Scotland: Edinburgh

Scotland’s capital is a magnificent city, filled with medieval buildings, narrow alleyways or closes, and a castle that is perched high on the rocks of an extinct volcano making it impossible to miss. We took the tram from the airport into the city, and as we looked up and saw the giant castle and the surrounding Old Town, we couldn’t wait to explore!

It has two distinct areas: Old Town and New Town. Old Town starts at Edinburgh Castle’s high ridge (the crag) and stretches down the length of the Royal Mile (the tail) to the Palace of Holyrood. It has a ‘fishbone’ street pattern of narrow closes leading off the main street’s spine. The medieval town layout is still intact today and gives Edinburgh such a unique character, making you feel like you are walking down the same narrow alleys as the famous writers and poets did back in their times.

During the 16^th and 17^th centuries Edinburgh was a booming center of trade, and because of space restrictions in this small cramped area, buildings were stacked story upon story, making some of the world’s tallest buildings (or skyscrapers) of their time. Some were up to 14 stories high. The rich and the poor occupied these buildings together, and many of the houses, vaults, and taverns from this era still exist today. We loved Old Town and spent most of our time in this area, walking the Royal Mile and popping into many of the historic sites.

New Town was developed later, in the 18^th century when Edinburgh no longer had enough room to house everyone. The town was busting at the seams and becoming a polluted mess. People wanted to move out of the chaos to a newer area, so in 1766 a contest was launched to create a new design for a new area of the city. This area was built, and is now known for its Georgian architecture. It has a really nice feel, but not the same charm as the older areas of town. We stayed in New Town with a friend of a friend who was gracious enough to let us crash for a few days. It was really nice- in a great location near the main street (Princes Street), and also close to Old Town.

We only had two full days in the city, so we started our first morning off with another of the free walking tours that we love. We learned all about Edinburgh’s history as well as its sorted past of beheadings, witch burnings, grave robbing, and mysterious murders. It was a very enchanting tour, and helped us narrow down some of what we’d do the next couple days.

 One of my favorite stops was Greyfriar’s Kirkyad. On the southern edge of Old Town, this graveyard is filled with Scottish history and ghost stories. It had an absolutely incredible view of the city, and sent chills down my spine with its creepy, gothic feel as we walked through the muddy narrow paths looking at the medieval headstones. It has been a burial ground since 1562, home now to many famous, and ordinary Scottish people. There were many stories we learned of the place:

The Kirk acted as prison to 1,200 seventeenth century Covenanters, and is the burial ground of ‘bloody’ George Mackenzie, who persecuted and tortured the Covenanters. His small tomb, known as the ‘Black Mausoleum’ is inside the Kirkyard, and has become known for its paranormal activity. We also found out that the Kirkyard itself is said to be one of most haunted places in Edinburgh. We checked out Mackenzie’s tomb but didn’t go inside…it was definitely eerie, but I can’t say I felt any strange feelings come over me like so many people have claimed to feel (which I’m ok with!).

One of the most famous residents of the Kirkyard is Greyfriar’s Bobby, a loyal skye terrier dog who watched over his master John Gray’s grave in the cemetery for 14 years before passing to the next world himself. This cute dog actually became a citizen of Edinburgh and was buried at the cemetery too! I had no idea, but apparently there is a Disney movie made about the little dog Bobby.

Tom Riddle Tombstone

Elephant House Cafe

Another cool tidbit we learned was that some character names from Harry Potter were inspired from the graves. We went and saw Tomas Riddle’s gravestone, as well as a few other characters like ‘Moody.’ Though they weren’t the actual characters, it was cool to see where the inspiration came from. J.K. Rowling lived in Edinburgh during much of her writings of Harry Potter. Rumor has it that she spent time writing in Elephant House Café, as well as some time in the Kirkyard, where she happened to get inspiration for some names…. Greyfriar’s is also next door to George Heriot’s School for children, with an un-missed view of the ancient Edinburgh castle. It is said J.K Rowling based Hogwarts off of Heriot’s School, and seeing the view of the castle also helps explain how she came up with the design of Hogwarts. Being a Harry Potter fan, I loved this!

We also spent much of our first day at Edinburgh Castle. It was massive!!! The castle has incredible panoramic views everywhere you look, and it was filled with all kinds of history inside.

We went through a war museum, saw the Scottish Crown Jewels, and went into many of the rooms where royalty lived and spent much time in. It was one of the most picturesque Castles we had been in to date, and we spent almost 3 hours inside. After the castle we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the most budget place we could find, and headed home to catch-up on Skype with our families.

The next day we woke up to rain and wind, but decided to head to our chosen destination despite the weather, which made things interesting. We hiked up Arthur’s Seat, which is an 823 ft. peak, leftover as part of the extinct volcano.

It had spectacular views of the city and the sea, and was a great workout to climb to the top. It was crazy because it was so green and rugged that it felt like we were hiking out in the middle of nowhere, but when we got to the top you could see all of Edinburgh! Right when we got near the top the weather got nasty. We saw some clouds coming towards us that looked pretty dark. The wind picked up and the rain started falling harder, and we got drenched! It was kind of fun being up there in all the chaos, but we grabbed some photo shots and then ran down as quick as we could without slipping on the rocks on the way (which proved to be tougher than it should’ve been).

Once we got down, we found the National Museum of Scotland, which was warm, free, and full of great history. We had our picnic lunch inside and spent most of the afternoon learning about the Picts, Scottish Clans, and the rebellions. It was really interesting, and I saw my maiden name appear a couple times on the Scottish surnames, which was fun to read about!

That evening, we headed to an attraction that I knew might be a little touristy, but one I really wanted to check out- the Real Mary King’s close. A once booming street of trade and commerce back in the 1600’s, this close was one of many that were partially demolished and buried under the Royal Exchange. The close is filled with urban legends, myths and ghost stories, as well as real stories of plague victims being walled up and left to die there. Today you can get a tour of the close (which is still closed off to the general public today). The guide dresses up like he’s from the times, and takes you down into the close telling you stories of various people and acting as if he’s from the time. Sure, it was a little bit cheesy, but really cool to see and learn about the plague and how people did business back in those days. It definitely made me leave feeling happy for flush toilets and clean water.

We couldn’t leave without trying the national dish of haggis. It was on every menu, and kept getting brought up. So we tried some at a little café for lunch in one of the closes off the Royal Mile. We had a haggis meat pie, rather than the haggis with ‘neeps and tatties’ (mashed turnips and potatoes). It was good, but not something I would crave to have again right away.

Edinburgh was an enchanting city, full of myths, stories and legends, and I loved the short time we spent there.