Sunday 22 March 2015

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Edinburgh : second greatest city - the Capital of Scotland

Today I want to introduce you this amazing city: Edinburgh. Actually, it's one of my favourite city of Scotland.
Edinburgh is at the same time an old-style and modern city, and mainly known as the capital of Scotland.

First of all, I'm going to give you advice about all the conveniences, then I'll show you all the restaurants and places to go to enjoy your stay!




How could you get there?

It's really easy to go to Edinburgh. In fact, you have lots of different ways to get to Edinburgh.

The first one, if you're not settled in the country itself, is the plane. You'll fly until Edinburgh airport. Then a bus will pick you up to drive you downtown. You may count about £6 for the bus trip.

Then, whether you live in Glasgow, you've the bus at your disposal. In fact, less than about 4 months ago, the bus company created a link Glasgow-Edinburgh. It's really convenient for the people living next to Buchanan Bus station and it's also cheaper than the train (the trip is a little bit longer, however).
You may count £4 for the single ticket, £6 go and return.
You have lots of departures from Buchanan Bus station, Bus n°900, Citylink. Stances 48/49. Every 15min. This one will bring you on Princes Street or Edinburgh bus station.


As well, you can catch the train from Glasgow Central or Queen Street stations, for the ones living in Glasgow. It's really convenient in so far as, the trains are going every 15min from Glasgow Queen Street and Glasgow Central. 
On the other hand, there are lots of trains from Ayr, Aberdeen and much more cities all over Scotland as well.
Prices from Glasgow: £12 for the single ticket, about £12.50 return.
Prices from Ayr: about £25/£30 return tickets.



How could you get around in and outside the city ?

Diffferent ways of transportations are offered to you.

Firstly, you've numerous buses which allow you to move all around the city. However, it's not the only way to get around the city. Indeed, you've the tramline as well, besides the main street of the capital, in the New Town.
Nevertheless, unlike Glasgow, you don't have any subway.
However, obviously, you've got the train. The main train station is situated in the city centre and is called Waverley Station, its trains will take you everywhere you want within the UK.




Finally, you've got the plane. The main airport in the capital is Edinburgh airport, it's situated at about 25 minutes from the city-centre. In order to get there, you may take a bus: The Airlink 100 express and N22 night buses reach Waverley Bridge in about 25 minutes. You can take the Arlink 100 near the Scots monument on Princes Street also. 
Count about £6. Frequency: every 15 minutes.
Otherwise, you can take the tram on Princes Street or Edinburgh Park and then going until Edinburgh airport stop.  
Fare: Adult single £5, adult return £8. Frequency: every 8-12 minutes.

Once arrived to the airport you can go everywhere you want or merely go back home: a lot of destinations are linked to this airport.

Good news : flights going to London up to £15 !

Where could you find an accomodation ?

Actually, you have different choices, as the following :

- The youth hostels from £8/night. Some are really well situated and at the heart of Edinburgh.

Here are the main youth hostels you can find, however it's not an exhaustive list:


Kickasshostels is the cheapest I know, and as well it's really well settled in the city.

- Hostels: quit expensive, you can find them all around the city.

- Air bnb: less expensive than hostels, with a good quality. https://www.airbnb.fr/ 

Edinburgh is not a huge city, so you can stay either in the Old Town or in the New Town, you won't be so far from all the facilities.



Where could you eat ?


- The elephant house: J.K.Rowling wrote parts of Harry Potter’s saga in this place. 
Really cosy and good atmosphere. Also, reasonable prices for having a drink or a snack.
Address: 21 George IV Bridge.
Prices: between £5-£15 for a meal



- Dirty dicks: a funny name for a pub on Rose Street with fancy decoration. This one offers as well as drinks, different typical scottish meals.The food and service are really good ! Go for it :)
Prices: between £7-£15 for a meal.






















