[June 2021] On the first Sunday in Edinburgh, Scotland, we went to the area called Stockbridge on the north side of the town centre.
It was because our guidebook recommends to visit the Sunday market there.
It was an area we had never been to before, but when I arrived, it felt like Chiswick in London.
The market was smaller than expected, but the content was satisfying.
They were imposing the one way system as well as compulsory face mask, similar to the Chiswick cheese market.
The guidebook says that accessories, pottery and other crafts are also sold, but in fact, most of them were food.
There was one jewellery booth, but it was too expensive for me.
After all, we bought rabbit meat, venison, beef, and bread and olives.
After being quite satisfied with the shopping, we decided to walk along the Stockbridge Walking Map in the guidebook.
Actually, this market is the last destination in the map, but since we went to the market first, we walked in the opposite direction.
We looked into the river called Water of Leith from the actual Stock Bridge, which is the name of the area, we saw a figure that seemed to be life-sized.
This figure was familiar to me, and when I looked it up, I found that it was an art by Antony Gormley.
Under the title of “6 Times“, six figures are said to be placed on the river from the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art to the sea.
This figure, we had seen a long time ago at Crosby Beach near Liverpool.
This Stockbridge area has the best environment in Edinburgh, lovely and stylish.
We had a rest at a French coffee shop on Raeburn Place street, and the young woman who was sitting at the table of this shop and reading a magazine was really Parisian style.
People who came to shop later were also good at looking nice casually without dressing up obviously.
Basically, everyone wore a simple dress, a cardigan, and white campus sneakers.
I will try to imitate them from now on …
Then, we walked through the street called Ann Street, where real estate is apparently the most expensive in Edinburgh, we saw a hot spring monument (St. Bernard’s Well) in a river park, and I took a photo of the oldest house in the area built in 1790.
After that, we walked down St. Stephens Street, which is said to be lined with the most fashionable retail stores in the Stockbridge area and to a place called Stockbridge Colonies.
It is a residential area with many stone terrace houses, and it is said that it was built by a workers cooperative in the 19th century for the purpose of providing cheap housing for working class people.
The houses there were cheap at that time, but now they are not cheap at all as it’s in a good location.
The final point on this walking map was the Royal Botanical Gardens.
According to our guidebook it is the second oldest botanical garden in the UK, and we wanted to enter to see their lovely greenhouses, but we could not, because it was necessary to obtain a ticket in advance during this Covid restriction.
It was disappointing, but I felt a sense of accomplishment by completing the walking in the guidebook without getting lost.
From here, we returned to our Airbnb by Uber.
That night, my husband cooked the rabbit meat we bought at the market, and that was a great success.
It was very delicious.
He says that rabbits are bred for food in Italy and elsewhere, but the meat sold in the UK is wild, so the meat is even firmer.
Everything else we bought at the market was good, so we want to go shopping there again during our stay in Edinburgh.
