Editors Note: Twenty-six-year old-Will Garrett and his father Edward sailed on the Scottish Highlander luxury barge operated by European Waterways earlier this month. Will filed a daily report and these will be published this week.
DAY 3: Edinburgh
After a traditional Scottish breakfast, we began a long walk through the city of Edinburgh by heading towards the Queens Garden which is overlooked by the castle. The flowers were amazingly brilliant and the grass was a magnificent color of green (like everything else in Scotland!) My father and I continued on to Holyrood Park and castle located in the southernmost part of the city.

There we shared an excellent lox and cream cheese bagel sandwich with coffee on what was called the “Queens Terrace Cafe” which overlooked the Holyrood Park Mountain. Once completing our brief afternoon lunch, I decided I would climb the smaller mountain to get a good look at the city. My father decided the hike would be too much for him so I went alone on the journey. The hike took about 30 minutes. I reached the summit called “The Kings Chair” where I gazed down upon the city of Edinburgh. It is a very tranquil place and I took many photos there.
After dinner, we proceeded to the hotel for an early night before our journey to Inverness the next morning. I made a visit to the steam room and pool, where I met a nice Italian family that was in Scotland as well for holiday. They did not speak English so I used what Spanish I know and hand gestures to have a nice conversation with the family. Funny enough, Spanish is similar to Italian so they were able to understand most of what I was saying and vice versa.
After an hour or so chatting in the hot tub, I watched a little TV before retiring in anticipation of the journey ahead.