Exploring the Castle

A couple of weeks ago my favourite exploring buddy was back in town and it was her birthday! Being the good friend that I am I let Frances decide what activities we would fill the day with. She settled for tea and a trip to the castle. We took the train into Edinburgh late morning and decided we needed to fuel up before the exploring could commence. We headed to The Elephant House which I had never been to before. I know its shocking that its the birthplace of Harry Potter and this was only my first trip.

After some deliberation I settled for a cappuccino and a salted caramel brownie. Oh my! it was so good! The setting of the cafe is super cute and just check out this view!

How amazing is that? However I'm not going to lie I wasn't blown away by the coffee. Its definitely worth a visit for the history and a trip to the bathroom.

If I find myself in the area and in need of a coffee then I'd definitely pop back in but I wouldn't go out of my way to head back there.

After a good initial catch up we decided it was time to make our way to the castle if we wanted to make it for the one o'clock gun. I hadn't been to the castle in years and Frances had never been so we were very excited to get in some serious exploring.

We made it with 15 minutes to spare, paid our tickets, which are slightly pricey at £16.50 but well worth it, and gathered with the tourists and school children to wait for the gun. How about this for a view while you're waiting?

Even though I was anticipating a massive bang, it was hard not to jump out of my skin when it did go off.

The crowds quickly dispersed and we begun our wanderings around the castle.

A lot of the exhibitions don't let you take photos so you will just have to go yourself and I highly recommend that you do, from the military museum to the great hall there is so much to see and if the history isn't enough to entice you then why not just go for these views:













'Oh look whiskey tasting'

yep that happened, it was just a little sip and I'm not really that keen on whiskey but is there really anything better to warm your insides on a cool day? In fact the one I tried was so good I even picked up a mini bottle to take home.


We spent a good couple of hours exploring the castle and I'm so glad we did, theres nothing quite like playing tourist in your own city.