A lovely long weekend in Edinburgh

Remember how I told you about my ridiculously amazing stay at the Balmoral a few posts back? Well, I failed to reveal why I was in Edinburgh in the first place.

The reason was that my dear, dear old friend Emily has got engaged, and exciting news like that is definitely worth a trip up to Edinburgh to see her, congratulate the happy couple and celebrate.

Can we all say congrats to Em, please!

Woo! I'm so excited. And yay for rosé in the sun.

And as it tied in with the Bank Holiday weekend and I could spend a couple of days exploring Scotland's capital city, it made the 10 hours of train travel from London and back much less painful.

I was exceptionally lucky with the weather - the sun was shining brightly which was highly conducive to ambling the beautiful and extremely insta-worthy streets of the city. Having been to Edinburgh a few times, I wasn't too fussed about ticking off the main tourist sights, but let me take you on a little tour with me anyway...

Edinburgh Castle

I wandered up and down the hilly-but-oh-so-pretty streets of the old town...

Princes Street gardens were unsurprisingly a popular spot...

...but there was a bit more space to stretch out on the Meadows

It was the perfect location for a lazy Sunday afternoon picnic.

Having partied on Saturday night in a very Scottish fashion (well, we did have an engagement to celebrate after all), Sunday evening was a more chilled affair involving a sunny stroll through the beautiful Georgian new town (well, newer than the old town), wine and a wonderful dinner.

We hadn't made a reservation for dinner anywhere, but upon finding ourselves in the charming area of Stockbridge, we stumbled upon a great place called Hamilton's and it ended up being ideal.

Em and I both went for the halloumi, courgette and kale fritters and they were in-SANE-ly good.

The lighting was terrible and my picture does not do them justice so you're just going to have to take my word for it. I also recommend sweet potato fries on the side because, well, sweet potato fries. Always and forever.

I really love Edinburgh. It is a fantastic city. And although I wouldn't change my student years in Bristol for anything, I think I'd have really enjoyed studying in Edinburgh. In a way, I think there's a similar charm to them both.

I'm so glad I made the effort (and spent the ludicrously expensive £90 for the trains - I mean srsly National Rail, that was with a railcard and booked way in advance) - spending a whole weekend with one of my bestest gals AND getting to do so in Edinburgh was too much fun. You should do it.

SaveSave