Edinburgh

Edinburgh #1

I'm afraid I'm now going to unload all my holiday spam... I spent a few days in Edinburgh last week. I used to work there a lot at one time (a good thirty years ago!) so I have many memories from there but we never used to get time to explore the city. I did once go to the Edinburgh Festival, which was amazing. It seems a lot busier these days, with lots of American, French and German tourists, and huge numbers of young Chinese - students?, influencers? 

The train journey seemed long but travelling through York, Durham and along the Northumberland coast means it is one of the more beautiful train lines in the country. I arrived in the early afternoon and concentrated initially on exploring the Old Town, where the Royal Mile runs down from Edinburgh Castle to Holyroodhouse. I didn't have long enough to walk its full length, so I went uphill, past St Giles Cathedral. The High Street is wide and cobbled, flanked by historic buildings and thronged with tourists and Scottish 'tourist tat' - more tartan scarves, highland cow stuffies, kilts and whisky than you ever want to see! It has wonderful views over to the coast, the Firth of Forth.  

The whole of Edinburgh is very hilly, and there are narrow alleyways (closes) and steps branching off the main artery. The street plan is labyrinthine, much of it conforming to the medieval plan but then extended from the late 18th century. 

There are some imposing statues, like this one of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch in Parliament Square. There's also one of Adam Smith, economist, philosopher and author of 'The Wealth of Nations' (see my second photo above).  

I wandered down Victoria Street, instagram famous for its brightly coloured shops. It's said to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley in J K Rowling's Harry Potter books - and there was a long queue outside the Harry Potter merchandise store. 

Nearby on George IV Bridge you can see what was the Elephant House Café, where Rowling wrote some of her books. It was damaged in a fire in 2021 and has yet to reopen. 

At the bottom of Victoria Street/West Bow, Bow Well dates back to 1674, built to supply drinking water for the Grassmarket, one of Edinburgh's main market places since 1477. As a gathering point for market traders and cattle drovers, the Grassmarket was traditionally a place of taverns, hostelries and temporary lodgings, rough and poor. It's only relatively recently that it has been 'gentrified'.

At the bottom end, there's a fine view of the back of Edinburgh Castle, which towers over the city, perched on a plug of volcanic rock. (My first photo is taken from a famous viewpoint known as the Vennell Steps.)