate, but I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't miss my low-cost airline ;) I was warned they wouldn't wait a minute for me!  I must confess  I was also a bit nervous and tense while taking off. My fingers were sweating and

 I started to think of the closest ones. I even said my prayers :) Is it only me or you tend to feel the same way now and again?

Scotland - Getting Started!

I am sooo excited! I'm getting ready for my trip to Scotland and I've been looking for some cool places to see. All the pics I've been browsing on the Internet remind me of my summer in Scotland in 2000. All the wonderful memories are coming back to me now. The pictures stored in my memory for such a long period of time are becoming so vivid that make me wanna pack my stuff immediately and head off! I feel like I'm falling in love with Scotland for the second time.