Original subtitles

We're really lucky to have so many great European cities

right on our doorstep,

just waiting to be rediscovered.

I don't know anywhere else

you can get this many different sounds, colours

and, of course, smells.

Look at that!

Mmm.

And the weekend escape...

Whoa!

...is a brilliant and easy way to explore them.

I am loving this.

Feast your eyes on Venice.

So, I'm going to have loads of amazing food...

Go on, baby.

Sizzle, sizzle!

I may have found the best food in Amsterdam.

...see some amazing sights...

Colosseum!

This is the famous Checkpoint Charlie.

Wow.

This is stunning!

...and check out the culture of each city.

You are the bravest people in Europe,

and maybe the craziest.

Guys, I'm inside the fountain!

I'm part of the Trevi Fountain!

So, I'll be packing lots...

Come and have a look at this.

...into my three-day trips...

Oh, wow. We're up on the roof.

There is beer, there is wine, there is sunshine, music

and there are lots and lots of smiles.

...showing you how to get the most out of a weekend getaway.

I feel like Audrey Hepburn!

One of Europe's most popular weekend destinations

is right here in Britain - Edinburgh.

Scotland's stunning capital sits snugly

between the Firth of Forth and the Pentland Hills.

And it's a piece of cake to get to.

I've jumped on a train to cross the border for a three-day getaway.

I've been to Edinburgh a few times and I've always enjoyed myself,

but whenever I'm here, what strikes me is how very different it feels

to anywhere else in the UK,

and that's what you want from a weekend away, right?

Somewhere that feels different and special.

Well, this weekend, I'm most certainly going to enjoy myself,

but I'm also going to try and figure out what it is that makes Edinburgh different and unique.

Edinburgh is a tale of two towns,

the medieval old town up on the hill

and the new town that isn't really that new any more.

It dates from the 18th century.

I like a walk, and my hotel is just around the corner,

and this is Edinburgh New Town,

and I find it really attractive.

It was built to give the people of this city

a cleaner, nicer, brighter environment,

and it is also the biggest example of Georgian town planning

in the world.

Hidden amongst the neoclassical columns and Georgian facades

is my home for the weekend.

That's nice!

It's clean and it's light.

Well, there, look.

The famous Edinburgh Castle,

and I know underneath that is the Old Town.

And here, this is the new town.

The old and the new,

and this weekend, I'm going to explore both.

I'm in need of a little pick-me-up,

and I've promised myself a uniquely Scottish sugary treat,

a more grainy kind of fudge known as tablet

that's been made here since the 17005.

Ooh.

You've got some nice flavours here.

Can I taste a bit of the tablet? Yeah. Help yourself.

What is the difference between tablet and fudge?

I mean, they look very similar.

The method is a little bit different.

We allow the sugar to grain in such a way

that it becomes a little more crumbly and brittle.

Well, that is really, really crumbly.

It's like a block of sugar just barely held on with butter. Yeah.

I've never had it down south. Is it very much a Scottish thing?

Yeah, it's very, very traditional to Scotland.

It's one of those sweets a lot of grandmothers would make it.

And you make it here?

Yeah, we make everything here.

Would you let me watch? Yeah, of course.

Giancarlo's family has been making fudge here since 1949.

Back then, one of their main ingredients, sugar, was on ration,

but over 70 years later, they're still boiling up the same recipe.

And what is in there?

So, we've got sugar, we've got a bit of glucose,

we've got condensed milk, butter, cream.

This sweet lava can reach temperatures

of up to 110 degrees centigrade.

That's ready to come out.

Once it's a little cooler,

the tablet mixture is given a good beating.

This speeds it up a little bit more.

Oh, I like that.

It's got a bit of a disco beat to it. Yeah.

When it's a mere 80 degrees,

Giancarlo is happy to let me have a go at pouring.

Look at this. Look, look, look.

That is red-hot,

and I'm treating that with the utmost respect.

There's enough of this liquid gold for 15 kilos of tablet.

I love that, look.

Look, an enormous tray of happiness.

You want to try some? While it's liquid? Yeah.

Oh, yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is it like a soup, is it cool around the edges? Yeah.

Mmm!

It's a hot toffee sauce! Yeah. It's a toffee sauce!

