I highly recommend the Sandeman's 3 hour walking tour of Edinburgh. Our guide Andy was a fast-talking, enthusiatic Scottish lad who seemed to know all the old and new interesting tid-bits of the city. The tour started up The Royal Mile of course but frequently ducked into the dim, narrow closes. He told us the spirit crushing truth that the famous Greyfriar's Bobby, a dog that visited his master's grave everyday for 14 years, was probably bribed to the spot by food by the local friar to increase tourism in the area. Nevertheless his statue is the most photographed spot in Edinburgh.
Me and a few of the tour group followed Andy to the 1780 pub for haggis. I was rather apprehensive to try minced sheep organs but whenn the dish came out, resembling a sheppard's pie, covered in whisky sauce, it was really nice! Haggis has a surprisingly sweet taste, like carmelised onions, mixed with meat, oats and mashed potato. The company was pretty good too; a couple from South Africa talked about how bribes are a way of life and how once when their house was getting robbed, they called the police who asked them what the names of the robbers were. Maybe I'll drag someone along with me if I travel to South Africa in the future.
That night I met up with Kieron and Emma at the pub where I tasted my first whisky at the ripe age of fifteen. Scots are a bad influence on me. Whisky, translated in Gaelic means the water of life, and is highly regarded in Edinburgh. Get someone to teach you how to drink it because my first swig was a shocker. The pubs are fairly nice on the Royal Mile if you don't mind the bagpipe music coming from the hundreds of souvenir shops nearby.
