Going to Edinburgh for Hogmanay was a particularly special event for me. My grandparents got married on December 31, 1932, and this would have been their 80th wedding anniversary. Given that my grandmother was born and raised in Scotland, it felt like a good way to pay homage to their memories.

And create some of my own. One of the most memorable events of Hogmanay was the torchlight procession on Sunday night. Thousands of people gathered outside of the National Museum of Scotland to participate in the annual tradition of carrying blazing sticks through the streets to Calton Hill.

The procession was beautiful, with so many lights giving the city a soft orange glow. At the end, there was a short fireworks display where we celebrated the opening of Hogmanay (and the fact that nobody lit themselves on fire).

The following day Hogmanay was in full swing. The streets were busy with visitors from all over the world that had come to Edinburgh to celebrate. Princes Street was cordoned off to make room for a huge street party, and the gardens below it were transformed into a concert venue and ceilidh dance floor.

All around, carnival rides lit up the night sky and Edinburgh Castle loomed silently atop its dormant volcano. Just before midnight, the music stopped and the countdown was followed by a short fireworks show and a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

Overall it was a good evening. It was a bit crowded at times and the headlining band—a one-hit wonder from the 80’s—was a bit of a letdown given the high profile of the event, but it was so cold by the time the clock struck 12 that most people were ready to head indoors anyway.

Speaking of cold, on New Year’s Day Hogmany continued with a series of outdoor events that required varying degrees of warm clothing. I chose to attend Dogmanay, which, as the name implies, was a canine-inspired festival in Holyrood Park. From sled racing competitions to pavilions featuring dog toys and face painting (for humans, thankfully), the year kicked off with lots of furry excitement.

Not far from there, the annual Loony Dook took place. Over a thousand people gathered along the shores of the Firth of Forth, some dressed in crazy costumes, and some just plain crazy themselves. I say this because all of them jumped in for a new year’s swim in the freezing water!

Crazy or not, it was a creative culmination to three days of celebrations. Spending Hogmanay in Edinburgh was something I had wanted to do for a long time, and I was happy to have had the chance, especially on such a special New Year’s Eve—whoops, I said it—for my family.

My Hogmanay trip was supported by Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, Visit Scotland, ETAG, Edinburgh Festivals, Haggis Adventures and Skyscanner. Opinions are my own.

My trip to Edinburgh will start with the annual Hogmanay festival, a multi-day New Year’s Eve extravaganza that involves torchlight processions, street parties, dancing, concerts, and fireworks over the castle.

I will attend Hogmanay with a group of other travel bloggers. During the festivities you can follow us on Twitter and other social media platforms using the hashtag #blogmanay. You can also check A Lady in London and the Blogmanay website for photos, stories, and updates.

From Hogmanay, I will head north to Glencoe, where parts of the new James Bond movie Skyfall were filmed. I will also go to the Isle of Skye, one of the most beautiful islands off the coast of Scotland. I will even hit up Loch Ness to visit the lake’s most famous inhabitant!

I will then travel south again to St Andrews, a beautiful university town, and Gleneagles of golfing fame.

I cannot wait to travel in Scotland, and would love to hear your recommendations if you have been to any of the places I’m going to visit!

I was invited up to Scotland by the Dalmahoy, a Marriott Hotel and County Club in Edinburgh, which was located near the city in acres of woodland and golf courses. The hotel, a historic Baronial manor house, put me and my fellow travelers up in spacious rooms in the main house, all of which were tartaned out and properly Scottish.

Despite arriving seven hours late, we were given time to settle into our rooms after a warm welcome. Mine had two large windows with views of golfing greens, lakes, and Edinburgh Castle in the distance.

Inside, dark wood furniture and classic paintings surrounded a massive bed, which was on the other side of a wall from the largest bathroom I’ve ever seen. It even had its own fireplace.

After getting settled in, I met my group in the bar. Cozy as could be, it was filled with overstuffed chairs, wooden tables, and tartan pillows. While we enjoyed G&Ts, a bagpiper set the scene with a musical welcome to Scotland. He even piped us up the stairs to dinner, which we enjoyed in a private dining room.