How long is this going to take to set? All night.

Well, obviously I can't wait here all night, can I?

Not when there's a shop full out front.

While I'm here, I'm going to buy some fudge and some tablet. Sure.

Could I please buy marzipan ancl amaretto? Yeah.

You're dangerous.

That sweet Scottish tablet was just what the doctor ordered,

and it's given me a burst of energy

to head down to the waterfront at Leith,

an area that has been redeveloped in recent decades.

It's also home to a site I've been dying to see

since I was a little boy -

The Queen's former yacht, Britannia.

Come on.

Welcome on board the Royal Yacht Britannia.

I'm absolutely delighted to be here, honestly.

I remember seeing the Royal Yacht Britannia on the television

when I was a little boy.

Scottish-born and built in 1952,

she's returned to her roots after 44 years of faithful service,

and is now open for tours with guides like Roger.

Britannia was a floating, glittering palace for Her Majesty,

and she took the royal family worldwide

to fly the flag for the country,

once around the globe for each 44 years of her service.

There was over 700 official visits worldwide, Gregg,

and Britannia hosted many, many official state banquets.

Is the dining room still set up? The dining room is still set up.

Come on, show me. OK. Come on.

Having retired in 1997,

this five-decked palace is still set UP

as it would have been in its glory days.

The splendour of it, absolute splendour. Beautiful.

If you attended a dinner here... You had arrived, yeah?

These dinners must have been more than just a social gathering.

The ship had a diplomatic role, Gregg.

Wherever she was in the world,

heads of state were invited on board here,

and it provided a beautiful floating palace

for the Queen to entertain on home turf, as it were.

This table must have seen some famous faces.

Absolutely.

From as early as 1954,

Sir Winston Churchill's dined in here,

Nelson Mandela, Rajiv Gandhi... You're kidding me!

...Boris Yeltsin, Margaret Thatcher,

a host of American presidents - the Clintons, the Reagans.

No way! Yeah.

What do you reckon the chances of a London greengrocer wangling an invite? Slim?

Probably unlikely.

I might not be on the guest list for dinner, but I'm in for a treat.

Britannia attracts nearly half a million visitors a year,

but not many of them get a behind-the-scenes look

at the private apartments of the royal family.

This is the state drawing room, Gregg.

Oh, wow.

Is this normally roped off?

It is, it is.

Could we sit down? Please.

Really? Yeah!

Well... HE LAUGHS

Well, this is an honour, isn't it? It most certainly is.

So, this is where Her Majesty would relax?

The royal family would sit here and relax,

and perhaps play a few card games

and enjoy a little bit of television.

I really want to tell my mum what I'm doing. Right now?

She'd be thrilled, I think. I'm sure she would be.

It wasn't just Her Mag and the royal family who called Britannia home.

Up to 50 members of her household staff

and anything up to 220 crewmen

lodged a few decks below.

Not quite as grand as upstairs.

Not quite as grand down here at the sharp end.

No.

So, we're now coming into the Royal Marines barracks, Gregg.

The beds aren't very big, are they? They're not very big.

Hammocks up to around about 1970,

but a refurb meant bunks for the guys.

My grandfather was Royal Navy,

and he said he always preferred a hammock.

Can I see the mess? Of course.

So, we're entering petty officer's mess, Gregg. Wow.

What do you think? Well, there's quite...

Actually, it looks like The Snug Bar or The Dog And Duck, doesn't it?

Yeah, it's very cosy.

Isn't it just cosy?

Did any members of the royal family ever come down and have a drink?

Princess Diana came down here for a drink.

She loved to come down and nose around the lower decks

and enjoy some of the crew's company.

Shall we? Can't think of a good reason why not.

I sat in the armchair Her Majesty might've sat in,

I might as well have a beer. Well, indeed.

Do you have any glasses?

Well, of course we have glasses. It's the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Well, this is just splendid.

Absolutely splendid.

Well, I am on a weekend break after all.

Cheers. Good job. Cheers.

Coming up,

I sample Edinburgh's world-famous seafood...

This is the home of the langoustine.

This is a unique flavour of Scotland.

...and get to grips with a Scottish icon.

