After our day of travel, we make sure to sleep in and take it slow in the morning. Our host had some fruit and Scottish shortbread cookies for us on the dining table, so kids ate those for breakfast since we hadn’t been to the grocery store yet. We get ready for the day and walk from our Airbnb to the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace to begin our hike up Arthur’s Seat. There are so many people out and we realize there is a special event going on – Fringe! The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts and media festival and we randomly happened to be here while it is going on! We hike up to the summit of Arthur’s Seat and the boys are absolutely incredible! It was a steep hike and the boys hiked every step like a champ! We didn’t see very many other 3 year olds hiking to the top like H did! The summit of Arthur’s Seat was incredibly windy but the views of Edinburgh were absolutely amazing! The boys said they thought they were going to be blown away from the wind! We hiked off the summit and found a nice spot to sit and enjoy water and a snack and take in the views. The boys wanted to look at a map so they could tell which way towards America from the summit. After a nice break we started our hike back down Arthur’s Seat. The kids were so great and it was such a fun way to start our trip to Scotland! By now we were famished and C had his heart set on tasting a “donut burger” a friend from church in Bath, England had recommended. So from Arthur’s Seat we walked back to Holyrood Palace and along the Royal Mile. We found the restaurant and Cole got his “donut burger” which was literally a cheeseburger with donuts instead of buns. It was not bad! After lunch we walked home so the boys could watch their cousin’s baptism on Zoom then we took it easy the rest of the night and got ready for bed. The kids were exhausted! What a fun first day in Scotland!
Things to Know: Arthur's Seat
*Visiting Arthur’s Seat FREE and open to the public year round
*Arthur’s Seat is an ancient volcano that is 823 feet high
*Arthur’s Seat is the highest point of Holyrood Park, a 640 acre Royal Park adjacent to Holyrood Palace. It is a short walk from Edinburgh’s Royal Mile in the heart of the city.