EDINBURGH AT CHRISTMAS

I realise that this is in the wrong order, but I still wanted to post it anyway!
My sister, Abby, and I decided to take a short sibling holiday and head to Edinburgh just before Christmas. If you've not been to Edinburgh before, then I would strongly recommend going around Christmas. It's absolutely beautiful at that time of year and the Christmas markets are amazing. We rented a beautiful little Airbnb in a small mews in Edinburgh new town (about 10 minutes walk from the main shopping street, Princes Street) and a car for to-ing and fro-ing.

Day one - Friday
We arrived late on Friday night and went straight to bed in preparation for our long weekend ahead of us!

Day two - Saturday
The next morning we woke up early and donned our walking gear. We hopped in the car and headed to the most famous hiking spot in Edinburgh - Arthur's Seat. It's a much shorter hike than it looks - maybe about 30 minutes to get to the top and back down again (if you're walking at a relatively quick pace). Once at the top, you get a fantastic view of Edinburgh and the beautiful old architecture. Just a shame that it was bloody freezing.

Once back down, we ventured over to Dynamic Earth to have a little explore as it is right next to the base of Arthur's Seat. It's a cool and interactive science museum explaining the history of everything. A little plus is that Benedict Cumberbatch narrates an amazing film about volcanoes at the end (although I'll admit that I fell asleep because it was incredibly cosy).
After that, we spent the day shopping before finally getting ready to go out for the night.
Firstly, we went to the Dome for cocktails - which is fucking amazing (pardon my Scottish!) but seriously, this place blew my mind. The cocktails were delicious and the place was buzzing.

Shortly after, we headed to the club underneath the Dome called Why Not. Well...let's just say that it wouldn't have been my first choice! The place was full to the brim with drunk students (a lot of which were underage) and older "gentlemen" watching from the sidelines. I can completely understand the appeal if you're in that age group, but unfortunately, I think I've reached the age where I'd much prefer a quiet pub. We didn't stay for too long before we eventually walked home!

Day three - Sunday
Another day, another mountain! This time it was the Pentland hills located just outside Edinburgh city. This was a trickier and steeper climb, made more difficult by a lone ram that had its eye on us. The view from the top made it all worthwhile though.

We spent the rest of the day shopping, eating, and relaxing before again heading out to explore the Christmas markets at night. We grabbed a gluhwein each and nibbled our way through the samples on each stand. This is where we discovered O'Donnells Moonshine. Hot dayum, this stuff is good! So good that we bought a bottle each when we got back to London. The tough nut flavour tastes exactly like a fererro rocher.

Before heading home to bed, we ended our night with a nice little nightcap in our local pub The Wally Dug (not before we got caught in the rain though!)

Day four - Monday (final day)
For our final day, we packed our bags, checked out of our airbnb, and loaded the car. We then spent the entire day shopping. We had to buy another suitcase just to accommodate all of our new purchases!
When we were all shopped out, we filled the car with our shopping and petrol and headed to the airport where we spent the last of our money and waited for our delayed plane.

All in all, we had an amazing trip together (or at least I did. I can't speak for Abby!) and we plan on doing it again and more often. There were so many things that we wanted to do but didn't get round to doing. Time to plan our next trip!
Did you go anywhere around Christmas?