… and smile!

Yes, you’ve guessed it: the Rowes have spent a long weekend in beautiful Edinburgh – a wonderful city with a unique charm.

We stayed on Queen Street and visited the Old Town (starting with a most memorable walking tour, thanks Max), Leith (home to the Royal Yacht Britannia), the Royal Botanic Garden, Holyrood, Dean Village and the Scottish National Gallery… We were particularly impressed – you won’t be surprised to hear – with the culinary offerings. As someone local told Trota, perhaps a little provocatively, “Provided that you stay away from the Royal Mile you’ll always get good food in Edinburgh”.

Given more time we would have tried other places too, but our favourite restaurants were Chez Jules (French), the dogs (traditional Scottish) and Zest (Indian cuisine), together with the Glass & Thompson cafe. We delighted in Scottish salmon, mussels, lobster, terrines, onion soup, coq au vin, a to-die-for jumbo king prawn Dhansak with that first sip of chilled Kingfisher, a delicious skirlie wellington (Trota’s face when she realised there was no beef in it was priceless, though), polenta and lime sponge, pumpkin cake and crème brûlée…not all in one sitting of course, though Trota came close to it.

Strongly recommended – perhaps in the summer if you’re someone who doesn’t do cold weather very well – but Edinburgh is worth a visit any time.

And on a serious note: like most cities, Edinburgh has a homelessness problem – but it is particularly raw and bitter there on the streets during the winter. This weekend there is a fundraising charity sleep-out event, please support the cause if you can.