It's all coming out of me drones and there's nothing happening in me pipe!

I've come up to Scotland for a long weekend

in one of Europe's top city destinations - Edinburgh.

Located next to the Firth of Forth

and surrounded by wild countryside,

the Scottish capital has some of the best produce in Europe

right on its doorstep,

and I know just the man to cook it for me.

Well, I'm really excited for dinner

cos I've arranged to meet up with an old mate,

someone who has spent most of his working life

promoting the beautiful produce of Scotland.

Tom Kitchin is the youngest Scottish chef to get a Michelin star

for his restaurant,

one of four in the city to have received this coveted accolade.

We've been to many a rugby match up here at Murrayfield Stadium,

but this time, he suggested a different spot to meet.

Tom. How are you doing? Good to see you, man.

Mate, we were supposed to be going out for dinner. TOM LAUGHS

But I wanted to show you this incredible produce that we have here.

All of this here, is this off these shores?

The scallops, the lobster behind you,

they're literally coming in from here into the wee port here,

and then we use them in the restaurant.

Can you take me around these fish and tell me where they've come from?

Oh, I love that question.

Langoustines.

I think it's, like, a third of the langoustines in the world

are coming from Scotland. It's unbelievable.

Cod, something like this,

deep water, that's more right up north,

the Faroe Islands, Shetland.

And then, oysters,

you've got all the little sea lochs that are all around Scotland.

Salmon, the wild salmon that comes in all the different rivers.

Crikey.

I mean, it's an amazing array of beautiful fish

for - forgive me - for a country that's not very big. Yep.

It's the envy of the world, the larder that we have here in Scotland.

It's so unique.

Could I get...ten langoustine, please?

We're going to have some of this for dinner? Absolutely.

And I'm also going to do something from the land,

some grouse!

Oh, Tom.

This is Greggy heaven.

Grouse love heather-covered moors,

which makes Scotland one of the best places on the planet for them.

But the grouse season only lasts four months,

so I'm certainly in the right place at the right time,

in the right hands.

I'm about to get a masterclass, aren't I?

I am, aren't I?

I thought we'd do two really homely dishes,

but showcasing the wonderful Scottish produce.

One from the land, one from the sea.

One of the most popular Scottish seafoods,

langoustines are renowned for their sweet and delicately-flavoured meat.

OK, so what we're going to do

is we're going to go through the head

and down the tail like so,

and we'll pop that on a tray before we cook it.

While I'm left in charge of the langoustines,

Tom can't wait to get to grips with the grouse.

Look at these.

Smell.

Oh, that's gamey!

This is such a special, special ingredient to me.

I'm so excited to cook this for you!

Food and drink is big business here in Scotland,

generating a massive £7.5 billion a year,

and the fertile Scottish soil plays a big part in it.

You've got some of the most beautiful-looking countryside in Europe. Uh-huh.

What does that offer you as a chef?

What the countryside brings is that incredible variety

of different produce that we have,

everything from the beef, the lamb, the poultry.

But to the wild game, the venison, everything thrives in this climate.

Tom's keeping dinner simple

and letting the produce do the talking,

and I'm more than happy

to let him butter up the langoustines.

Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!

Spread it all over.

Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!

Right... He's so excited! Right!

These guys are going to be finished off under a sizzling hot grill,

and then they're good to go. Simple.

Go on, baby. Sizzle, sizzle!

And Tom is giving me the honour of plating up for him.

Chef.

OK.

Ow!

It's hot.

Oh, Lordy.

Have you ever thought about entering one of those competitions,

you know, the cooking competitions?

I don't know about entering it. I wouldn't mind having a go atjudging it.

Tom's grouse is going to be stiff competition,

sitting pretty on a bed of spinach

with a game jus, blackberries and game chips.

Oh! Look at that.

They look like langoustine that have been prepared

with a lot of love and attention.

Listen, it starts off with a little bit of garlic

and then very quickly just goes into the natural sweetness

of that beautiful fish.

And the natural sweetness is unbelievable.

We've done nothing to it. We've added a little bit of garlic butter.

This is my point. The less we do with it, the better.

When you have produce like this,

why would you want to do anything crazy with it?

Oh, mate!

As good as the langoustine was, I think this looks even better.

