Edinburgh is one of my two absolute favourite cities – not counting New York and London, of course, which I consider so singular that they are in a category of their own and cannot be even compared with “regular” cities. But among those, Edinburgh is definitely in a tie with one other at the top of my personal rating. That other city is Stockholm, which for many years reigned supreme in my rankings of the places I had visited. Then I went to Edinburgh, and came back with the conviction that Stockholm was now number 2. But, since Stockholm was still one of my favorite places, soon after Edinburgh I visited there again. It was March, and it was so cold that I really didn’t enjoy my time there as I usually do. And I came home with a virus to boot. Just a common cold, nothing too fancy, but it was so strong that I was very sick for a whole month. I don’t think I ever been so sick in my life! Well, I got the message, you don’t have to tell me twice, and now Stockholm is officially reinstated as my most favourite place. But I cannot downgrade Edinburgh either – it being such a unique place, with so much character – so now, it’s a tie!
Bottom line is – if you ever end up on the island of Great Britain, your fist destination will be, definitely, London. But for the next one I strongly suggest Edinburgh. It’s just 4.5 hours by train from London, and the city is not huge, perfectly manageable in a couple of days. Unless you want to take a tour of Highlands, or go and visit some whisky distilleries, then it will take a bit longer. I did both, and one day I will upload these pictures too. But for now, let’s concentrate on Edinburgh. Especially that it’s such a photogenic place, it makes you want to take several pics of every street and almost every building. Which I did. As a result, we have quite a bit of material to get through now, so, let’s get on with it.