stardust☾

Castles, ghosts, monsters, winding staircases that lead to nowhere…welcome to my mini-guide to one of my favorite cities in the world: Edinburgh.

Eat – Makar’s Gourmet Mash Bar

This is where we went after our 12-hour bus tour (more on that below). It was 9pm, the sun was still shining, and they let us eat even though they were closing in 15 minutes. I got the braised ox cheek and cheddar chive mash. What I loved about it was that it took traditional Scottish cuisine and brought it into the 21st century. And who doesn’t love mashed potatoes and braised meat??

Makar’s Gourmet Mash Bar

9 N Bank St, 

Edinburgh EH1 2LP, UK

See – The National Museum of Scotland

This museum is so huge, we only saw two floors and it was chockfull of not only Scottish history, but scientific achievements, taxidermy, fashion, you name it. Best of all it’s FREE. 

National Museum of Scotland

Chambers Street,

Edinburgh,

EH1 1JF

Explore – the Highlands

The Highlands are pretty much the only place in the world that I think could actually have magic. There are forests so dense that you can’t see the trees in the distance. Clouded mountaintops and waterfalls everywhere you look. The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn, and by god, can’t you just picture them frolicking up in the mountains?

We took a 12hr tour called the Ness Bus, which I would definitely recommend because you basically get to see the entire country in one day. The first stop was a whiskey distillery and since we went to one the day before, we decided to take the tour guide's advice and follow a random path through the woods to FREAKING WINTERFELL. That's Winterfell in the pic above. No joke. Scotland is the best.

One last pic of Glen Coe because it is is awesome: