We checked in to the massive SYHA Edinburgh. The Scottish Youth Hostel Association works hand in hand with Hostelling International and runs hostels all over Scotland. We grabbed a pint and a quick bite at a restaurant down the road and returned to the hostel around ten o’clock that night. To our surprise, the sun was still shining in the sky. After resisting the temptation to grab another drink we headed to bed knowing the alarm would go off early the next morning so we could explore this new destination.

After breakfast and much debate, we decided to do something incredibly touristy. We just couldn’t resist the urge to hop on one of the old-school double-decker buses and tour around the city. It started in front of Waverly Station before passing the world’s tallest shrine honoring a writer. The Sir Walter Scott Monument is a beautiful structure that soars high into the sky. People can climb the 287 steps to the top and enjoy sweeping panoramic views of Edinburgh. The bus then took us into the old section of the city and our guide continued her lesson in Edinburgh history. She let us know when the bus was passing the chapel where the famous novelist and cougar Agatha Christie had married a much younger man before pointing out the University of Edinburgh School of Medicine where Charles Darwin and Arthur Conan Doyle had studied. It is believed Doyle based the character of Sherlock Holmes on one of his professors. We then drove past a small side street where the man, the myth and the legend – Sir Sean Connery – had once polished coffins as a young man living in poverty.

As educational as the bus tour was we decided to hop off and sightsee by foot. Even though we had dropped a pretty pricey seventeen pounds for the bus tour, we knew we could hop back on later in the day and continue on to get the best bang for our quid. We wandered up and down Victoria Street before heading down George IV Bridge and over to Chambers Street. A man dressed in traditional Scottish garb was playing the bagpipe outside St. Giles Church and a crowd of tourists had gathered round to snap photos and toss coins into his open case.

At about three in the afternoon we boarded bus 26 and headed just outside of Edinburgh to the small waterside town of Portobello. It is there where we met Joe, the proprietor of the famous Findlay’s on Portobello High Street. At Findlay’s you will find award winning haggis and black pudding, along with a wide array of other meats. Joe was kind enough to bring us down into the kitchen and show us the ropes in the haggis making business. Made from the liver, lungs, heart, ribs and fat of a sheep, along with oatmeal and secret spices, haggis sounds and looks awful but according to both Mehdy and Louis, and a majority of the Scottish population (and pretty much everyone else aside from vegetarians like me), it is exceptionally scrumptious. In case you weren’t completely grossed out yet, the ingredients are then stuffed into the sheep’s intestine before being dropped in boiling water to simmer for an hour to finish off the process. Luckily for all the veggies out there they make a meat-free haggis as well with different vegetables taking the place of the sheep organs.  We thanked Joe and his friendly and helpful staff for welcoming us into his shop and giving us a look into the world of haggis.

We cruised around Portobello for a bit before making our way into Edinburgh to get some work done and have a bite. We sipped on pints as we logged videos and caught up on some production work. Due to our crazy production schedule, we were only staying two nights in Edinburgh before heading west to Glasgow and then up to the highlands. Luckily we get to finish the Scotland trip with two more nights in Edinburgh because the city is enchanting and two nights and a long day just isn’t enough time.