A FEW DAYS IN GOTHIC EDINBURGH
On dreary, wintry Chicago days such as this, I like to revisit photos from old trips. Today I’m revisiting Edinburgh, Scotland, a city that could be considered dreary by some, but that we found welcoming, historic and haunting (in a good way). Edinburgh was the first stop on our 2015 three-month jaunt through Europe.
On our first day in Edinburgh, the weather was pretty mild so we headed up to Edinburgh Castle at the top of the Royal Mile. The views from the lookout points are spectacular and allowed us to see the vast differences between Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns. At night we headed to a pub called the Halfway House, allegedly the smallest pub in the UK. After that we walked to the Grassmarket area, a popular spot amount the university students. We spent most of the night at Sandy Bell’s, a pub famous for its live folk music. The musicians were wonderful and played for several hours. We also made our first friends - Graham and Eileen, a lovely older couple from Edinburgh who spend a lot of time up in the Isle of Skye, where we were headed next. Kevin, of course, got into a lively political conversation with Graham. They both agreed that Scotland should have its independence and Graham even gave Kevin his Livestrong-esque bracelet that gets his message across with a simple YES.
As you may or may not know, I (Sara) am a huge Harry Potter fan. Edinburgh is prime Harry Potter Land and a dream come true for any super fan. J.K. Rowling wrote the first two books at the Elephant House coffee shop off the Royal Mile, only a few feet away from George Heriot’s School, the inspiration for Hogwarts. During a writing class, J.K.’s teacher told her to walk through cemeteries and look at gravestones for character names. When you visit the Greyfriars cemetery, you can look for the graves of a McGonagall and a Tom Riddel. Poor Tom Riddel, he was just an average Scotsman who had no idea that his grave would be used as a message board for Voldemort hate-notes. You can also visit Victoria Street, which Rowling used as the inspiration for Diagon Alley.
On our next day, we took a free walking tour of the city. We love taking part of these when we travel - it is a great way to see the sites while staying on a budget. Our informative guide took us all over the Royal Mile and Grassmarket areas, explaining the culture and history of the town. Highlights included the St. Giles Cathedral, Literary Museum and the Greyfriars Cemetery. We saw the gravestone of Bobby, the most famous dog in Scotland. He helped his owner guard the cemetery in the 19th century and when the owner died Bobby continued to live in Greyfriars, sleeping every day on his owner’s grave. People leave sticks for him at his gravestone and there is a statue of him outside the cemetery. Future visitors, keep in mind: it’s also customary to rub his nose for good luck.
After the tour, we headed back to the New Town and stopped in at a pub called the Rose & Crown. There we met a young guy named Alastor (no, not Moody) who was only 22 but left school at 16 and traveled the world. He told us how his family traced their ancestors back to Ireland and how his ancient relative was kicked out of the country and shipped off to Scotland after he killed a man in a pub fight! After dinner (Indian - because when in the UK, eat Indian food), we got a night cap at the hotel where we met 3 more Irish travelers in for the weekend. They live in Waterford and we ended up staying up talking with them about everything from politics to movies to how terrible Kanye West is until 4 am!
Edinburgh is a fantastic walking city and an outdoor museum. You can make it from one corner of Old Town to the other side of New Town in about 20 minutes. On the last few days there, we wandered all over, taking in all of the architecture and patina throughout. We visited the Scotch Whisky Experience, a slightly-cheesy but fun tour that explains the process of making Scotch while showcasing the differences between the three whisky regions in Scotland. The coolest part of the tour was seeing the world’s largest whisky collection that was donated to the museum by an old man who spent years collecting rare and unique bottles. Many of the bottles were so old that all the whisky had evaporated from them. We tried the Scottish national dish, haggis, a mix of sheep’s heart, liver and lungs that is cooked in the animal’s intestines, for the first time and it was actually quite delicious and much more flavorful than we were expecting. Another highlight was a tour of Mary King’s Close. Closes are very narrow streets that resemble alleyways - you can find them all around Edinburgh. When Edinburgh decided to build the new City Chambers building, they planned to place it directly on top of Mary King’s Close. Since the street is on such a steep angle, you can still go underground to visit the area. You see how ancient Edinburghians lived during the Plague up until the 1800s as you are transported through the dark, damp rooms and houses. It has a definite creep factor to it, which is enhanced by the ghost stories they tell throughout the tour. We also happened to stumble upon a wedding as they were taking pictures. All of the groomsmen were dressed in the traditional jackets and kilts. Overall, we loved Edinburgh and couldn’t believe how untouched it still is from its medieval roots.
