Europe – The Nomad Logs

We regrettably only spent 4 days in Edinburgh however it was enough to qualify the beautiful city as one of our favourite, one that we could see ourselves living in for a while at least.

The birthplace of Harry Potter

There are so many factors that influence one’s experience and perception of a place: the people, the weather, the beauty, the food, the history… However, for Edinburgh, there is a pretty major factor which may influence you and certainly influenced us: Harry Potter. Not that we went to Edinburgh for that purpose, but more on the other amazing aspects later.

As most of you may know, J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter in her adopted hometown of Edinburgh and got inspired by the city to create her magical universe. Being a die-hard fan of the book series is quite irrelevant – even if you’ve just enjoyed reading the books like us, it is remarkable to see what might have been the seed of inspiration to such irrefutable genius and creativity. We saw the famous café from where Rowling supposedly wrote parts of the book on napkins – The Elephant House. We were told however that this was a gross exaggeration and that she did spend a lot of time in the café but she barely wrote anything in there. On the bright side, business has been very good for the owner ever since that story came out.

The location we found the most exciting and that had the strongest link to the book was the Greyfriars Kirkyard Cemetery, both scary-looking and beautiful at the same time. The graveyard is full of gruesome yet exciting stories but let’s focus on Harry Potter for a minute. As you arrive towards the back of the cemetery, you will see a beautiful view of the Castle of Edinburgh and the George Heriot’s School. J.K used to sit on a bench and dream up her story overlooking the castle and school and that’s apparently how Hogwarts came into existence. The school of wizardry is described to look like a Scottish castle and has students divided in 4 houses, just like the 17^th century-built George Heriot’s School. Near that magical bench, are a couple of gravestones with very familiar names such as Tom Riddle and William McGonagall.

Facts aside the whole city looks like it could have come straight out of the books, or rather the other way around which makes it a pretty magical place.

What are the best things to do in Edinburgh?

Walk around the city! Edinburgh is a relatively small city, and if you like walking and hiking, like we do, you’ll find that you will barely need to use public transport. In our perspective, the main reason for the city’s beauty is that it looks very old, in the best possible way. Having lived for almost 15 years in Paris, I know what a city with well conserved historical buildings and monuments looks like. However, Edinburgh is of another calibre as the architecture hasn’t really evolved over time but has kept the original Gothic and Middle-Age style. It might be slightly scary looking for some, but it transports you right back to what life in the 15^th century might have been like. We absolutely loved it! Some of the main areas we enjoyed exploring were

The climb to Arthur’s Seat isn’t too difficult and the magnificent views of Edinburgh beneath are well worth it. The walk isn’t too steep and the path is pretty straight forward, however it was the abrupt changing weather that made it tough for us to reach the top. It is quite a common occurrence to experience the 4 seasons in one day in Scotland, which makes it not ideal for hikes and outdoorsy activities. But bring it on Scotland, we aren’t afraid of your mood swings! We started out with beautiful sunny weather which made the cold winter more bearable. Half way up, the wind started blowing pretty hard but there were still no clouds on the horizon. We reached the last stop before the summit and were able to take pictures of Edinburgh. Out of nowhere came the rain. Just a drizzle at first and monsoon-like with heavy winds a few minutes later. I didn’t climb to the top for fear of slipping on the rocks and breaking the camera but Chinmay braved the ferocious storm. His conclusion: “nothing much to see up there, it’s just filled with grey clouds”. On our descent the mischievous sun came back, pretty happy with the prank it pulled on us, and we had a nice walk back. Our advice: be prepared for any type of weather and bring appropriate clothes (which we didn’t). You’ll have a great time climbing Arthur’s Seat!

Go to a comedy club! I love Scottish humour and grew up seeing Billy Connelly’s shows (not too sure it’s a good thing haha). We wanted to have a fun night out so we found The Stand Comedy Club, which was pretty cheap and gave us an evening to remember. It was such a cosy atmosphere and the comedians and the M.C were absolutely hilarious. We could not stop laughing, and thought this smallish club was by far the best comedy club we had been to. I still don’t understand how the Scottish comedians we saw that night aren’t super stars, they were much funnier than most famous stand-up comedians out there.

Calton Hill is easy to get to and has a panoramic view of the city – close enough that you can distinguish the landmarks and appreciate the beauty of it all. The hill is also included in the UNESCO’s world heritage as it has impressive monuments such as the National Monument of Scotland, the City Observatory House and Nelson’s Monument. I’d suggest going there at sunrise or sunset for the best panoramic pictures (and provided that the sun is out, it is The UK after all).