- You have a lot of different pubs which are offering meals as well on Rose Street for instance, but not only there, you can find them out everywhere in Edinburgh. You will find of course different fast food all around the city too. 
Here is a great article about good places to go for eating in Edinburgh : http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/oct/12/10-best-restaurants-food-edinburgh (The Guardian).



What are the best places to visit in here ?

Here are the few things you can’t avoid.

 Beside the Royal Mile: 

Edinburgh castle: actually, it's a citadel settled on an extinct volcano. Its architecture is really amazing and on top of this place you have a beautiful view of all over the city. I really encourage you to go there, it's the unavoidable place of the Scottish's capital.
However, bad point... the entrance is quit expensive: £16, and no student’s fares are offered. Of course, you're not obliged to get in the castle, but there are some beautiful spaces and rooms to see.



-  Camera obscura: basically, it’s an attraction based on optical illusion, just below the castle. It’s a really funny experience for adults and children. Price: £12.

-  Scotch whisky experience: settled just next to the castle, this museum will show you how the whisky is made and prepared. And surprise, you will be offered a great degustation during the presentation. 


-  St Gile’s cathedral: an amazing ancient church in the Old Town.

 - The Scottish Parliament: in front of Holyroodhouse Palace. It was inaugurated in 2004, the architecture is tremendous, and it’s one of the most modern Parliament of Europe. You can go visit it inside, and you can attend the session if you’ve booked it before. The entrance is free.

-  Palace of Holyroodhouse: it’s the official accommodation of the Queen when she spends time in Edinburgh, generally in July. You can visit this castle, however the entrance is £11, but it’s a good place to see. £13 if you want a guided tour of the gardens.




Old town:

-   Grass market neighbourhood: from 1477 to 1911 the scottish market took place there. Less poetic, in the 17’s century, executions happened in that place too.
Currently, there are a lot of pubs, terraces and restaurants in this area, you can go for a walk there, it's a really pleasant place.


  
 - National museum of Scotland: this is the main museum of Scotland. From Pleist, to modern’s paintings. For everyone taste! Timetable: 10:00am - 5:00pm. Free entrance. 

- Typical shops all around the old town.


New town:

-  Princes Street: the best place in Edinburgh to go shopping. There is also Scott's monument, a tremendous architecture. From this street, you'll have an amazing view of the old town, especially at night. 

- Rose street: you'll find there lots of typical pubs. Fancy of beers, this is your place!

- Charlotte Square: in here, you can find out the Buteh House, which is the official residence of the Scottish Prime Minister. By the way, I advise you to go to the Moray Place, Ainslie Place and Drummond Place as well which are in the area.

Scottish National Gallery on Princes Street. Free entrance.



-  Walter Scott’s memorial, also known as Scott monument, on Princes Street. You can go at the top of this monument, the ticket costs £3. 


-  Calton Hill: amazing view of all the city, in the Regent Garden. 





Coming later: night out in Edinburgh
Version en français, très prochainement

Wednesday 18 March 2015

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Glasgow part 3 - Night out and other tips


Where should you go for your night out?


First of all, you absolutely have to go in some pubs, yes, welcome to United-Kingdom!

I advice you the following pubs: The Lauder's, The firewater and The Broadcast, all of them are on Sauchiehall Street.







 

Great mojitos are made at The Distill bar, the atmoshpere is more classy and chic. It's situated between the city-centre and the West End. 

As well, you have a lot of nice pubs in the West End, near Glasgow uni and Hillhead subway's stop. 


 


 
 You have to try also the churh-"Òran Mór", great atmosphere!


Finally, on Sauchiehall Street and Buchanan Street a terrace bar where you can order a lot of different beers.
 

Regarding the nightclubs, almost all of them are situated in the city-centre. You've a lot of nighclubs with commercial music such as The Bamboo, Kokomo, Kushion, The Garage, O2 ABC, The Sugar Cube...
Others are electo/techno-house style. Wether you like this kind of tunes, I advice you to go to the Sub Club, where I was workin for my first semester in Glasgow by the way. Really good atmosphere, good DJs, great guets.

