In December we got away for a few days to Scotland, where I saw Edinburgh and got a taste of Christmas there. As usual, a report full of photos. Have a look :)[hr]Poles come home from Britain for Christmas in droves, and here we did the exact opposite and went there as tourists. I had never been to Britain before, so plenty of things surprised me.
From Poland to Edinburgh, how and for how much?
Direct flights to Edinburgh are very expensive, so we decided to work around it. We went via Glasgow, and the flight from Katowice cost less than 100 PLN return. A price that low comes from a Wizzair Discount Club membership, which gives a discount on every flight. The tickets were also bought a few months before the trip, which mattered just as much.
Glasgow is about 75km from Edinburgh, so the trip needed planning. First from the airport to the center of Glasgow by local bus, about 4.5 pounds. Then, for a similar price, a special bus (Megabus.com) from Glasgow to Edinburgh, with the booking made two months earlier, which saved a few pounds, because the tickets came from the first batch. The total cost there and back was about 200 PLN, which looks like a very good price.
Travel time one way: 5.5 hours, made up of 1H (Katowice airport) + 2.5H (flight) + 30min (Glasgow Buchanan Street) + 1.5H (bus to Edinburgh).
So where is the Christmas mood?
I am leaving out the ordinary sightseeing, the famous places, because that gets its own post. Let us take the Christmas side, the one I had heard so much about. You do not have to look far. In the center Christmas greets you on its own.
Only the weather did not help. No snow and about 10 degrees felt more like autumn. In exchange it was warm enough to walk around the city freely, and there was no wind, which apparently can be a real problem in Edinburgh.
For the holidays a Christmas village had been built outdoors, with rows of red huts full of Christmas things, and a lot of other attractions. There is a website where you can check what is on. “Edinburgh’s Christmas” 
Tourists had Christmas carousels and a big wheel, at around 8-10 pounds. Same with the ice rink, where skate hire and skating came to about 10-13 pounds. Edinburgh had two of these Christmas markets, a few hundred meters apart, and the main difference was the rink: a classic one shaped like a pitch, or a round one. 
Inside you could eat a German sausage, have a beer, or something stronger to warm up. Native Scots were making the most of it. You could see the prices were matched perfectly to their wallets.
The whole thing looked pleasant enough and made a good impression, and still something was missing for me. 
Late in the evening, once it got dark, the market came alive. Lights, music and crowds of people. That was when the mood I could not feel during the day finally showed up.
The biggest impression, oddly enough, came from a building on “George Street”, where the people of Edinburgh partied at night. 
That is about all of it, and I will admit I had expected something more spectacular myself. The next post will be full of much better photos, because the weather held up far better during the sightseeing, and the sun even came out at times. Here is one of them to whet your appetite :) 
If you have questions, if you want to know something, go ahead and ask. I will gladly answer and share what I saw :)