The food was excellent. Ranging from fresh, flavorful smoked salmon to perfectly cooked lamb, it was a great taste of local cuisine. For dessert we were treated to cranachan, a traditional sweet ending made with cream, whisky, honey, and oats.

But the Scottish culinary immersion didn’t end with dinner. Back down in the bar, we did a whisky tasting. From single malt to cocktails and chocolate pairings, we learned a lot of the basics and sampled a range of flavors.

The next morning we awoke to gloriously sunny weather, which was a welcome treat after thick fog in London the day before. We ate a buffet breakfast in the restaurant, which had great views across the golf course, and then headed over to the spa for treatments.

The spa was located in a newer building attached to the main hotel. It housed everything from a huge pool to a spacious restaurant and large bar. The pint-size spa was quite a bit smaller than the other areas, though.

My massage was relaxing, but the table didn’t have a face cradle, so my neck was sore afterwards. Still, I couldn’t complain about an otherwise good spa experience.

The rest of our 24 hours in Edinburgh were spent in the city itself. We hopped in a taxi at the hotel and arrived 30 minutes later. I met up with my friend Kash of BudgetTraveller fame, who gave me a tour of some of his favorite parts of the Royal Mile and the area around Edinburgh Castle.

Despite having been there multiple times, I saw a lot of Edinburgh that I hadn’t discovered before. Kash first took me to a secret garden just off the Royal Mile that had beautiful manicured flora and great views of Calton Hill.

Near the castle, he pointed out Adam Smith’s grave, the old city walls, and the location of the historic city gates, which were marked out on the street near the World’s End pub.

Further up, he showed me a stone heart inlaid in the sidewalk that some locals spit on as they pass (and we got a very timely example of it as one man walked up, stopped, dropped some saliva, and moved on).

After admiring the castle, which I toured on my last trip to Edinburgh, we walked down a set of steep steps to Grassmarket, a large square where public hangings used to take place on a round stone. The square is now known for its nightlife, where people can have a pint at the Last Drop, a pub where the condemned supposedly had their final pint before being strung up.

From Grassmarket, we walked up Victoria Street, one of the prettiest shopping streets in Edinburgh, past the Elephant House cafe, where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the Harry Potter novels, and over to Greyfriars Kirkyard, where a monument and grave to Greyfriars Bobby, the loyal dog that remained by his master’s grave for years after his death, were located.

After a stroll through the grounds, it was time to meet back up with my group at Spoon cafe, another place that claimed to have hosted J.K. Rowling while she wrote the Harry Potter books. Spoon had a lovely vintage feel, with mismatched chairs and china teacups.

My feta and zucchini fritters with potato and pea shoot salad and my side of chunky chips smothered in cheddar were exactly what I needed to warm up and get sustenance for the long journey home to London.

And long it was. My flight to City airport was canceled due to fog, so I ended up traveling on a later flight to Heathrow. But I got home in the end, and I would have endured the transport issues again for another 24 hours in Edinburgh. I might have to, too, as I’m planning to go back again in not too long. Exciting announcement coming soon…

Having been to all of the cities save Bergen, I initially chose the Norwegian city with the UNESCO World Heritage waterfront. However, given that I had a busy travel schedule later in the week, Edinburgh ended up working out better with my plans.

The itinerary was finalized by the afternoon, and the next morning I found myself in Scotland. I was staying at the Hotel Missoni, one of the newest and trendiest hotels in Edinburgh. When my taxi pulled up, a man in a kilt greeted me. He took my bag and I followed him through the doors into a multicolored lobby that felt like a grown-up candy shop. Tangerine walls met with purple accents and green and pink stripes all the way from the lobby to my room, which was decorated in equally bright colors.

Once I had settled in and heard the good news about the free mini-bar, free laundry, free Internet, and free seemingly-everything-else, I set off to explore the most famous destination on the Edinburgh sightseeing trail: the castle.

