24 hours in Edinburgh, Scotland

Traveling from Newcastle to Edinburgh is simple enough, as there is a high speed train service from newcastle central to Waverley station, and it takes just 2 hours. I arrived in Edinburgh around 9am.When coming out of  Waverley, the main train station in Edinburgh,  you can see the castle sitting up on a rock above the city centre

I walked up the Royal Mile, the main street leading up through the old town directly to Edinburgh castle.The Royal Mile is the main thoroughfare through Old Town, and consists of streets that existed since the 16th century where various Edinburgh landmarks can be seen such as the High Kirk of St. Giles, John Knox’s House, Scottish Parliament and Palace of Holyrood house. All the streets in the old city are cobbled, giving a real sense of what it would have been like.

I finally made my way up to Edinburgh Castle. The Castle is huge and was crowded, but worth seeing. The views from the top were amazing

Streets in Old Town

Statue of the economist Adam Smith,

St. Giles Cathedral

Next stop, naturally - when in Scotland  is to do The Scotch Whisky Experience. The Whisky Experience is just down the road from the castle. It has the world's largest collection of scotch.Unfortunately it wasn't open yet, so I had to skip it.   Along the  Royal Mile leading upto Edinburgh Castle there are numerous 'closes' which are kinda like alleyways that often lead to steps going down to the next 'level' of the town. There are multiple levels to the city .

Then I walked downhill towards the bottom of the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace. This is where the Queen stays when she is in town. Also along the mile are the souvenir shops, cafes and bars and tailors ready to make a kilt for you.

Scotch Whiskey Experience

Next I walked across the other side, to the New Town, making my way to Princes street, which is one of the main thoroughfares in Edinburgh and the main shopping street, there are some nice views of the Edinburgh castle. Wandering down into the Princes street gardens is a nicer walk away from the traffic. These large and beautiful gardens form the barrier between the Old Town and New Town

There are no shortages of pubs in Edinburgh. Lotz of traditional looking pubs

I spent the entire day walking through Edinburgh and visiting as many nooks and crannies of the city as I could. Edinburgh is beautiful, it somehow manages to seem huge and compact at the same time. It is filled with well-maintained old sandstone buildings and every other building looks like a castle or some such. 

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Durham, North East England

Durham is a small university town in north-east England near Newcastle. It is home of the University of Durham, one of the ancient universities in England. On any train along the north east railway line running from London to Edinburgh, the train pulls into the small Durham station to the view of the splendid Durham cathedral and castle. Both castle and cathedral are on the Unesco World Heritage list. Durham has a beautiful medieval charm with a famous cathedral, castle and a cozy city center.

Durham Castle & Durham Cathedral 

The Durham Castle sits atop the hill adjacent to the Cathedral. It is both an ancient castle and student accommodation.The Castle is a university student residence during the time Durham University is in session, but functions as a B&B when the  university is on break with rooms available for anyone to stay. It is very cool and quite an experience to actually stay in an ancient castle which is about 1000 years old. Apparently one of the Harry Potter film was filmed in the Castle's Dinning Hall. I am not a Harry Potter fan, so no idea which movie it was. The downside of Durham castle is that you can't just explore it by yourself, as it is a fully functioning part of the  university.

View of the castle as you approach

River Wear

Narrow cobblestone street around the Durham Castle

Durham Cathedral and the Palace Green

The center of Durham is very, very small and surrounded by the wear river on the three sides forming a peninsula with the Romanesque Durham cathedral sitting on the top dominating the view. Durham is very hilly, so be prepared for inclines and cobbles. There are many small stairs and shortcuts to take to get to the top. The majority of the city center along with the castle is part of the ancient University of Durham.It is made up of magnificent cobbled streets that run between Georgian houses, most of them are now university student halls, and ancient bridges crossing over the river.   They house the university library. The students take classes in the castle, so sometimes the castle is closed for visitors. Although small, still very enjoyable to wander around and relax. 

Durham Market square

The other significant point of interest is the Durham Market Square. Just off the square is the Town Hall, and some sort of open air market . The city itself is doesn't have a lot of people, except for the the university students who tend to stay around the center.The small streets around the market square has lots of shops and cafes.There are lot of good pubs and restaurants that are frequented by students. 

