Edinburgh rocks. Really there is so much beauty and history in this city, you can spend days getting to know your favourite parts of it. I only had three days though, so had to make the most of these.
Signed on for the free walking tour that leaves at 11am every day from the Starbucks on the Mile. It lasted for about 3 hours and the guide - Mark, a great story teller - picked up a lot of the history and legends connected to Edinburgh. Saw a number of interesting places: passed by the Writers Museum dedicated to Scott, Burns and Stevenson, St Giles church, the Mercat Cross (gory history - thieves used to get nailed to the cross by their ears we were told - ouch), the Elephant Cafe where Rowling wrote the initial Potter books, the Heriot School which is said to have been one of the inspirations behind Hogwarts - a lot of the names of her characters (such as McGonagall) can be found on the plaques around the school, Greyfriar's church and the famous dog Bobby (well we saw the dog's statue anyway), the house of Deacon Brodie (who inspired Stevenson's Jekyll/Hide character), the Princess Street gardens, etc etc. All in all a good way to get an initial idea of the city and its stories.
Did some more walking this time and found that the lower part of the Mile especially Canongate is a nicer area than the upper half, less crowded and touristy. You just have to veer off into any of the narrow lanes leading off the main road and you find yourself in beautiful little residential areas with gardens and flower-boxes in the windows and that kind of thing. As I was really walking quite randomly, didn't know for sure where I was till I found myself at the old Calton cemetery. Spooky and quiet.
At night - well it was night timewise since it was 8.30pm but really it was bright day outside - Amanda, Melissa and I headed out for a drink, before joining this so called Ghost tour. More stories and a guide who loved drama! The walk took us up past the cemetery to Calton Hill. You get some lovely views here of all sides of the town, apart from the Observatory. There is also this Parthenon-style incomplete pillared folly which is formally called the National Monument I think...abandoned after a point.
The tour was going on to a college-crowd pub after this, we figured we'd rather walk back as it was nearly 11pm and nobody was in the mood for that kind of thing particularly. Long day, but what a day!
Signed on for the free walking tour that leaves at 11am every day from the Starbucks on the Mile. It lasted for about 3 hours and the guide - Mark, a great story teller - picked up a lot of the history and legends connected to Edinburgh. Saw a number of interesting places: passed by the Writers Museum dedicated to Scott, Burns and Stevenson, St Giles church, the Mercat Cross (gory history - thieves used to get nailed to the cross by their ears we were told - ouch), the Elephant Cafe where Rowling wrote the initial Potter books, the Heriot School which is said to have been one of the inspirations behind Hogwarts - a lot of the names of her characters (such as McGonagall) can be found on the plaques around the school, Greyfriar's church and the famous dog Bobby (well we saw the dog's statue anyway), the house of Deacon Brodie (who inspired Stevenson's Jekyll/Hide character), the Princess Street gardens, etc etc. All in all a good way to get an initial idea of the city and its stories.
Did some more walking this time and found that the lower part of the Mile especially Canongate is a nicer area than the upper half, less crowded and touristy. You just have to veer off into any of the narrow lanes leading off the main road and you find yourself in beautiful little residential areas with gardens and flower-boxes in the windows and that kind of thing. As I was really walking quite randomly, didn't know for sure where I was till I found myself at the old Calton cemetery. Spooky and quiet.
At night - well it was night timewise since it was 8.30pm but really it was bright day outside - Amanda, Melissa and I headed out for a drink, before joining this so called Ghost tour. More stories and a guide who loved drama! The walk took us up past the cemetery to Calton Hill. You get some lovely views here of all sides of the town, apart from the Observatory. There is also this Parthenon-style incomplete pillared folly which is formally called the National Monument I think...abandoned after a point.
The tour was going on to a college-crowd pub after this, we figured we'd rather walk back as it was nearly 11pm and nobody was in the mood for that kind of thing particularly. Long day, but what a day!
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