Finally, you can go to The Arches, the flat O/1 or again the St Jude's.

On the other hand, two other nighclubs are settled in the West End; The Viper and The Sanctuary (I tried it last week to give you my opinion about it ahah), and it was just amazing! The atmosphere is different from the nighclubs in the city-centre, it's more chic, however it's a little posh, so if you want to go in, you have to dress-up!


Concerning the concert halls, you have the Hydro and the ABC Academy, the programming is really good and famous artists are performing there. MT Music Awards were occuring in Glasgow, at the Hydro, this year.








Other tips:


Be careful, here money is easy spent! I can show you an example, with the current change rate, when I get £20 from the cash machine, my bank debited my account 27€ (without any charges).

For the people staying in Scotland for a long time, I advice you before leaving your country to check if your current bank can offer you some stuffs to avoid you to have fees during withdrawals. Or merely, you can open an other bank account in Scotland.

You have to know as well that, in Scotland the time is one hour less than in France.

You may be surprised but the first time you'll speak with a Scottish people because those ones can sometimes have an accent (not all).

Finally, the weather.... for the people living in the South as me, it might be a litlle hard to get used to the cloudy sky at the begining. The sky is no often sunny, but with the habit, it's finally ok!
It is often raining as well, but less than we can imagine.


Here we go for this article, the next time will be about Edinburgh!



__________________________________________________________________________________


Où sortir le soir ?



Tout d'abord les pubs, et oui bienvenue au Royaume-Unis!
Je vous conseille le pub The Lauder's, le Firewater et le Broadcast sur Sauchiehall Street. 


De supers mojitos à "Distill" qui est entre le centre-ville et le West-End, ambiance plus chic.



Vous avez également pas mal de pubs sympas dans le West-end et vers Glasgow uni.
A tester également: l'église-pub "Òran Mór", ambiance super sympa!
Vous avez finalement entre Sauchiehall Street et Buchanan Street une terrasse ouverte où vous pouvez commander une mutlitude de bières.

Concernant le sboîtes, la plupart se situent dans le city-centre. Vous avez des boîtes avec des musiques style commercial tels que le Bamboo, Kokomo, Kushion, Garage, O2 abc, Sugar Cube...
Da'utres plutôt style électro/tech-house. Je vous conseille pour ces dernières le Sub Club où j'ai pu travailler: très bonne ambiance, bonne programmation de dj. Vous avez également The Arches, Flat 0/1...
Vous avez d'autre part, deux boîtes dans le West-end : le Viper, et le Sanctuary (que je'ai testé la semaine dernière, faut bien pour pouvoir donner des avis hein), le dernier est vraiment super, bien que plus guindé que les boîtes du centre-ville.


Pour les salles de concert vous avez l'Hydro et le ABC Academy, où il y a de bonnes prog. Les Mtv music awards se déroulaient par ailleurs à Glasgow cette année.


Enfin, n'abusez pas trop de l'alcool !



Autres conseils:



Faites attention, ici l'argent part très vite! Je vous donne un exemple, avec le taux de change actuel quand je retire £20, c'est en fait 27€ qui sont débités de mon compte! Pour les personnes restant à long terme en Écosse, je vous conseille avant de partir de voir si votre banque peut vous proposer un accord pour éviter des frais de retrait. Ou bien ouvrez un compte en Écosse.

A savoir également, on enlève une heure quand on part en Écosse, par rapport à la France.

Vous risquez d'être un peu surpris la première fois que vous parlerez avec un Écossais, car c'est dernier peuvent avoir un accent assez prononcé (pas tous).

Et finalement la météo... pour les sudistes comme moi un peu dur de s'adapter au début! Le ciel n'est pas souvent ensoleillé, et l'autonome paraît durer 6 mois, mais avec l'habitude on s'y fait!

Il pleut également, mais généralement ce sont des pluies fines, et il ne pleut pas autant que ce que l'on peut croire!


Voili voilou pour ce troisième article,



Prochain article sur Édimbourg, la capitale de l’Écosse !