We were very pleasantly surprised to find vegetarian options just about anywhere we went. We even tried vegetarian Haggis, which turned out to be delicious. Every pub or gourmet pub in Edinburgh has mouth-watering menus with at least one vegetarian option in each section of the menu. We tried to stick to pubs to have a real Scottish experience and it turned out perfectly. In the middle of winter, all one can ask for is a hearty mash, a warm filling Haggis and a gigantic burger with chips or onion rings. We did try our luck with a vegan restaurant which, as usual, was grossly over priced and not tasty at all. I’m not sure why we keep trying because in our experience, vegan meals are just best made at home. Any recommendations? Have we missed the good ones?

A walking tour isn’t really an appealing way to visit a city, at least not to us. Edinburgh however, is THE place to do one. Firstly, the city is so small that in 3 hours the tour is over and you’ve basically covered most of it. Secondly, Edinburgh is filled with exciting and gruesome stories that makes the tour thoroughly enjoyable. From medical students buying corpses on the black market which were dug out of Greyfriars Kirkyard, to an “unlawfully” pregnant woman surviving public hangings (Maggie Dickson’s pub located in the old town was named after her) and the story behind the phrase “shit-faced drunk”, you will have your fair share of stories that explain the most important spots in Edinburgh. It’s quick, you pay the guide however much you think the tour was worth, and it’s the perfect way to go around the city.

Final thoughts on Edinburgh…

It’s a very lively old city that manages to cheer you up in the middle of winter and despite its dark gothic architecture Edinburgh has an undeniable charm about it. The people are always ready to help, it’s cheaper than other capitals cities (to name a few: London, London and London) and I think we would’ve had the time of our lives studying at university there.

The word Iceland and winter put together can sound pretty scary and intimidating, especially if you are like me and don’t do well in the cold. This post should hopefully put your fears to rest.

Why is Iceland in winter the most beautiful place you will ever see?

Our experience was such that every corner of this country was breathtaking, and it was excruciatingly hard for us to not stop every 2 minutes to take pictures. There was something about the colours of winter which gave the whole scenery a surreal vibe. It felt like we were on a different planet. Life and nature were fighting to survive the cold and pierce through the snow. It was like seeing nature battling itself in an apocalyptic setting whilst us humans, for once, were mere quiet observers at the mercy of mother Earth. A beautifully humbling experience.

Yes, it was extremely cold and at times I had trouble speaking properly because my lips were frozen, but at the end of the day it didn’t matter one bit. The majestic sights in front of us were overwhelming and believe me, you endure the cold willingly.

One of our main goals before leaving for Iceland, undoubtedly, was to catch a glimpse of the northern lights, and boy did we try! Unfortunately cloud cover got the best of us and even though we tracked the best spots to witness the lights (which you can figure out easily using online maps) and waited patiently, they evaded us. But again, at the end of our trip we had no regret. The northern lights would have been a bonus, but Iceland gave us so much more.

From a logistics point of view, renting a car and roaming around is probably the best thing to do. We were able to take our own time and stop whenever we wanted to take pictures. The roads are very well maintained and despite being caught in a snow storm towards the end of our stay (which was actually pretty cool), we found it very safe, manageable and convenient.

What are the best things to do in Iceland?

Do not miss out on visiting an ice cave near the Jökulsárlón glacier, you won’t get to do it in summer. You cannot access these caves on your own, you have to book a tour through an agency (there are a handful of them but we used Guide to Iceland). Our guide, who was a very likeable, giant bearded Icelandic man, picked us up at the Jökulsárlón glacier (a lake with a plethora of beautiful crystal-blue icebergs floating on it) and drove us through what looked like a barren alien planet. Once we reached the cave, we had roughly an hour to enjoy the surreal experience of basking in the cave’s blue glow as sunlight filtered through the layers of glacier ice overhead.

We also highly recommend checking out the numerous wonderful waterfalls (or foss in Icelandic) which Iceland has to offer. The 3 at the top of our list are: Skógafoss, Seljalandsfoss and Gullfoss (in order of preference). Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss are located off Iceland’s ring road (which goes around the island) and are about an hour and a half to 2 hours from Reykjavik. Each of them have their own unique characteristics. The one we enjoyed the most was Skogafoss which also has a set of stairs to climb to the top of the waterfall and from there, the view is spectacular. If you want to get close to the falls, I’d suggest wearing a waterproof jacket and be prepared to cover your cameras/phones.

