The steep hills and streets of Edinburgh must exist to balance out all the drinking they do. Down the bottom of the Royal Mile, near Holyrood House and the ghastly Parliament Building, is Arthur's Seat. From street view, it's nothing impressive. A trail of people can be seen walking up the face of hill and disappearing around the side. There's a map at the start which informed me that Arthur's Seat, the highest peak, is somewhere in the middle of the dormant volcano. It was to be the only map along the entire walk. I was told by some travellers in my hostel that it takes 45 minutes to reach Arthur's Seat and get back again. However lack of maps or signs and paths converging whenever they wanted made my walk longer and more confusing. It took me 3 hours to reach the peak. My route, whatever it was, gave me wonderful views out over Edinburgh. Scrambling up to the peak itself is very rocky and only a few people can fit at the one time. Arthur's Seat is 250 metres above sea level.
The walk back up the Royal Mile to my hostel is painful after visiting Arthur's. Locals walk around the old town like it's nothing. The new town is much more flat and comprehensible however it doesn't have the old town's charm. Edinburgh is a huge city, the fourth biggest in the UK, and if they could remove the bagpipe buskers and tacky souvenir shops, I could amuse myself here for weeks.
