TRAVEL

The Gothic and Beautifully Creepy City of Edinburgh

Did we step off the train into a movie set?

We didn’t know what to expect when we stepped out of Waverly Place in Edinburgh after a horrible train ride of sitting on the floor due to the rail strikes.

As we carried our bags up several flights of stairs because the escalator was broken, we were out of breath and had a minute to take in our surroundings.

To our right was a creepy, black, gothic-looking structure.

“Whoa, what is that?!” It looked like some kind of medieval church.

Entranced as we walked to our Airbnb, we stumbled upon more dark architecture. The buildings are incredible in Edinburgh and look like something out of a gothic movie.

As we trekked along, little did we know that our half-mile walk would be mostly stairs. We were lugging around our heavy bags, backpacks, and our limbs were tired from the previous days of walking.

Even though the weather was cool, we show up at the Airbnb out of breath and sweaty. Note to self: take a taxi back to the train station.

After we check in with our host, we notice the view of Edinburgh Castle from our window. Another example of the incredible architecture was just a peek out of the window.

Resting for a bit is a must after the hard work of lugging suitcases up and down flights of stairs. I kid you not, we climbed a mountain of stairs with bags.

We felt pretty badass. Maybe we should be in a movie.

When we felt ready to climb more stairs and hills because the city of Edinburgh can get steep, we set out to check out “The Grassmarket”, which was a straight shot from our place.

We settle upon the smallest pub, The Wee Pub, and laugh when we get inside because it’s not that small. My husband must get a pint at a pub, that was a must on his list.

My 18-year-old daughter thinks she’d be cool if she had a beer with her dad.

Here I am, the sober mom, that kind of doesn’t give a shit anymore. It’s her choice. If she hasn’t paid attention to what it can do to you by now, then she’ll just need to find out on her own.

I hope a villain doesn’t emerge, wait are we in a movie yet?

This can’t be real. I ordered a 0.0% Heinekin that comes lukewarm but I feel like I have to drink it anyway. Warm alcohol-free beer, delicious.

The movie script keeps expanding and I can’t seem to stop it.

My daughter orders a half pint because I can tell she really doesn’t want to drink a beer, but it makes us cool, right?

She had a Corona during the summer of 2020 and she hated it. Ironic, yeah?

Anyhow, we get our beers, mine losing its cool by the second, our fried appetizers, and settle into a conversation about what we should do for dinner and tomorrow.

“We must go look at that creepy building we saw when we first arrived!” I agreed and we decided to hit up Edinburgh Castle afterward.

Checking out the rest of the town that afternoon, we stumbled on some bizarre sites! A butcher is mangling a dead charred pig for the amusement of others. My husband gets a kick out of this.

I can’t understand how you’d eat a pig after seeing that.

There are nooks and crannies all over this infamous street with ornate architecture filled with dragons and statues.

So many movies flash through my mind as I see different parts of the city.

Whoa, we are shocked when this medieval church comes out of nowhere. The clouds lift a bit to showcase its incredibly dark beauty.

I can appreciate something that is beautifully creepy. And, albeit a church which I could think of many metaphors for right now, but I’ll keep those to myself.

It doesn’t get dark in this city until the sun sets around 10 pm, which is spooky in itself for me when I am like a kid in a candy store when we set the clocks back and it’s dark at 5:30 pm.

Yes, I am a weirdo and obviously a serious morning person. The fact that this city only gets 7 hours of somewhat dark skies, even with all the clouds and rain, is mystifying.

Exhaustion set in and we decide to just order takeout for dinner, wishing that we could get ice cream but at 6:30 all the ice cream shops were closed.

Come on United Kingdom! What is it with all of the dessert places closing before the restaurants do? I love it here but if I moved, I guess I’d only get to eat ice cream at home!

The following morning, we are up and ready to hit the sights bright and early. Something with this time change and jet lag, and suddenly all of my family are morning people.

Is this a dream or a movie?

We arrive at Edinburgh Castle, even though the tickets were sold out online because I thought we might get lucky. At the entrance, it states that they are sold out today.

My husband decides to check on his phone anyway, and low and behold, we scored 4 tickets.

It must be some sort of creep show!

We head straight for the prison cells underneath the castle. We might as well keep this show going. The Americans, French, and Spanish prisoners are all kept separate.

The Americans got slim pickings there. Cots hung from the ceiling and we wondered how the hell they even got in them to sleep.

If you get spooked, you might want to skip the prisons. We found it interesting and strange, too.

After an hour of checking out the castle, we realized we hadn’t hit up the creepy building from the day before but were too tired.

Why couldn’t we see it from the views from the castle? We had 360-degree views from all the areas of the castle.

Hmmm….

We’ll find it later.

We needed some detective fuel because the plot kept thickening. I stumbled upon a healthy eatery, which is harder to come by in the UK, so we’ve found.

I beg and plead with the family and my daughters obliged when they notice they can order an acai bowl. I am transported back to reality for a hot second.

We devour our delicious, healthy food and my daughter is drawn to some cat ears down the street. Yeah, just random cat ears sticking out from a store.

A cat cafe, the answer to her wildest dreams. My husband and other daughter are allergic, and we found that out the hard way with our cat we had 10 years ago, so her request for a cat has consistently been denied.

The cat cafe replaces our search for the gothic building again, oh well… I am not sure what would have happened if we did indeed find the structure.

We pass the church that is dark, like that gothic building, on our way to the train station a few days later.

It is indeed that gothic building that is in a completely different spot. How did this happen?

It must be a movie.

Thank you, Edinburgh, for a tantalizing time full of adventure. It’s a city that kept us guessing and intrigued.

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Thanks for reading!

Much love, Michele