Scotland: Edinburgh,Glasgow, and the Highlands

Edinburgh

From London, we flew into Edinburgh (pronounced edin-buh-ruh).  I expected a big city, but what greeted us upon landing was a gorgeous, historic town. Loads of brick and stonework, ancient buildings, ridiculous charm. It was much smaller than I expected. Our flight arrived pretty late, so we were settled in our hotel room and ready for dinner around 8:30 pm. We were surprised to learn that children are not welcome in restaurants in Edinburgh after 8:00 pm.  There was one restaurant that was able to take us in on the recommendation of our concierge, and they seated us in a corner, but the food and service were excellent.  These are the types of interesting things that happen, culturally, that we have learned to “go with the flow with.”

***Insider tip:  It is not acceptable for children to be at restaurants after 8:00 pm.  Plan accordingly or ask your concierge for a recommendation.

We did a tour the next day of The Real Mary Kings Close.  It was £49 for a family pass at the time for 2 adults and 2 children.  This tour is right on the Royal Mile and explores a network of underground rooms, streets, and spaces that have been a big part of Edinburgh’s history from the 17th century. I recommend this tour for anyone, the tour guide is very enigmatic and kept our attention the whole hour of the tour. 

We explored St. Mary’s Cathedral, walked the streets of the city, and ate lunch at Greyfriars Bobby, where we ordered pot pies and mashed potatoes for lunch. It was filling and delicious.  Greyfriars Bobby had a great menu full of Scottish specialties, as well as an extensive drink menu.  The restaurant is named after a Skye Terrier that spent 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until he passed away. 

***Insider recommendation, we stayed at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Edinburgh City Center. I would HIGHLY recommend this hotel for families.
-It’s inside of a castle.
-We had a family suite that included a chalkboard, toys, & little bags of toiletries for the kids.
-It was VERY spacious.
-They had excellent breakfast and a bar downstairs where we enjoyed a few cold brews.  
​-Customer service was top notch.

Pitlochry
​From Edinburgh, we rented a car and drove to the Scottish Highlands to stay in the town of Pitlochry. I had done a ton of research and reserved a room for us in Atholl Palace Hotel.  The hotel has a rich history that dates back 130 years to it’s time as a resort and spa, serving as a place of relaxation, a school during the first world war and a school and hospital during the 2nd World War.  My honest opinion is that I would recommend a stay here, but I also think the hotel is in need of refurbishment to keep its glory. The grounds are spectacular with an amazing hike that we greatly enjoyed.  Pitlochry is SO green and while we were there, there was a dense fog covering the town, so nearly all of my pictures are affected by the fog!  I have never seen fog so thick in my entire life! It was beautiful, mysterious, and magical. So, even though the resort smelled like a church and honestly played church hymns during breakfast, it had an excellent indoor pool and spa area that we thoroughly enjoyed, and an old world Christmas charm that I reveled in. The breakfast was very authentic with Haggis, blood sausage, porridge, beans, and other normal breakfast items like eggs and ham.

Heavy highland mist out of our window

Atholl Palace Hotel

Scottish Breakfast

The reason we stayed at this resort was that there was a Christmas party that evening and I reserved spots for my husband and I that included Ceilidh Scotish dancing!!  Our tickets included dinner, a bottle of wine, and dancing lessons for the party. I can’t tell you how much fun this experience was! We were called into dinner by bagpipe, the dinner was simple but good, and then we were taught several different scottish dances and danced our hearts out on the dance floor. I was even pulled to the front to dance with the emcee! We were the only people that were not only American, but the only people not from the immediate area of Pitlochry! Haha It was incredible. Afterwards, we hung out in their swanky lounge and enjoyed some drinks with people from the party. They had excellent live music playing in the lounge and the other party-goers were very jovial.  

**Insider tip:  Pitlochry is the home of Heather Gems. Heather Gems are gorgeous pieces of jewelry with a gem of melted heather.  Heather is a flower that grows abundantly in Scotland.  If you ever find yourself in Pitlochry, check out some Heather Gems as a souvenir.

The next day, we hiked around our resort, which included beautiful green, wooded trails, with waterfalls. Afterwards, we drove to the Queen’s View, which was glorious. We used one of our Iphones on a timer to get a jumping photo at this view. I highly recommend this!  It was nothing but shenanigans. We thoroughly enjoyed some of the most delicious lentil soup of our lives and cappuccinos at Escape Route Cafe, for lunch.

​Queen's View

En Route to Glasgow
On our way to Glasgow the next day, we stopped at The National Wallace Monument in Stirling.  The view from the top of the scene of Scotland’s victory at Serling Bridge was absolutely breathtaking. It was £30 for our family pass.  There was a hike from the parking lot to the monument, but the hike was full of fun statues and photo opportunities for children and adults alike. Once we arrived at the monument, there were 246 steps to the top with rooms along the way with museum information about the battle and Wallace’s life.  William Wallace happens to be the man that the movie Braveheart is about.

Glasgow
Many things in life are not quite what we expect and I felt this way about the city of Glasgow.  Not only did we have a bad Airbnb experience, but the city was a big, metropolitan city with skyscrapers and tons of people.  I was so grateful that we had already experienced the beauty of Edinburgh, Pitlochry, and all of the beauty on our drive between the cities/towns. Glasgow completely lacked the charm of old world Edinburgh, but we got to experience two beautiful Christmas markets, right across the street from each other. One in George’s Square and one in St. Enoch’s square. Both had similar items, but were absolutely beautiful!

For our final day and night, we headed back to charming Edinburgh for another day and night before our flight. What an adventure! We squeezed in a Christmas market in Edinburgh, some ice skating, and Edinburgh Castle as a grand finale to our trip.  Since it was Christmas Eve, we also popped into a Presbyterian church service.  Hearing the beautiful hymns in a Scottish brogue brought tears to my eyes. To experience this part of the world and celebrate Christmas is an incredible gift I will treasure for all of my days.

Next Blog Post: Bansko, Bulgaria and Thessaloniki, Greece. A NYE Party for the whole family and skiing to our hearts content!