As I mentioned in the comments of my castle post, tourist attractions in Edinburgh tend to fall into one of two categories: free, and rather overpriced. Travelers on a budget can focus in on the free sights, as there are plenty. I chose to do a lot of both, because I was in Edinburgh for a long time, and because the average price per attraction is still pretty low if you average the free stuff with the expensive stuff. This post covers my favorites of the free sights.
Europe
Sunday brunch in Berlin: Markthallen am Gleisdreieck
The best Sunday brunch I’ve had in a long time was at the Markthallen am Gleisdreieck. The combination of market stalls, international foods, and live swing music just made me happy.
Read moreSunday brunch in Berlin: Markthallen am Gleisdreieck
Edinburgh: the castle on the hill
One of the only things I knew about Edinburgh before I landed here was that it has a castle. And indeed it does, way up on a hill in the middle of town. I’d heard it can get quite crowded, being Edinburgh’s most popular tourist attraction, but lucky for us that’s not true on a cold, snowy day in January.
The lyrics are a wee bit different in Scotland
Other hit songs of the evening included “I can be your haggis, baby,” “Like a haggis (touched for the very first time),” and the very popular “(can’t read my, can’t read my, can’t a-read-a-my) Haggis Face.” Neeps and tatties* were mentioned in there somewhere, too. What’s your favorite song about haggis? —- * Neeps and … Read more
Greetings from snowy Edinburgh
New year, new place. We’re spending most of January in Scotland, and I couldn’t be more excited.
Faroe Islands: notes from Tórshavn
Every morning in the Faroe Islands we woke up to a stunning sunrise over Tórshavn, the capital city (if you can call a 3-traffic-light town a ‘city’). The view from the breakfast room at Hotel Føroyar is hard to beat.
Faroe Islands: the expedition
Hey look, a post by Scott!
As part of our trip to the Faroe Islands, we were treated to a one-day nature excursion run by CoastZone North Atlantic. When we got up that morning we had no idea what to expect. The first hint that it would be more than a simple hike came when one of our travel companions was told that her boots were inadequate and she was offered a pair to borrow.
Our head guide, Eyðun, had worked for several years as police officer in the Faroe Islands and looked the part.
Faroe Islands: the up waterfall
My apologies for the shaky, shaky video. It was pretty windy. So windy, in fact, that the waterfalls were falling up.
Lurching towards the Faroe Islands
“Don’t worry, this is normal,” said the Faroese fisherman sitting next to us. Even for seasoned flyers such as Scott and me, that didn’t seem like it could possibly be true. Turbulence is one thing, but when it’s happening during a rather steep descent towards an unseen island? I suddenly understood why we had been served so much free liquor on the relatively short flight.