Despite the fact that this was my fourth visit to Edinburgh Castle, I still found plenty of new things to see. The castle complex was so large that there were hidden stairways all over that led to new-to-me places every few feet.

After visiting the requisite highlights like the crown jewels and the minuscule St Margaret’s chapel—which dates back to the 12th century and is the oldest building in Edinburgh—I started to wander over to the less busy parts of the castle.

These included exhibitions about the castle prisons, in which there were re-creations of hammocks, bunks, and games tables from the 18th century.

They also included a modern prison that was used right up until the 1920’s. Additionally, I explored an underground area where soldiers slept during sieges and where the Scottish crown jewels were buried during World War II. Then there were the military museums and historic canons like the famous Mons Meg.

Back along the main Edinburgh castle sightseeing trail, the war memorial, great hall, and state apartments of the Scottish kings and queens were all impressive in their monumental decor.

I visited the castle complex in light rain, which thankfully stopped as I exited the grounds. From there I made my way down the Royal Mile, the famous street that connected the castle with the Palace of Holyrood House. The road was home to many important landmarks in the city, including the Scottish Parliament building.

As I walked down the street, I popped into St Giles Cathedral for a quick look around, and then turned down North Bridge street towards the new town. Crossing a bridge, I found myself looking up at the eclectic collection of monuments on Calton Hill.

I decided to walk up the hill to get a closer look. The park had everything from Greek-inspired monuments dedicated to important figures from the Scottish Enlightenment to tall cylindrical monuments that paid homage to war heroes like Lord Nelson. Also present was an unfinished replica of the Parthenon, often referred to as Edinburgh’s Folly.

After a pleasant walk through the park, I retraced my steps until I found myself on Princes Street, the famous shopping street in Edinburgh. I passed by the large monument to Walter Scott in the Princes Street Gardens, then walked through the greenery and up the steps to the National Gallery.

Edinburgh’s National Gallery was full of all kinds of art, from Renaissance masters like Raphael to Dutch masters like Vermeer. But at heart it was Scottish, from the paintings of William McTaggart right down to the tartan trousers worn by the staff.

After exploring the museum, I found myself back outside in the rain. I walked down Hannover Street in hopes of finding some shelter. Suddenly I stopped short. In front of me was a yellow sign with an orange border and black lettering that read Chez Jules.

I remembered the sign from a trip my family took to Edinburgh when I was 16. Back then it had been located on one of the tiny streets that lead down from the Royal Mile to the new town, but I would have recognized its color and name anywhere.

My family had enjoyed a great meal at Chez Jules all those years ago, and I was intrigued at the possibility of revisiting it to see if the food was still as good as we all remembered.

It was a bit too early for dinner at the time, so I stopped into the nearby 99 Hanover Street bar, a big space with red velvet sofas, overstuffed green leather armchairs, and a laid-back atmosphere. I had a glass of wine as the rain fell outside the windows, and when I was done I headed next door to have dinner.

The interior of Chez Jules was about how I remembered it. Wooden tables, some of which were covered in red-and-white checkered tablecloths, filled the low-ceilinged dining room. On top of them sat tall candles, lending an intimate, romantic air.

But being alone, the only romance I was looking for was a love affair with my food. I ordered a chevre salad to start, followed by a petite filet mignon with gratin dauphinois.

The salad was good, and the steak and potatoes were outstanding. They were every bit as good as I remembered them being when I was a teenager. After devouring the tender, juicy filet I finished the entire skillet full of creamy gratin dauphinois. The entire meal came to less than 13 GBP. With wine. It was hard to believe.

After dinner I was in serious need of a walk to burn off some of the millions of calories I had ingested. I walked back up to the Royal Mile and down along Cockburn Street to do some more Edinburgh sightseeing.

There I stopped short again. Was it just my food coma, or was I standing in front of another Chez Jules? And one with live music? I was happy to see that the restaurant group was doing so well, and made a mental note to try the other location on my next trip.

Also along Cockburn Street were cute boutiques, gift shops, toy stores, and a handful of other restaurants and bars. As I made my way back up the hill, I remembered another street with a similar vibe: Victoria Street.

