It had been a while since I visited the continent so was pretty excited about this trip.  Me and Maite also hoped to meet up with a few friends along the way.  The first stop was Gothenburg but unfortunately got there a day later than planned due to a flight cancelation.   When we got there we met up with our friends Kevin (who had joined us from Copenhagen) and Mhairi and spent our time catching up over lunch and coffees.  Afterwards me, Maite and Kevin went back to our Airbnb to make dinner, where we had a really nice attic conversion to ourselves.  The next day me, Maite and Kevin set about exploring Gothenburg.  First we headed down to Haga and found a bakery which made the biggest cinnamon buns I have ever seen.  They were also delicious!

To work off the buns we had a walk up to Skansen Kronan where you can see an old fort and get a good view of the city.  After this we had a wandered down to Feskekorka which is a pretty big seafood market, definitely a place to visit for a seafood fan.  As it was shaping up to be a nice day we had a wander through Kungsparken located next to the canal which was really nice.

Following the theme of wandering through parks, we then made our way out to Slottsskogen Park near to the botanic garden.  This park was huge and filled with tracks weaving through hilly woodland.  It was very cool to have this in the middle of a city and you could definitely forget you were in one.  Me and Maite also took a jaunt over to the Botanic Gardens which were very nice, massive and free.

Overall we really liked Gothenburg.  To me it had a typical Scandinavia feel about it but less busy and not as “sculpted” as the upcoming Copenhagen where we bussed to the next day.  When we got in we went to Kevin’s house where we would be staying for the next couple of nights.  Kevin stayed in a collective, essentially a big house for students, but the house dynamics are far more organised than any sort of student accommodation you will find in the UK.  When Kevin went to work, me and Maite had a wander around the city and got some food.  We then met Kevin at his work which was a board game café called Bastard café (I know right!:P) which was so cool and had hundreds, maybe thousands, of board games you can play.

The next morning we got an amazing breakfast at Souls which included just about everything you can ask for in vegan breakfast.

This breakfast fueled us up for a Sandemans walking tour which was really good as usual and went to the usual sights such as Nyhavn and Amalienborg which is the home of the Danish Royal family.  Crazy that you can wander around and get within touching distance of the palace walls, not many countries you can do that in!

After our tour we visited the Little Mermaid statue and then a jaunt over to Christianshavan. Here we went up Vor Frelser Kirke.  This was awesome because you can climb up through the ever-narrowing tower and then near the top there is an outside spiral walkway where you get fantastic views of the city.  In Christianshavan we also had a wander around Christiania, which is an area where old army barracks were taken over by artists, studios, music venues etc and the community here have been continually trying to get more autonomy from the Danish Government.  It was a really interesting area but there are a few do’s and don’ts due to the drug activity here.

We really liked our visit to Copenhagen, the city was as beautiful as I had heard it was.  And speaking of beautiful city’s, our last stop was Florence.  We did however have another flight cancelation which meant we got to Florence a day later than planned.  Once we got into Florence and settled into our Airbnb we had a wander around the city and were just blown away by the architecture, the marble faced cathedrals were just something else!

For dinner we went to Mercato Centrale which is an awesome indoor market with loads of different food vendors.  I got a really tasty vegan burger from Veg n Veg.  The next day was another busy one which involved a walking tour to all the main sights such as The Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio, Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, many more and then a walk up to Piazzale Michelangelo where we got an amazing view of the city just before sunset.

Our last day was our most cultured day visiting both the Galleria dell’ Accademia and the Uffizi.  Seeing the original David at the Galleria dell’ Accademia was cool and was a lot bigger than what I had imagined.  It was interesting to learn in the tour the day before that the reason for the head and hands been disproportionately big was because it was originally intended to be placed at the top of a building.  Next the Uffizi was visited which had 3 floors filled with Renaissance art.  The most popular pieces that Maite had wanted to see were Primavera and the Birth of Venus.

We both absolutely loved Florence, it is such a beautiful city with so much see in terms of architecture and art.  It felt like you could walk 10 steps from one beautiful plaza and then be in another one.  You do have to compete with the crowds, even in May, but would still recommend visiting despite this.

The Isle of Skye had been on Maite’s bucket list for a while now so we decided to cross it off on the Easter weekend.  We had pretty nice weather all the way up there so we were treated to some bonny views.

On the way we also stopped at Eilean Donan Castle which is very beautiful.  It was also interesting to learn about history of the castle.  It was strategically important since it is built where three sea lochs meet but it was largely destroyed by English forces during the Jacobite uprising in 1719 and it wasn’t until 1911 when a rebuild of the castle started.

Afterwards we then continued to Skye and made our way down to Elgol where you can get a pretty awesome view of the Cuillin Mountains (going to climb those bad boys one day! 🙂 )

That night we stayed at Broadford Youth Hostel which was basic but decent enough.  The next day was a busy one to try and see as much as we could.  The first stop was the fairy pools in Glenbrittle.  I couldn’t get over how many tourists there were but it was Skye on an Easter bank holiday.  The fairy pools were cool though coming across waterfall after waterfall as you walk up the glen and the mountain views were good when the cloud lifted for long enough to get a look :).

The next stop was a hike to the Old Man of Storr which is a hike up to a rocky pinnacle on the Trotternish Ridge.  The views across to the Isle of Raasay were beautiful and clouds on the ridge made for some atmospheric sights.  The hike wasn’t too difficult either so got a pretty good reward to effort ratio there!

Up next was a Kilt Rock a little further north where you can find a waterfall off the cliffs straight into the sea.  This was another pretty cool sight but not a huge amount of water when we were there :P.

On our way back down to Portree we stopped along the road to take in more sights.  Skye is just so beautiful with mountains, cliffs and sea all crammed into a relatively small area.

Tonight we would stay in Portree Youth Hostel which was really nice and had a really chilled atmosphere in the dining/common room area.  The next day we were heading back to Edinburgh but first we made a de-tour to the coral beach near Dunvegan which is very awesome and worth a visit.

Last stop on the way home was at Glenfinnan.  Here you can see a curved concrete arch viaduct but to honest, there are much nicer masonry arch viaducts around the country.  The view down Loch Shiel however is stunning.

Overall, we had a great little getaway.  There is so much to see on and around Skye and would highly recommend it to anyone, even if these days it is very touristy.