Gullfoss is located on the Golden Circle, which is a smaller route near Reykjavik loaded with beautiful spots to check out. Unlike most of the other waterfalls, Gullfoss descends through a valley and hence it is a much wider and is viewed from above. There are designated paths, which aren’t ice proof (I’d suggest investing in a good pair of hiking shoes with good traction, you will need it everywhere in Iceland) and which led us to several viewpoints we could choose from. The falls were ferocious but magnificent. The speed and power at which the water came down created this loud noise echoing through the valley that was both threatening and peaceful. We stood there, thinking that we wouldn’t stand a chance against the force of this beautiful phenomena.

If you are driving through the Golden Circle, you should definitely go to our next pick. The Geysir hot spring area is a geothermal field where geysers can explode up to 30 meters high and boiling mud pits let out a huge amount of vapor which gives the whole area a mysterious and fantastical look. A lot of people complain about the strong rotten egg smell created by the sulphur but we were already used to it because the tap water in Reykjavik has the same eggy smell. We weren’t too fussed about it and quickly got used to showering with stinky water (which by the way, is very good for your skin). Eggs aside, the place is quite impressive and we were fascinated by the colour combo of the red moist earth and coral blue water pits. We had to wait a bit to see the massive explosion of water but it was a spectacular sight, definitely worth it and everyone around us was clapping and cheering.

The Reynisfjara black sand beach is close to Vik, a village on the southern coast of Iceland. This vast and beautiful beach is literally the only spot on the island where our mobile reception became feeble (the phone reception is on point in Iceland, we had full coverage even in the most remote locations). Reynisfjara is the most spectacular lava beach we’ve seen so far. The jet-black pebbles covering it are surprisingly big and not at all sand like, the basalt columns rise in perfect geometrical harmony to form a gigantic church organ and the towering cliffs on each side of the beach extend to the Atlantic welcoming the ocean in their abode. To top it all, we timed our arrival perfectly and were treated to a breathtaking sunset. We came back late at night to try our luck with a black sand beach and aurora borealis combination but the Icelandic gods were probably asleep and we went back to our hotel empty-handed.

Going to a geothermal lagoon in Iceland will be your only chance to get your beachwear out in sub-zero temperatures. The island is filled with warm lagoons and most of them are quite small, but the biggest, the Blue Lagoon, is not too far south of the capital so given our tight schedule it seemed like the best option. The trouble is that it’s not cheap and most of the time quite crowded however if you need to splurge on something in Iceland, you won’t be disappointed with the popular lagoon. The spa lends you a swimsuit if you’ve forgotten it (which I did) and you get a complimentary drink at the lagoon bar as well as special mud masks you can try on while enjoying the warm water. The water is of a beautiful whitish blue, and surprise, surprise… it smells of rotten eggs! We were both in heaven in the warm water and felt our poor muscles, which were tense from days of cold weather, relaxing and healing. No wonder Scandinavian and Icelandic culture encourages the use of saunas on a regular basis, we found that our bodies really needed the moist heat to recover and revitalise ourselves.

Finally, we recommend spending a day in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. We say a day, because it’s a fairly small city and you would honestly be out of things to do or see on the second day. The words that come to mind to describe it are cute and colourful. We saw many little houses painted in bright colours and the streets were filled with murals and urban art. There are very few tall buildings in Reykjavik so the beautiful Hallgrimskirja really stands out. This tall and modern church is located at the heart of the city (many call it a cathedral but we were told that it wasn’t the case). The streets are pretty but very touristic, although we spotted lots of cool hipsterish bars and restaurants. However, as vegetarians, we were pretty disappointed with the food. It was difficult to find something nice and decently priced (Iceland is quite expensive) which didn’t involve rye bread and sliced cheese. On several occasions we opted for cheap *cough cough* supermarket sandwiches to sustain us through our travels. If you enjoy fish (fermented mostly) and meat, you will love the food scene in the capital. Other attractions include the Harpa, Reykjavik’s modern concert Hall, beautiful views of the shore and nice museums. We were staying in a residential area, which we found to be much better as we saw how the locals lived.

Final thoughts on Iceland…

Iceland is a growing island, still fully alive with a mind and spirit of its own. For us, the purpose of travelling is to seek moments which give you a reality check and remind you that earth and nature are the boss and that we must learn how to tune in with their rhythm to truly appreciate the power of it all. When we do, we are rewarded with beauty and experiences beyond words. We want to eventually go back during summer to see Iceland in all its green glory, but we doubt that it would ever top our amazing winter escapade.

If you have any questions or queries about Iceland, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact us and we’ll try to help as much as we can.

Category: Europe

Edinburgh: Hogwarts, Haggis and History

Iceland: a winter wonderland