We went to Edinburgh first, and I wish we had a full week to explore what it had to offer, instead of just one measly day.
Our plane ride from Dublin arrived late at night, so we went to bed pretty soon after we arrived at our AirBnB, which was just a snort bus ride from downtown Edinburgh. The next morning we woke early, ready to hit the town.
None of us had ever been to Edinburgh before, so it was up to our good friend Google to help us find some things to do. Armed with a few different tourist attractions, we left eh AirBnB, go breakfast at a nearby hotel (Niko splurged on a peanut butter brownie to share with everyone and it was divine), and catching a bus to the town center.
When we got there, I think we were all blown away just but the architecture and the atmosphere of the city. Edinburgh is built on a long ridged spine, and was previously heavily fortified with huge city walls, so when it was really beginning to expand in population in the 15th and 16th centuries, more and more buildings were crammed in wherever they could find space. They even ended up building on top of each other, resulting in this towering, teetering city full of alleyways called closes. Streets were eventually widened, of course, and a lot of the high building were knocked down or leveled as foundation for other buildings, but that cosines remains, every building fitting together with the next. And Edinburgh was never really heavily attacked, so a lot of very old buildings remain, giving it a very cohesive, ancient feel.
My favorite aspect of the city was a result of its geography. As I said, it was built along a jutting spine. The High Street runs all along the ridge, ending at the striking Edinburgh Castle, and all the streets and closes run downhill on either side of the High Street. So if you turn off the High Street at all, the buildings just fall away from you and you are treated to the most stunning views of the city laid out beneath you, enticing you to go wandering.
A view of the New Town, the area outside the original city walls
The beautiful Edinburgh Castle
The first thing we did was hop on a walking tour of the city, which was both informative and great fun. We opted for the 18+ tour, which meant our tour had a little added flavor in the form of heavy cursing from our Scottish guide, as well as some more colorful stories from Edinburgh's past, which I won't repeat here, because my grandparents read this blog.
Finishing up with that, we wandered around the downtown on our own, stopping by the Elephant House Cafe, where J.K. Rowling wrote the majority of the Harry Potter books, as well as the National Library.
We also considered checking out Edinburgh Castle, but according to our tour guide, you need a full day just for that in order to get your money's worth and do it justice. So instead, we took a recommendation from Google and went to a tour of Mary King's Close. As I mentioned before, a close is a tiny alleyway that used to be the original streets of Edinburgh. Aside from the High Street, Mary King's Close was supposed to be the widest street in the city, and it was only 6 or 7 feet wide! So that gives you and idea of the tight quarters of medieval Edinburgh. Along these closes, tiny brick dwellings would be built on top of each other, reaching up to 14 or 15 stores high. The lower classes lived on the bottom sections where there was little natural light and rivers of human waste, as well as on the top few floors because it was a strenuous climb up. The wealthy would live in the middle sections. Mary's Close is particularly well preserved because it was one of the areas leveled and bricked over to use as foundation for other buildings, meaning that the original streets and buildings are all still there underneath the ground. They were recently cleaned up and opened back up for tours. Seeing it in person was fascinating. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures as we were below a government building and they didn't want photos of their foundations.
We didn't only learn about the close, but also a lot of history of Edinburgh as a whole, especially about the Black Plague and how it ran rampant in such a confined city. Edinburgh was also the origin of the iconic plague doctor masks, designed to look like skeletal crows in order to scare away the "miasmas" believed to be causing the plague. In actuality, it was acting as a sort of gas mask, protecting the doctors. Lots of fascinating stuff, and a great tour overall on Edinburgh's history.
After the tour of the close, we went back to our AirBnB to relax for about 30 minutes before heading back out for some dinner at an amazing Indian restaurant. Their naan was the size of a baby.
Mmm...look at that naan.
Then on to our last tour of the day, a night tour of Edinburgh's most haunted places. This tour took us first into the New Town, underneath the South Bridge. Here there were a series of vaults and tunnels that had once been havens of dangerous criminals and gangs, as well as living quarters for the poorest of the poor. With no natural light and damp water constantly dripping from the low ceilings, they were bleak places indeed. And while our tour guide may have exaggerated her tales of the supernatural events that were supposed to have occurred there, there was no denying it was a creepy place. Wind moaned through the tunnels, and the uneven cobbled paths wound and split in a dark labyrinth. Not a place I would enjoy wandering through on my own.
From there we went to Greyfriars Kirkyard which, due to the Black Plague, is chock full of bodies. While there are only 500 gravestones in the place, there are estimated to be tens of thousands of bides buried there. Our target was a tomb said to be haunted by the Mackenzie Poltergeist, a malicious spirit of the graveyard and one of the most documented supernatural activities in the world. A place so haunted that it's been locked away from the general public and only allowed to be entered by supervised tours...(cue dramatic music). But again, no supernatural activities to be seen, just a beautiful, rainy graveyard with some spooky tales for atmosphere. Still, very good stories and good fun overall.
In front of the Mackenzie Tomb.
Then it was back to the AirBnB and bed for us. We got up fairly late the next day, reluctantly boarding a bus to Glasgow....which I will post about tomorrow! One more blog post to wrap up our wonderful UK trip.
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