Right around the corner from my hotel was the small, curving street. It was lined with multicolored facades, behind which sat everything from traditional clothing to trendy gifts to whole roasted pigs, as was the case with Oink, a sandwich shop that specialized in pork.

At the bottom of Victoria Street was Grassmarket, a large square flanked on one side by more bars and restaurants. All of them were packed for the evening with drinkers and diners.

Back up at the top of Victoria Street, I took a right down King George IV Bridge road. After passing by the famous Elephant House Cafe where the first Harry Potter novels were written, I came to what was perhaps my favorite Edinburgh sightseeing attraction: Greyfriars Bobby. The small statue of the loyal dog that remained by his master’s grave for years after his death was surrounded by road works that day, but the pup still looked regal on his pillar in the fading light of evening.

After paying homage to Bobby, I walked back along the street and towards my hotel, where I turned in for the night. The next morning I was up early to travel back to London at 9:05am. It had been a very fast trip for Edinburgh sightseeing, but it had been a very good one. While I still want to visit Bergen someday, I left Scotland glad to have had an opportunity to revisit one of my favorite cities in the UK.

This past weekend I headed up to Edinburgh with my boyfriend and our friends from Milan. After a late arrival on the train Friday night, we woke up early on Saturday to explore the city and experience the festivals. Our first stop was the Royal Mile, where we explored the world of illusions in the Camera Obscura museum.

From there we headed down the street on our way to the Scottish Parliament building. On our way we stopped to watch actors, singers, and performers taking part in the Edinburgh Fringe festival. There were people handing out leaflets for every kind of show imaginable; a cappella, drama, sketch comedy, and music to name just a few.

As we made our way through the crowds watching a juggler on stilts and an actor dressed as a dog, we took in the rare sunshine and the beautiful architecture of the Royal Mile.

Once at the Scottish Parliament building, we spent some time exploring the frenzied exterior. Completed in 2004, the building is a gorgeous work of Contemporary architecture. We stopped inside to see a photography exhibition called the World Press Photo Exhibition. It showcased photos from journalists the world over who profiled world events from last year’s war in Georgia to the Beijing Olympics to the US credit crunch.

After the Parliament visit, we headed to Foodies at the Festival, a Taste of London-like outdoor food paradise that our friends had stumbled upon the day before. We spent awhile there tasting everything from whiskey to venison burgers until our appetites for food were sated and our appetites for culture took over again.

We wound our way back towards Parliament and took a tour of its neighbor, Holyrood Palace. The home of Mary, Queen of Scots was full of history and gorgeous furnishings, and the ruins of the adjacent abbey were right out of a Victorian novel.

From the palace we stopped for cream tea at Clarinda’s on the Royal Mile, then headed to the Princes Street Gardens on the way back to our hotel.

Dinner that night was at Fishers in the City, a seafood restaurant on Thistle Street in New Town. The oysters and mussels were amazing, and we drifted off to a pub on Rose Street afterwards with happy bellies.

Our evening culminated with pomp and circumstance at another of Edinburgh’s festivals. This one was the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, a show of military bands from around the world that takes place right in Edinburgh castle.

The next morning we explored the Old Town. We started with Greyfriars Bobby, the statue of a dog so loyal that it went to its master’s grave every day for twelve years following his master’s death.

We continued along from there and stumbled upon a stone carving exhibition as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival at the Edinburgh College of Art.

After watching some carving and losing some hearing, we headed up to the funky shops and restaurants of Victoria Street, then to lunch. Our friends had to leave us at that point, so we headed to the castle to take a quick look around, then walked over to Charlotte Square in the New Town to check out the Book Festival.

After checking out the books on display, we headed back to our hotel, then to the Balmoral, Edinburgh’s most famous hotel, for a pre-train drink. Unfortunately, the staff refused to serve food to non-guests, so we didn’t leave with the best impression of the hotel.

We didn’t let that darken our impression of the gorgeous Scottish city, though, and as our train left Waverly Station, we started making our list of things we wanted to do on our next trip to Edinburgh.