Our initial plan for today was to tour Edinburg Castle, but when we arrived at ticketing, it was sold out for the day. This wasn't something I'd anticipated, as Jen and I had had no trouble securing tickets for our visit. However, it would appear that the Festivals (the Tattoo and Fringe) have quite the impact on tourism in general. So we swerved and decided to explore the surrounding area.
It was raining, so most of these pictures are from my camera phone. The Olympus stayed safe and snug in my bag until the rain stopped.
It was raining and, while we had our umbrellas and bad-weather shoes on, neither of us had waterproofs (I think they are too heavy and would overheat us), so we took refuge in a tour bus ticketing station, with the idea of kipping on a bus for awhile and waiting out the rain.
It ended up being an utterly delightful experience and gave us so many ideas on places to go. I'd heard that bus tours were a great way to get introduced to an area, but I think there has probably been a bit of travel snob in me that wants to figure it all out myself. I believe this tour might have put that to an end.
We were at the front of the queue for the bus, and had the best seats, right next to the tour guide. His name is Mike, and he was fantastic.
The site where William Burke was hanged.
There were adverts for Fringe everywhere!
Mike recommended this place for jazz lovers. G took note.
These narrow alleyways are called closes. I didn't think they were open to the public, but Mike said they were wonderful places to explore, as they typically opened into squares and courtyards for their surrounding buildings. We did exactly that, and found some real gems, including this Cafe where we took lunch.