Don't want you making a mess. Oh!

I'm salivating.

Now, that sauce is pure essence of grouse.

This meat is really quite mild. Exactly.

Not too much gaminess.

It's really quite mild.

I mean, the texture is like butter.

Eating it here... This is the home of the langoustine,

this is a unique flavour of Scotland, and I get it.

Tom, I get it.

The thing I love about this city is that you can walk everywhere,

and this morning, I'm up early to take a stroll over

to explore the Royal Mile in the Old Town.

Named after a processional route taken by kings and queens

for 500 years,

at its western end is a volcanic rock

that's home to a site that dominates Edinburgh.

I've got to come and visit the castle.

It's 250 foot above the city.

You can see it every time you look up.

It's actually Scotland's most visited site,

and I want to see what makes it so popular.

Over two million visitors a year are drawn to the castle,

which has borne witness to some of the most important

and bloody moments in Scottish history.

So, I've organised my own guide for a tour

that focuses on a side of the castle's past

that makes it very special indeed.

David, hello. Hi, Gregg.

I have to ask you, is it true that Edinburgh Castle

may be the most besieged place on the British Isles?

Edinburgh Castle's probably at the top of the list.

I want to know more about these sieges. Can we?

Absolutely, let's head in.

This castle has been attacked more than 20 times,

and David reckons these sieges are the key to understanding

why it's so important.

Our first stop is Edinburgh's oldest building.

St Margaret's Chapel was the only surviving structure

from one of the castle's most famous sieges.

Wow.

This is a beautiful little early medieval church, isn't it?

Absolutely lovely.

How old is this?

This is going back to about 1130.

There would've been a lot more in the castle from this time,

but then Robert the Bruce came along.

So, after a siege in 1314, he demolished the place.

An English garrison was here.

You know, this big volcanic plug we're standing on right now,

they climbed it in the dead of night.

I find that amazing that Robert the Bruce,

one of Scotland's most famous sons,

destroyed Scotland's most famous castle.

Left, right and centre.

In fact, he was so thorough with his destruction of Edinburgh Castle,

it's said that there were cattle grazing on Castle Rock

for about two decades afterwards.

Why is Robert the Bruce so famous?

He is regarded as the man who restored Scotland

at its moment of greatest peril.

He's the guy who won the Battle of Bannockburn.

1314, 7,000 Scots against nearly 25,000 English.

I'm lapping this stuff up.

Come on, you must have another story.

Oh, we've always got another siege at Edinburgh Castle.

Robert the Bruce wasn't the only historical heavyweight

involved in a siege here,

so David is taking me across the castle

and 250 years into the future

for a siege that involved possibly Scotland's most famous monarch.

That's the stuff fantasy stories are made of, isn't it?

What's the story behind this Great Hall?

One of the most famous people who would've spent time here

was our beloved Mary, Queen of Scots.

The country was split between Catholic and Protestant.

She was seen as a source of that division.

In 1566, she gave birth to the future James VI.

One year later, she was imprisoned at Loch Leven Castle

and James was proclaimed the king.

So, the country basically split into two factions.

You had the king's men supporting James

and you had the queen's men supporting Mary.

So, what we've got here are two Scottish power blocs

fighting each other. Exactly. It's a civil war.

And the biggest siege in Scotland of that time

kicked off right here at Edinburgh Castle.

It lasted nearly two years,

and this siege was absolutely devastating to the castle.

Many of the buildings were largely destroyed,

hundreds of houses were absolutely demolished.

Artillery batteries were established all around.

They reckon 3,000 shots fired at Edinburgh Castle

over those two years.

So, the Robert the Bruce siege was pretty much overnight.

Scale the cliff walls, get in, massacre the garrison.

This, by contrast, is a two-year siege.

What's the final siege of the castle?

The final siege comes into play during the Jacobite risings.

It's probably the most romanticised period in Scotland's history.

With England and Scotland united,

the Jacobites were determined to get the Stuarts back onto the throne,

climaxing in the last siege of Edinburgh Castle in 1746,

led by one Charles Edward Stuart,

better known by his nickname.

Bonnie Prince Charlie, one of the most storied individuals in Scotland's history.