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At the Vatican City

First up in the morning, I headed to the Vatican City to see the St Peter’s Square,  St. Peter’s Basilica and Vatican Museums. I was quite intrigued by The Vatican City. It is kind of in  middle of  the city of Rome, but not part of EU (but they do take Euros though!). It happens to be the smallest country of the world.

St Peter’s Square is a huge place with the obelisk, wonderful columns and statues all around. Don't bother planning a special trip to the square if you're planning to visit the Basilica -- you get to check it out while you're in line! 

First I headed towards the St Peters Basilica. Thankfully, there were almost no crowds (perhaps 9am was too early) . I walked right in. It is  brig and magnificent. The interior must have millions of dollars of statues, paintings, mosaics and marble columns. The main attraction for me was the Michelangelo's Pieta

Thereafter was a visit to the Vatican Museums. It was still early in the day and while there were lots of tourists, I would not call it crowded and luckily I got in with minimal queuing. Full cost was €16. Vatican Museum is absolutely huge, with various different rooms filled with mostly paintings and sculptures.They were all great, with amazing awe inspiring artwork. But, t o be honest, they started to look the same halfway through. Anyways the main attraction obviously being the Sistine Chapel and Raphael Rooms.  If the Sistine Chapel is your main goal, expect to have to walk forever to see it, which they strategically place at the end. 

Apparently photography is not allowed in the Sistine chapel ...but I didn't know till I snapped this shot and few more.

The famous Raphael bits are toward the end, i.e this fresco: 

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Rome in 48 hours

Decided to do Rome in 48 hours even-though just 2 days in Rome wouldn't be doing it justice. Landed in Fuimicino airport early morning, which is quite far off from Rome centre. I took the fast Leonardo Express train into the main city station (Roma Termini). My Hotel was well situated just couple blocks off the Termini station, and a short walk to all of Rome’s central sights. I  didn’t use any public transport  in the city, pretty much did walk extensively in order to see everything I wanted in a short period of time. 

Crossing the road in Rome is not something for faint hearteds..loads of tiny scooters paying scant attention to the road signals, treating them as suggestions, taxis  who honk at every opportunity... You just have to "Go for it!" and the vehicles will stop.

On the first day I explored the Colosseum and Roman forums , Pantheon,  Spanish Steps and Piazza Navona areas. First, a visit to the Colosseum, perhaps the one must see attraction. The Colosseum ticket includes Palatine Hill and the Roman Forums, which are more ruins. 

After spending the entire morning here, it was lunch time, so time to try some Roman food. Not sure where to go and to avoid the typical tourist trap restaurants that are around the Colosseum, I decided to head back to the main train station, Termini. Termini, being a major transport hub, has many cafes and restaurants that are open 24/7.  We went into one of the pizza restaurants. As my hotel was near Termini, I  ended up coming here for dinner also. Termini at night is dodgy...Lots of shady characters, policemen walking around, homeless people, beggars, all the weird and wonderful things one might expect from a big city train station. Not the best location to wander around aimlessly.

Afternoon, it was to the world famous Trevi fountain. An extremely huge and striking fountain, it is perhaps the world's biggest wishing well. Loads of people and everyone seemed to be more interested in throwing coins into the fountain! Walked around the area surrounding the Trevi Fountain and towards the Spanish Steps, lots of shopping and eating around this area. 

The pantheon was up after that- basically a church with a huge hole in the middle. It was fascinating to take a step off the main streets and explore the side squares and alleys around this area

Next day I visited the Vatican City. The Blog post is here

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La Boqueria market - Barcelona

La Boqueria market is right on La Ramblas. Any tale of roaming around Barcelona must include a stop for snacks at the La Rambla de Sant Josep Boqueria . This is quite a bit more than just a street market . It is a great experience for a foodie or not

I enjoy visiting such markets when I travel abroad, that way I could feel and see what the local do and eat. We went to  La Boqueria 3-4 times and it always seem to be colorful, lively, crowded. It’s a maze of stalls selling  everything you can imagine, from meat, seafood, produce, fruits and everything in between.There are several restaurants, cafes, tapas bars inside the market as well.

Entrance to the Boqeria market

The displays of fresh fruit are bright and inviting with personalized forks, clearly just waiting to be eaten by hungry tourists.. Make sure you buy a fruit smoothie and a tub of fruit salad, but don't buy from the first rows as they're 50 cents cheaper if you walk 10 metres inside .

Fruit stall with all kinds of fruit juices

Lots of cured meat stalls  like these

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