Edinburgh, The City

 August 19 to 23, 2021.  

When traveling, I'm not normally one that is attracted to big cities, in fact I tend to avoid them. Perhaps this is due to the fact that most of my experiences traveling to big cities has been in cars, where driving and parking are difficult and stressful. 

OTOH, when we've traveled by cruise ship and have been dropped off in older European cities that we explored by foot, I found them very enjoyable. Edinburgh is a big city, yet I found it very enjoyable!  Rich in history, culture, art and friendly people who (mostly) speak English. It is a very walkable city, and we parked the car and didn't use it again until we were ready to leave. The only public transportation we needed, was a tour-bus that gave us an overview of the layout.  

The brightly painted facade of Old Victoria Street

The image above is of the shops and restaurants on Old Victoria Street. Cars do go on this cobblestone street, but not so many.  

Nearby was the historic Grass Market area of Edinburgh. This was on our daily route between the main part of the city and our rental flat. This area is filled with sidewalk cafes, pubs, shops and an outdoor market. 

Pedestrian outdoor malls and sidewalk cafes of The Grass Market

Not all the streets are so wide nor flat.  The town is centered on the big hill that is topped with the castle, so many streets, alleyways and walkways are very steep and are covered with stairways.  These pedestrian routes save time making a more direct route up the hills, but they are not very friendly for strollers (prams), wheelchairs or those with limited mobility. 

Narrow side streets (alleys) with steep stairways

Most places around town have some view of the castle. This serves as a landmark that helps with navigation and general orientation.  

The grandeur of the big castle on the hill is visible from most everywhere. 

Every town has the oldest pub. The White Hart Inn claims that title in Edinburgh, but there are older buildings that were operating as pubs or taverns before this, but there is the old debate about continuously operating, versus continuously licensed, versus continuously held by the same family or company. You should probably have a few pints and discuss this further with the locals. 

Every town has it's oldest pub. The White Hart Inn was established in 1516

If you admire the medieval Gothic style architecture, there are plenty of great examples here. The St. Giles' Cathedral (below) has a fascinating history. It was founded by Catholics in 1124, was converted to protestant in the Calvinist tradition under John Knox, who had studied under John Calvin in Geneva and was named the first protestant minister at St. Giles in 1559. 

Today, the public square in front of the cathedral is used for various street fairs, celebrations and gatherings.   

St. Giles' Cathedral (Presbyterian) Square

Another dramatic example of the Gothic style is the Tolbooth Kirk which has the highest tower in Edinburgh (240 feet) and another recognizable landmark. It's not actually medieval, but was built in that style during the Victorian era. It is no longer operating as a church, but has a cafe.  

Tolbooth Kirk, built in 1844

Visible from the other side of the Tolbooth Kirk, you can see the sign for The Witchery (below).  This was a highly rated restaurant we wanted to try, but was all booked up on the days were were there. 

Sign for The Witchery restaurant

The main street (Lawnmarket) that goes up to the castle is a called the "Royal Mile" and is a center for pedestrian traffic, shops, cafes, markets and many street performers. Park your car and walk this street, to get a real feel for Edinburgh. 

Pedestrian area of the Royal Mile

Among the various street performers you might spot on the Royal Mile include magicians, jugglers, singers, balloon artists, characters from Harry Potter, of course there will be bag-pipe players and you might even spot Elvis Presley!  This is a party place, so expect to see a party.  

Even the walking tours of Edinburgh are a party.

Click to hear the bag pipes of Edinburgh

Click to hear Elvis! 

Now there are plenty of great food choices in Edinburgh. The trick is to find something unique to the area, and not just your usual British fare.  We noticed that the fish and chippies often featured fried bananas or even deep-fried Mars bars!  We didn't feel like clogging our veins with this stuff, but it was interesting to see and might be fun for the youngsters.   

Deep Fried Mars Bars!  

Something that is local to Scotland is the haggis.  We tried some at one of our restaurant stops and really enjoyed it.  But you know the British fascination of making meat-flavored crisps still applies, so we found some haggis-flavored crisps too!  

Delicious meet-flavored potato crisps! 

There was one bar that was on our way back to the rental flat that always had a very long line of customers queued up down the street. Of course any place that serves hand made chocolates and fresh churned Gelato and has a line down the block must be on our list. One day as we were passing, light rain was falling and the lines were shorter than usual, so we took advantage and went in for treats. 

Gelato flavors for the day of our visit

Two happy boys enjoying nothing better than a cone on a rainy day

Another somewhat surprising fact about Scotland is they have their own currency. It is still denominated in pounds sterling, but the bills are printed by various banks in Scotland with their own designs. I found three different £10 notes, from different banks with different designs.  While it is supposed to be considered legal tender in all of UK, we found that many shops in southern England refused to accept it!  

Bank Note from Royal Bank of Scotland

There are many famous Scotsmen besides the royalty who lived in castles. Edinburgh has long been a focal point for culture, science, economics, philosophy, engineering and invention. Adam Smith (1723-1790) is commemorated with a statue on the Royal Mile.  

Statue of Adam Smith

Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) is also commemorated with a statue on the Royal Mile. 

Statue of David Hume

In modern pop culture, we saw that J K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series lived and wrote much of the popular works from Edinburgh. As a result there are many active tributes to the characters and locations of the books throughout town. 

Harry Potter's invisibility spell

Traditional Scottish bag pipe performer

The White Unicorns

Statue of James Watt

Another Scottish Engineer and inventor was James Watt, inventor of the first commercial steam engine.  Statue is located in the Scottish National Museum.  

Oldest Color TV in the World: GE950

Scottish engineer and inventor John Baird invented the first color television and the first 3D television systems. We saw this historic color TV in the Scottish National Museum. 

Finally, I end with a few of my 360 panoramic images.  

Edinburgh, Royal Mile - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

 

Edinburgh, Royal Mile - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

 

National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

-David