Our plan for today included a visit to Edinburgh Castle and St Giles Cathedral followed by some general walking around in the Old Town area. Weather was forecast to be pretty rainy through the day, so we had to be well-equipped with rain gear.
For breakfast, we went to a new place called Lovecrumbs. We were originally thinking of going to a different place but we realized at the last moment that they were closed that day. We had passed by this Lovecrumbs earlier but we had assumed that there was nothing vegan on their menu. We were so wrong! They had quite a lot of options and we chose to have slices of bread with vegan butter and jam plus....a cinnamon roll! I have a thing for cinnamon rolls and I plan to have one every day in Scotland till I get sick of it! The bread was also so fresh and chewy on the outside but so soft/fluffy in the middle.
Energized, we walked to Edinburgh Castle and reached there at around 11:20am. There was a moderately long line but by the time we reached the ticket checking point, we were told that we were too early and that we should come back around noon. So, we turned back and went to some gift shop to buy some souvenirs. Then, we walked around that area for about 15-20 min, watched some bagpipers make some really sweet music and then made our way back to the line. This time, we reached the front of the queue at exactly noon, so the girl let us through. By this time, it was raining on and off, as predicted.
We made our way to the start point of our 30-min long guided tour. After that, we were free to roam around the castle grounds on our own, exploring different areas in depth, based on our interests. Our guide was Sam and he gave us headsets through which we could hear him as he walked around, explaining the history of the castle, the stories behind it and the various places of interest in the castle grounds.
After the guided tour, we stuck around the castle area for another couple of hours and explored different parts. We rented another pair of multimedia headsets that would explain each part of the castle in detail. But, we hardly ended up using it. It's difficult to keep track of all the names of the kings and queens and princes and the people around them, especially if the names are all repeated with a roman numeral attached to the end (James 1 thru' James VI, for example)! Again, by this time our feet/hips/ankles were all hurting but we decided to continue anyway after taking some rest.
We went to St Giles Cathedral which was a short 5-min walk from the castle. We went inside and admired the architecture and the sheer size of the inside. There was a choir group led by a young conductor and they were playing contemporary songs instead of church choirs! We heard them play Star Wars and the James Bond movie theme song and a few more. Then, we headed out and started walking along the Royal Mile and exploring small side streets (called Closes) that branched off of it. The entrance to these closes would be via an arch between two buildings. Some of the closes would wind down steeply to another street and you would get some really nice views of the city through the arch.
Eventually, we took a turn at a major intersection on to another street and then took a small lane (more like a series of steps) to some other random street. At this time, we were just wandering around without a specific aim but just trying to explore the Old Town. We walked into some random museum and saw the paintings and artwork on one of their floors before heading back out. By this time, we were beginning to feel hungry and I'd already set my sights on a plant-based Mexican restaurant called Antojitos. It was a 20 min walk but we still worked up the determination to walk there. The weather was looking extremely threatening with dark clouds hanging low overhead.
We reached the place where Google Maps said that Antojitos was but all we saw was a restaurant with a different name, so we thought Google Maps got it wrong. At this time, the rain started coming down in sheets. I checked Google Maps once more and got the impression that Antojitos was across the road in an outdoor food court type of area. We crossed the road in the rain and quickly looked around but we couldn't see the restaurant. We sought some shelter near a pub and asked the guy working there if he knew where Antojitos was. He asked to look at my Google Maps and then pointed back across the road to a different place. So, we put on our raincoats and made our way back across the road but we still couldn't find the restaurant in the place where he had pointed us. It was raining so hard that I couldn't even read what Google Maps was showing, so we decided to look for some shelter and take a closer look. Then, it struck me that Antojitos was possibly inside some other restaurant. I'm not sure what the deal was between those two restaurants (maybe Antojitos recently moved in there and had not yet removed the old signboard?). Anyway, sure enough, when we went back to the place that Google Maps had indicated in the first place, we realized that there's a small signboard that said 'Antojitos". So, we went inside but there was absolutely no empty table. Also, because it was raining so heavily, nobody was in a hurry to finish eating and go back out in the rain, so it was unlikely that we would get a table any time soon.
Then, Sahana made the bold move to ask a couple seated at a 4-seater table if they would be OK with sharing their table with us. They were nice enough to accommodate us, so we took our seats. The waitress was a bit confused about how billing would work and also wasn't sure if the other couple was OK with us sitting at their table. After she was reassured by them, she took our orders. We ordered a plate with three tacos with some toppings and also tostada with refried beans and some accompaniments. Everything was SO good!
By the time we finished dinner, the rain had eased up, so we headed out and started walking towards an ice cream place that was rated highly on Happy Cow for vegan options. There was a long line even in that weather but it moved quite quickly. However, after entering the place, we realized that both the non-dairy flavors were actually sorbets. Anyway, we got cups with one scoop of each flavor (black currant and lime-prickly pear-ginger) and walked back to the hotel for some well-earned rest.
That's when I realized that I'd forgotten to pack one of my important prescription meds from the US. We decided to cancel our plans to do some sightseeing early the next morning and instead go to a pharmacy to get an emergency 1-week supply. I think we need to work on making our checklist more detailed for future trips!
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