But they lacked heavy ordnance, so they couldn't attack the castle head on,

so they basically did a token siege - surrounded it,

fired off a few shots and then left it be.

So, the Jacobites were able to take the town,

but not the castle.

I mean, all the big names of Scottish history

are all linked to this castle.

You've got all the heavy hitters here.

They say that the story of Scotland is the story of its stones,

and we're standing on the biggest stone of them all.

It's interesting, our love affair with castles.

I don't think it's so much the buildings,

more the characters that lived inside them,

and I can quite understand Edinburgh Castle's popularity.

It's absolutely beautiful, the views are stunning

and the story of Scotland, its history,

well, it's here within these walls.

In the shadow of the castle,

the Old Town is a paradise for anyone

looking to explore Scotland's huge array of iconic traditions.

You can see them in the shops, taste it in the food

and I've spotted a place that I should be able to hear them.

Hello.

Sorry. Sorry.

You're making bagpipes, right?

You don't play them as well, do you?

Would you play them?

It's such an amazing sound.

It stirs emotion in me.

HE PLAYS TUNE

More than a musical instrument, they are known as war pipes.

Firing up troops in battle as recently as World War I.

Two and a half thousand pipers were the first out of the trenches

and almost half were killed or wounded.

Oh, mate, that was fabulous.

It's humming at you, it's whistling at you.

You can feel it coming up through your feet.

É

How did the bagpipe evolve?

É

F

F

F

F

£

I don't suppose for a minute

you've got a set that I could have a go at, have you?

É

HE LAUGHS You're kidding!

I'll have you know, my surname's Wallace.

It's in my blood. Oh, yes.

Yes.

PIPES DRONE

It's all coming out of me drones

and there's nothing happening in me pipe.

Have you doctored this so it won't get any whistles out?

Coming up...

I look like the fire alarm went off in the hotel!

...I get a rude awakening...

Ah!

...and a taste of Edinburgh's highlife...

That one is about £130, £140.

I-I never really liked that one, to be honest.

It's Saturday and I'm exploring Edinburgh's old city by foot.

Today this part of Scotland's capital is a tourist Mecca,

perfect for wandering,

but back in Medieval times it was a walled city

with 40,000 people crammed into it.

Literally living on top of each other.

Look over at the buildings,

not at the shop level but above it. Look.

They are tenement buildings that were built in the 17th century,

to house as many people as possible within the city walls.

And there wasn't a great deal of room.

Some of them went up 15 storeys. And what I like is that

rich and poor all lived in the same buildings,

but if you were poor you'd live on the street level

where there was all the muck and the noise.

And if you had some money, you'd live a couple of storeys up.

But if you were really poor

then you would live all the way up to the top.

I mean, they are attractive,

and, in a way, they're the first-ever tower blocks.

But it's not just above ground where this city holds fascinating secrets.

History is everywhere here, even underfoot.

Hidden deep beneath the streets,

visitors can travel back in time to a less sophisticated era,

and I've arranged to check out the underground scene with a guide,

Laura.

Extraordinary.

So this here is the real Mary King's Close.

It's a real street, it was lived on up to 1752.

It was one of the busiest, biggest closes in Edinburgh for its time.

Crying out loud. But this wasn't underground, right?

No, when they decided to build above this close,

everyone living here was actually forced to move out.

Why is this not just filled in?

They actually kept four of the old closes of Edinburgh here.

So we have Mary King's Close, which we're currently standing in.

Then we had Stewart's Close, Allen's Close and Pearson's Close

and they were used as foundations.

So they knocked off all the top storeys

and left what you can see here today

and then they built the new building on top of it.

So after that, the closes were kind of forgotten about.

Are they safe? Oh, yeah, very safe.

Like, a lot of the rooms through,

you can see those high-vaulted ceilings.

They were put in to give even more structural integrity

to the new building above us.

Is it a poor area, an artisan's area, affluent?

So you'd actually have rich and poor all living on the same streets.

And this narrow?

This was the second-widest close in Edinburgh, yeah.

The first wider street was the Royal Mile itself.

This was also a marketplace.

It was absolutely filthy.

People actually used buckets for toilets,

so you had basically human waste

flowing all the way through the streets.

