Claire Weiss is a student at Longwood University and a Featured Blogger. She is studying with ISA in London, England.

One of the best parts about studying abroad is the doors it opens for travel elsewhere. While I did not travel much during my program, I stayed a little longer and went with my family up to Edinburgh for a week. I already knew it was my favorite city, but on this trip, I think I fell even more in love.

I first visited Edinburgh three years ago this August with a school group to experience and perform at the Fringe Festival. The Fringe Festival is an annual, month-long event dedicated to performances of any kind. The whole city practically turns into a theater with shows ranging from plays to musicals to comedies happening anywhere that can reasonably be a venue. On that trip, I absolutely fell in love with the city and knew I would return.

When I stepped off the train and finally had a moment to pause, it all felt incredibly surreal. I had been dreaming of being in this city again for years, and I finally was. After our attempt to walk with seven suitcases to the hotel in one of the hilliest cities I’ve experienced, we took a taxi and got settled. Our hotel was in the old town and had a view of the castle, which sits at the highest point in the middle of the old town.

Day One: Victoria Street

On our first full day in Edinburgh, we started off with a lovely breakfast in our hotel room, and my dad, sister, and I went out exploring. We walked up a street close to our hotel called Victoria Street, which was the inspiration for Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley. It is a very colorful street with a cute bookshop, and several shops sell memorabilia from the series. If you are familiar with books or movies at all, it is easy to see where the inspiration comes from.

There are also several restaurants and shops selling cashmere goods, a very popular item to find in Edinburgh. It is hard to leave without at least one knit item.

Day Two: The Scottish Highlands

Our second day was not spent in Edinburgh. Instead, my family set off on a tour of the Scottish Highlands. We started our day by getting into a van and heading off to Linlithgow Castle. While we were there before it opened, we got to walk around outside the castle, which was gorgeous.

Our next stop was Stirling Castle, where we had tickets to go inside. The views from the castle were breathtaking, and made it worth it alone, but getting to go inside the castle was also a very cool experience. We got to walk through the king’s chambers, which highlighted replicas of the Stirling heads: carvings that show the bloodline of King James V.

After Stirling Castle, we took a pitstop to see Highland cows! I have always loved them, and they were even cuter and majestic in person. We also stopped at a river and a lake (or loch to use the Scottish term for it). The day was full of stunning views and ended with seeing a bagpipe player on the street outside our hotel when we returned.

Day Three: Edinburgh New Town

On day three, my mom and I made the trek over to New Town. It was about a 30-minute walk, but so worth it because I knocked all the bookstores I wanted to visit off my list. The first was called The Gently Mad. It was a used bookstore and had several rare old books that I was in awe over, including a first edition Sylvia Plath. It was the furthest on the list but worth a visit because of all the special editions they had.

The next stop was two bookshops in one. The first side was McNaughtan’s, which featured used books, not unlike The Gently Mad. The other side was Typewrongers and featured newer books as well as in-house printed zines. If you asked for the shop stamp, you got an origami animal. I did not get a book at the store, but my mom did, and her stamp was a tiny dragon.

The third and final stop was Topping and Company. It was just up the block from McNaughtan’s, and they had so many signed copies of books, both newer and older releases. After we hit all of the bookstores, my mom and I got a cream tea at Brewhemia in the old town. We just did a simple cream tea, which came with scones with clotted cream and jam.

Day Four: The Royal Mile

Day four began with visiting a jewelry store down towards the end of the Royal Mile, which is the main street in Edinburgh’s old town and leads up to Edinburgh Castle. We meandered up the Royal Mile for the remainder of the morning. One of our stops was St. Giles’ Cathedral, a very beautiful Protestant church. It was also the final resting place for Queen Elizabeth in Scotland, marked by a plaque in the floor inside the cathedral.

During the afternoon, we did an audio tour of Edinburgh Castle. It was my first time doing an audio tour, and I really enjoyed it. I got to learn more about the history of the castle in its royal and military heydays and saw more of it than last time I was in Edinburgh.

After the castle, my dad joined me for The Writer’s Museum, which is dedicated to three major writers who have lived and worked in the city: Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. There were quite a few cool artifacts in the museum, including several first-edition books and memorabilia from their lives.

After dinner, it was time for one last outing. My mom and I took a walk to Greyfriars Cemetery to see the statue of Greyfriars Bobby, a dog who, after his owner passed away, waited by his grave every day until he died. There is a statue just outside the cemetery, but there is also a smaller one inside that people will come and leave sticks at.

Before I knew it, my time in Edinburgh was up. Five short yet amazing days in the city I love passed by in a blur. But I enjoyed every moment of it. I am so grateful that studying abroad in London gave me the opportunity to return to a place that will forever have my heart.

If you are studying abroad and looking for a place to visit that is rich in history and lore, look no further than Edinburgh. Just be prepared to get a workout in, as there are stairs and hills everywhere.