Little Fish Tours

Here's Ben doing his thing on the whisky tasting. He might be English but we don't hold that against him. What whisky would you like to try on the tasting?

Thank you for discovering Edinburgh with Little Fish Walking Tours.

Here our guide Ben S. leads his tour through the Old Town of Edinburgh. If you spot yourself in this picture and would like a copy, please message us, and we'll be happy to send it to you.

One of the great things about Edinburgh in the summer time is the long evenings. Sunset is at quarter to ten today but even at midnight the horizon is still bright.

Calton Hill (where this photo was taken) is one of the best spots in town for sunset walks.

It's World Whisky Day! So what better time to announce that we have a new whisky on our whisky tasting. Lochlea is a new independent distillery based in the Lowlands on the same farm that Robert Burns' father used to own. Will you be sipping on a whisky tonight? If so, which one?

We're not saying that Edinburgh is the best city in the world but...

It is, at long last, starting to feel a bit more spring-like in Edinburgh now. The cherry blossom is blooming great. These trees that are in bloom are at the entrance to the Canongate Kirk which is right beside a fantastic little museum called The Peoples Story.

We have two new members of staff, Valentina and Macarena who you may have seen out and about on the Royal Mile. They can confirm it takes exactly 7 weeks and 3 days before the drone of the bagpipes starts to get a little repetitive 😄 love them or hate them you are certainly never far from them when you work in and around the Old Town.

So here's Edinburgh's other well rubbed statue, David Hume. People come to rub his toe as they believe it will bring good luck. The great irony here being that Hume spent much of his working life reflecting and disproving the ideas of the miraculous or supernatural.

More recently there has been some controversy around Edinburgh University's decision to rename it's David Hume tower due to racist comments David Hume made during his lifetime. Some would argue that it is unfair to hold historical figures to modern day morals but in this case David Humes views drew controversy and criticism during his own lifetime most notably drawing criticism from fellow philosopher James Beattie.

Bobby, the dog who sat by his master's grave for 14 years is an icon of Edinburgh. He has popped up in a plethora of media from Discworld to GTA. For us, his most poignant influence was on an episode of Futurama. Today he is loved by millions and his nose is rubbed by thousands. We don't really understand the whole nose rubbing thing, what dog enjoys having its nose rubbed? The nose rubbing also frustrates some locals who are concerned the nose may well fall off one day! If you must rub a statue David Hume is nearby and he has a very well polished toe. This supposedly brings good luck which is rather ironic (we will go into why in our next post) but it does have the added advantages that no one seems too concerned about it falling off any time soon.

If you have joined us on one of our whisky tastings you will already know all about this man Deacon Brodie and if you would like to learn why he is believed to be the inspiration to Dr Jekyll then you had best come join us on one of our whisky tastings (soon to launch in Spanish!) click the link in our bio for our website and bookings.

Gladstones Land is one of the oldest surviving buildings on the Royal Mile. The building was due to be demolished in the 1930 but thankfully it was saved by the who have opened up the old tenament building as a museum that looks at life in Edinburgh spanning a period of 500 years. Out front you have the iconic sign depicting a gled, an old Scots word for a kite or hawk.

Sad to hear of the sudden closure of the Jazz Bar. Over the past 20 years they have put on live music almost nightly. Over the past 10 years Edinburgh has seen the closure of many of its small to mid sized music venues which we believe is very much to the detriment of the city. The cost of everything is crazy just now but where and when you can please go out and support local businesses, especially those that add value to your local community. 🤞For this venue to be revived soon!

Tell me it's spring time in Edinburgh without telling me it's spring time in Edinburgh 😅 The weather is set to improve soon and by soon we mean by July but until then at least we get to enjoy the views. Thanks for this shot of Edinburgh Castle, at least we think it's Edinburgh Castle!

Only this day, 710 years ago, Thomas Randolph and 30 men scaled the cliffs of Castle Rock to break into Edinburgh Castle and retake the fortress which was held by the English at the time. That is not the reason why an honour guard stood out the front of Edinburgh Castle today though. The Scottish coronation stone or the "Stone of Destiny" is leaving Edinburgh to head to its new home in Perth close to the palace of Scone. This is where the old monarchs of Scotland used to be coronated until the stone was stolen by Edward the 1st in 1296.

This could be you! Only you will be on the Royal Mile and not by the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond.

***
VACANCY
***

Job Title – Meeting Point Manager
Start – March 2024
Salary – £2250per month (40 hours weekly)
Employer – Little Fish Tours
We are a fast growing, award winning, tour provider here in Edinburgh. We offer guests 5-star experiences in the city and we are looking to recruit an additional Meeting Point Manager (MPM) to assist with our tour start points. This role involves providing excellent customer service to our guests.
The MPM will be responsible for a variety of tasks.

These will include;
Providing guests assistance by phone & email,
Booking & collecting attraction entry tickets,
Handling payments from guests as required,
Meeting/checking-in guests for tours – ensuring an easy and stress-free experience for the guests,
Light office duties.

The ideal candidate will be hard-working and fast learning, with excellent customer service skills. Previous experience in the tourism industry not required as full training will be given by Little Fish Tours. Spanish as a 2nd language would be advantageous, but not required.

If interested or if you have any questions, please send your CV with a cover letter to [email protected].

Applications without a cover letter will not be accepted.

If you or someone you know might be interested then please get in touch 😊

There is no castle tours running today unfortunately as the Castle has closed due to it blowing an absolute hoolie out there! But we will back to running normal tours again tomorrow!

With spooky season now coming to an end Edinburgh is very much showing off all its autumnal beauty. If not Edinburgh where do you like to go to watch the season change?

It is World Tourism Day today. We would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past 7 years. We have grown from one man holding an umbrella on the Royal Mile to opening .toddy.edinburgh just a couple of months ago. A lot has happened over the past 7 years but we are still here come rain or shine and we look forward to meeting you on one of our tours soon!

You know it's almost the end of summer when the stadium comes down from the front of Edinburgh Castle, it will be nice to get the views from the esplanade back again!

This Sunday we have something fun happen, we have got .paul.quiz doing not a pub quiz here at Hot Toddy. The quiz will start at 1pm and the idea is it's a hungover cafe quiz. It's an excuse to get out of bed, have a bloody mary and hopefully win some prizes. It's going to be a laugh so spread the word and bring all your friends!

The cafe across from us loves to put little bears into my flat white, I feel bad to squish his face with a lid so don't bother with one. Good way for them to save money on lids but I am now covered in coffee 🤣

Running your own company can be a tiring business!

Thanks again to for having us around, sharing your knowledge and all the tasty coffees!

Look at this, a photo and not another short video of me rambling on about my hair 🤣 This lonely office chair is sitting in what will soon become our new whisky lounge.

I'm no expert but I have gotten pretty good at editing photos on my phone on the PC but now that I venture into video I have no idea what I am doing with DaVinci Resolve. Any top tips for me?

So everyone has had that conversation after a few drinks about opening a bar and calling it Puzzles because we have all seen that episode of How I Met Your Mother. Well it may not be a bar but we have a large 2 floor restaurant that we are turning into a café and whisky room! If anyone has experience managing a café/restaurant then hit us up as we will be taking on a venue manager as soon as possible.

Want to become a freelance tour guide? We are looking to expand our guiding team in time for Easter. If you are interested send your CV/covering letter to [email protected]

Little Fish Tours updated their address.

You just never know what you might find in Edinburgh 😄 Hey if you want to join a tour then hit us up!

Post tour haggis outside the front of Edinburgh Castle, thanks The Haggis Box