The lower down the hill you live,

the more poo passes your window.

It was very disgusting.

It's like a time capsule down here.

You can go inside houses, some of which date back to the 1400s.

This room is a house?

This is a very, very poor household here and you'd have about

ten or 12 people living in a house like this one.

They ate, went to the bathroom, slept and washed in here?

So they wouldn't have actually washed in here necessarily

and fresh water was, it was quite a commodity

so you didn't want to waste it.

You would want to try and drink it if you could.

Sanitation was a huge problem in homes like this

and in the 16th century things reached their lowest point,

when the Black Death swept through

the filthy, overcrowded alleyways of the city.

So when that happened,

about a third of the population actually died.

The plague knocked out a third of Edinburgh? Mm-hm.

It was devastating. What did they think the plague was?

They actually thought it was miasmas.

Bad-smelling spirits.

The rats were causing the plagues,

but of course not even rats themselves.

It was the fleas living on their back carrying the infection.

With the plague raging through Edinburgh,

the doctor had a special outfit to protect himself.

50 his coat, you can see, it is incredibly long.

It is all made of leather.

So he actually wore the coat

to stop miasmas from touching his skin.

So you button it all the way up. Right, go on.

Of course, you have the iconic plague doctor mask

and then in the long beak of it,

he actually would have stuffed it

full of very sweet-smelling herbs and spices.

And then he had his lovely hat.

So there you go. Look at that!

I mean, if there is anything less terrifying,

do let me know.

Ancl, er, and where does it hurt again, Mrs Jones?

Just say, "Ah." Stick your tongue out for me, could you?

HE LAUGHS

Above ground, it's Saturday evening

and there's no shortage of bars and restaurants in Edinburgh

and I fancy a bite to eat.

Not quite a fish supper but something that will tide me over.

Haggis and chips by the sea.

I know how to live.

Well done, Edinburgh, you do some good things.

To get the true experience of another iconic Scottish product,

I'm heading to a very special club.

A weekend away, you deserve a little indulgence, a little treat.

Well, I've got a little treat in store for myself.

Scottish whiskey is big business.

Exports are worth nearly £5 billion a year

and in Edinburgh, there are tasting societies

that sell drams from some of the 130 Scottish distilleries.

Ancl help novices to appreciate the finer points of whiskies.

Good evening.

Good evening. How you doing, sir? I'm well.

I'd like a little night cap, I'd like a wee dram,

but I don't really know what to have.

Give me some rules to follow. Absolutely.

Single malt Scotch whiskey.

It has to be made on Scottish soil,

matured in an oak cask for at least three years and one day,

and it has to be made from three very simple ingredients -

barley, water and yeast.

Fabulous. That's it.

Now we're here, we're settled in, give me things that you like.

This is my personal favourite on the bar.

This is a 24-year-old Speyside.

Does the spirit go into the barrel clear?

Yes. Totally clear.

So it's the wood that's given it the colour? Absolutely, yeah.

A toasted oak cask, you're getting a lot more colour.

With age, the older it is, generally the more mellow it is.

Well, listen, I'm older and mellow.

That is a beautiful thing.

It's a perfect dram for you, Gregg. Mate, that's a perfect thing.

Is that expensive?

That one is about £130, £140 for a bottle of that.

I-I never really liked that one, to be honest.

This place stocks some of the rarest bottles in the world

and their own award-winning whiskey is only sold to their members.

Now, if you don't mind, I'll show you how to get

the full experience out of a glass of whiskey.

So, basically, a lot of the different characters of whiskey

you need to look for before you actually taste it.

Colour is one, then the body.

See if it sticks to the glass? Yep.

We call them either legs or tiers.

The drips coming down.

If they're quite slow to come down,

then it's a heavily-bodied whiskey.

So how slow your legs come down

is an indication of how heavy your body is?

There's a lesson there, isn't there?

And then we look at the nose.

Smell the whiskey.

And then the palate of the whiskey.

Let it roll over the tongue there,

and then swallow,

and that's the finish.

That's the fifth and final stage of drinking a whiskey.

HE COUGHS

I'm left with spice, a little bit of apple.

I-I get a little bit of cinnamon, but it keeps coming.

