[Joinee SanSan]

hello dear fellow joinees,

my boyfriend and I are going for a very short trip to Manchester and Edinburgh.
For those two cities, we would be extremely glad if you could name some nice places to go.
Apart from the sightseeing things, we would love to know:

-where to have a nice coffee or cup of tea
- a nice bar, preferably with live music
- good and affordable food. (and what we should not miss to try. please don't mention the war...sorry I meant Haggis!)
- especially for edinburgh: is "the fried mars bar" an urband legen or does it exist? where can I get it?

and: can you visit the football stadion or are there any football museums?

thank you very much!
sandra

[GJ Drought]

strangely im from Manchester but have no idea really where is worth going!

the printworks north of the city centre is worth a looky, its near victoria station and features an imax cinema , a bunch of nice restaurants and the urbis gallery closeby, its also right next to the arndale centre ( the city centre's main shopping centre) Also worth a look is Affleck's palace which is about 15 mins walk from the printworks ( and can take you right through the centre of the city so you'll get to see plenty!) Affleck's is i guess the manchester equivalent of camdon in London, its been there as long as i can remember and is home to some fantastic bizzars and shops. Old Trafford (manchester utd's home grounds) isn't too far out of the city centre, but youd probably want to taxi or bus it there. i've never been but definatly worth a look ( infact not far from there and probably walkable is the war museum. also look up granada studios, home of coronation street, they do tours


Edinburgh, is a beautiful city, it feels like you could explore it for a year and never find all its secrets! one place worth visiting is "the elephant house" don't be dissapointed not to find actual elephants there as its a cafe! the cafe where some of the harry potter books were written by JK rowling. Also if you guys like a whisky then you will find some impressive whisky shops here sadly i dont know too much else about the city! Fried masbars... yes you will find them in chip shops! at least thats where i found them!

[Joinee Varwell]

Hi Sandra. I go to Edinburgh quite a lot for work, and my favourite pub is the Barony on Broughton Street. This is quite near to Calton Hill, which is one of the hills overlooking Edinburgh and is dotted with slightly out of the place looking Greek stuff. It (the Barony) does really good food, including Haggis, and good Scottish ales, at very reasonable prices. It also has music some nights.

Football - I can't really help on that front, though the two main teams' stadiums are a little out of the centre of town. Scotland's football museum is in Glasgow which is an hour away though it is apparently very good.

Other sights in Edinburgh - in many ways it's just a city to wander about in and take in, because it is so visually sumptuous. Calton Hill (mentioned above) and the views from around Edinburgh Castle are both well worth taking in because there are lovely panoramas around the city. Both the Old Town and New Town are beautiful in their own slightly different ways, and while they are quite close together there could be a lot of walking around so make sure you make good use of the numerous beautiful and atmospheric pubs in the city.

Hope that helps!

[Gaz]

Tips for Edinburgh: Beanscene is a good coffee shop (there are a few - the nicest is by the parliament). The Cambridge is a fabulous bar with great food (all burgers, all epic) on Young Street near Princes St. Black Medicine Coffee Co. on Nicolson Street near the Museum of Scotand is another top place (coffee, snacks), as is Always Sunday at the top of the Royal Mile. If you have the time to stroll down from the New Town, Hectors in Stockbridge is an awesome pub, usually has music on on a weekend night (and Stockbridge is lovely for a stroll round - go in the day and the Botanical Gardens are only 5 mins away). Hectors also does great food in the day. Maxies is a great restaurant behind the Royal Mile - you'll need to look up how to get there as it's down a few side passages. Similarly, the Jolly Judge is a lovely pub just behind the Royal Mile (but the other side!). Lastly, Spirit of Thai on Grindlay Street was one of our favourite restaurants (and very reasonable too).

That's all I can thik of for now - will add more if I remember any other gems!

[Gold Joinee Cooke]

Current manchester resident reporting. First tip - buy the manchester evening news on a friday, contains all the entertainment (music, theatre, comedy) listings for the coming week, really useful.

Cup of tea and coffee - plenty of places to have a perfectly pleasant cuppa, but to splash out a bit the cloud 23 bar at the hilton does a lovely afternoon tea with an amazing view from the beetham tower!

One of the best pubs to go to would be the lass o gowrie, good food and beer with a pretty eclectic entertainment offering. Sinclairs oyster bar is a proper traditional pub in the heart of the city, also good.

If you're looking for football then Man City offer stadium tours and a shop offering quality products. Manchester United are utter and unbelievable twunts. They're also much worse at football. Don't go.

If you fancy a bit of proper English football though (and at a much lower price than city or united) then I'd recommend a visit to one of the smaller clubs in the greater manchester area. Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport (if you're in the area on a saturday) would all be a good day out, something a bit different!

The national football museum will open in manchester in 2012, so you're a bit early for that!

I'll let you know if i think of anything else!!

[Joinee SanSan]

thanks everyone, you're awesome...leaving tomorrow!

[GJ Drought]

Have a great time

[Joinee Varwell]

Give us a full report!

[Joinee SanSan]

what can I say...it was great! above all, lass o gowrie pub, thanks for this suggestion.
in edinburgh, calton mountain....so beautiful!
tried also the suggested coffee places.

loved it!

ps: sorry to say that our manchester flat had a stunning view of the ManUnited stadion...

[Siobhán]

Joinee Varwell, on 13 November 2011 - 02:24 PM, said:

my favourite pub is the Barony on Broughton Street.

That is so very close to where my Uncle lives. I tend to go there when I am in Edinburgh too!

Shame I missed this thread before but glad you had fun! My favourite restaurant is on Broughton Street and my favourite cafe! I'll save it for when you go back.

[Joinee Varwell]

Siobhán, on 24 November 2011 - 11:55 AM, said:

My favourite restaurant is on Broughton Street and my favourite cafe!

Do tell!