First of all, there is a buzzing on your tongue,

followed by a fire and after that,

the flavour starts coming through.

You don't get it the moment you drink it. No.

That's why the palate and the finish are such different things.

When you look around Edinburgh, whiskey kind of suits it.

It's strong but it's sophisticated, isn't it?

Warms the cockles, as we say.

Ah!

Right, shall we have a fight?

HE LAUGHS

It's my last day in Edinburgh,

so I want to make the most of it

and a couple of miles from my city-centre hotel

is the coastal suburb of Portobello.

If you've never associated Edinburgh with golden sands,

it's got two miles of the stuff.

And being an early riser means I can continue

experiencing the traditions of this city from the moment I wake up.

I enjoy exercise, even if I'm away for the weekend,

and down here in Portobello,

I've heard there's a group of people that not only enjoy exercise

but they like to do it in the natural surroundings.

Come rain, shine or snow,

some locals like to start their weekends

with a clip in the Firth of Forth,

and somehow I've got roped into joining a group of wild swimmers.

You are going to swim out there, aren't you?

Yes, we are.

But that's proper cold, right?

It's summer, it's not cold.

Is this a tradition of Edinburgh people coming down here and swimming?

É

F

F

Why are you swimming in the freezing sea?

It just boosts your whole...

...the serotonins,

and you just go voom-voom-voom!

So you're sparking. Yeah. Sparking!

F

I've never really considered vooming me serotonins,

but this wouldn't be...

If I was, I don't think this would be the way I'd do it.

I bet you anything you come out of there

with the biggest smile on your face.

The swimmers down here seem to be used to the cold

but I have a cunning plan.

I look like the fire alarm went off in the hotel!

You are allowed to take the dressing gown out of the hotel, aren't you?

Come on, then.

WOMEN CHEER

F

A weekend away is supposed to be about nice food and a glass of wine!

Well done. Well done!

Brilliant!

It's about 13 degrees Celsius in the water right now,

but these hardy locals brave it out in winter

when it's about seven degrees.

HE LAUGHS

THEY CHEER

Did you enjoy it?

Ah, it's fabulous.

Scotland, you're madder than I thought!

ALL LAUGH

Ladies, I'll admit it, it's fun!

THEY CHEER

These ladies aren't just weekend warriors,

they're at it all week,

but I'm ready to wrap my hands around a hot cuppa.

This is a side of Edinburgh that I didn't expect.

It was absolutely delightful, brilliant.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

After a bracing start to the day, I'm in need of some warmth

and given I'm in Scotland,

I know just the thing to get me set

for a day's exploring - porridge.

I've just been swimming in the sea, I am particularly cold.

Were you in a wet suit? No. No!

Just in my trunks. Ah!

Oh, I say.

There you go. I say, may I?

You may.

Oh what a fabulous-looking thing.

Mm, hot, creamy porridge

with sharp, sweet raspberry on top.

I'm a big porridge fan

and I think it's just another example

of a brilliant Scottish tradition.

Coming up...

Fire! Fire!

...I have a quick smoke in the back room of a fishmonger's,

and I embrace my Scottish roots before I head back home...

What do you reckon? LAUGHING: Perfect!

It's my last day in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh.

A city where the culture and traditions

are visible all around you.

Nice doggy.

Thank you.

There are just so many iconic Scottish things

to see, do and eat.

And for my lunch,

I am on the hunt for one of my favourite Scottish products.

Come on, fancy a bit of smoked salmon?

Scotland is home to over 400 salmon fishing rivers

and dozens of smoke houses

producing a product that is popular the world over.

Sir, what a fabulous shop!

I just love-love smoked salmon. I particularly love the hot smoked,

very-very different to the smoked salmon we'd have

with our scrambled eggs.

This is a hot smoked salmon that originates from the Vikings.

It was brought over to Scotland.

Did you say the Vikings brought smoked salmon?

As far as I'm led to believe.

This is done in a honey and chilli marinade.

Tender. Very, very succulent.

The fish is just flaking away.

You get a honey sweetness, just a hint,

then you get that lovely saltiness

and it's finishing in chilli heat.

The Scots like a bit of spice.

And you do it here? It's all done here.

Can I have a look? Of course you can.

Established in 1908,

they have been smoking salmon here for over 100 years.

Incredible smell.

What do you smoke them with? Oak chips.

It's a lovely smoke you get from it.

May I? Yeah, of course. Yeah.

We have damp ones and we have dry ones.

Why do you have two different types?

One is just dampened cos if you have it bone-dry,

it will be far too heavy a smoke.

So how long are these sides of salmon going to be in?

We do it over a two-day period. A lot of TLC goes into it.

I'm in the process of smoking another batch.

Oh, let me light it. Course I will. Please.

I'll let you in here.

So if you just light the paper underneath the carton there.

Then maybe I might step in from there.

There we go.

There you go.

Thank you very much, Gregg.

So we'lljust buff that up a wee bit there.

Fire!

Yeah, that's it. Fire!

What's happening now is a tradition that's been going on

for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.

That's food history, that is.

After almost three days in the city,

it's clear that what makes Edinburgh so special

is just how strong its identity is

and that makes sense if you think about it.

The world over, everyone has an image of Scotland in their heads,

and now I'm ready to stake my own claim to a bit of Scotland.

My grandfather's family came down from Scotland

and settled in London, and although I don't consider myself to be

Scottish, there is a little bit of Wallace that I'd like to discover.

And despite being a Wallace, I have to confess

I've never donned a kilt in my life.

Hello, I'm after a kilt.

You've come to the right place.

My name is Wallace and I'm interested in Wallace tartans.

Can you show me an example? Of course I can.

So, in these books here, we have some quite early examples

of the set, which is the design that makes up Wallace tartan.

And here we have some samples of different shades.

I think that's a good tartan. I think that's a good tartan too.

Can you tell me where the kilt originates?

There's some people that say that the English invented it.

We're not too happy with that, I don't think!

Welsh people historically wore kilts as well.

The Cornish wore kilts, but there is evidence to suggest

it could go as far back as the Romans in Britain.

How do you wear them?

We tailor kilts to fit each individual customer

and I can show you how.

Yeah. OK! Yeah, yeah, shall I follow you? Yes.

OK, so we're going to measure you now for a kilt.

You've got a mask that suits your trousers! I do.

Be natural, no sucking in, just stand up nice and straight.

What do you mean? What are you saying? What are you saying?

We want to get the fit right.

Now a kilt sits up really, really high.

Here we go.

Does this feel about the middle of your kneecap? Yeah. Yep, cool.

Right, two seconds and I'll go and grab a kilt for you to try on.

I'm actually quite excited.

It can take six to ten weeks to have an artisan kilt made,

but I've got a train to catch,

so if I can't get Wallace tartan

then I'll be a Wallace in tartan.

I've never worn a kilt. No?

This is the closest we can get to Wallace for you.

Do you want to see how I look?

I'm excited to find out! I feel fantastic.

There he is!

What do you reckon?

It's perfect.

28 razor sharp pleats are cut loose.

We take the tacking out and then it starts to swing.

Flashes hold up my socks.

Hey, look at that.

And a well-secured pair of laces

keep my dancing shoes from flying off.

It's nowhere near the same as putting on a suit.

It's far more complex, but this is incredibly comfortable.

How's my swing?

Looking good. Lot of movement in there.

The mark of a good kilt is a nice swing in those pleats.

We'll give you a top half.

OK. Ah!

Come on.

If I went to a Scottish function, would they mind if I wore a kilt?

Not at all.

It is the garment that Scotland has given to the world and I think

everybody should get a chance to wear it at least once!

Hey!

Oh, come on.

Mrs Wallace's heart's going to flutter when I come home like this.

Embracing my Scottish roots feels like a fitting way

to end my weekend.

But before I jump on a train south,

I want to get one last look at this special place.

So I've come to Calton Hill,

which overlooks the city, to take in the views.

I've had a great weekend here in Edinburgh

but then I always have a great time here.

I mean, look, it's a beautiful city,

but what I really like is how strong the cultural identity is.

And it's not just in the lovely buildings

or in the great history,

it's woven into the fabric of everyday life.

It's what the people wear, it's what they eat,

it's what they drink.

It's wonderful, it's a lot of fun,

and I can't wait to come back.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media