Edinburgh: The city

Castle Rock is connected to the rest of Edinburgh through the Royal Mile, a mile-long road running from the castle to the Holyrood Palace. This mile is the central street in the Old Town, the medieval part of the city. Many shops and attractions open their doors onto the mile, and many more are hidden just out of view on the many narrow closes that run from the mile.

And nobody can walk past so many blue police-boxes without straightening their imaginary bowties at least once

Princess street garden, lays surprisingly next to Princess street. Princess street is Edinburgh main shopping street, and the definite borderline of the New Town, which was built mostly in the Georgian period. All of the big retail companies are on this street, so if that’s your thing be sure to go by Princess street. But beware… for yarnstores, you have to venture far further into New Town.

Between Princess street and the Old Town lays the park. Although it’s only open during daylight, it’s a beautiful and quiet place. The famous Scott Monument is in the park, and on the sides of it are Waverly Station and the National Gallery.

 

 

Because it did rain a bit when I was in Edinburgh (how unexpected), I took advantage of the fact that Scottish museums are free, so I spend half a day wandering through the National Museum of Scotland. The museum is located not far from George IV Bridge (where Rowling wrote Harry Potter), and has a very extensive collection. The museum does invite a lot of wandering though, because although there’s a rough divide into departments and themes, there’s no single route within the themes, leaving the visitor to explore on their own. I was very impressed with the Egyptian department. Seriously, you should have seen my face when, while just entering the museum, I was eye to eye with a thousand year old sarcophagus…which you could just reach out and touch! (even though I didn’t because it was an ancient sarcophagus)…there was no glass or bars or whatsoever. I liked the Pictish and Viking departments as well, and my inner child marvelled at the dinosaur skeletons.

 

At the far end of the Royal Mile, there are two hills. One is Arthur’s Seat in Holyrood Park, which I will discuss in a later post, the other is Calton Hill.Calton Hill both provides a great view on the city, the Firth of Forth and Holyrood Park. It is a great place to get away from the hustle and bustle that Edinburgh can be and one of the monuments shares my name. So what’s not to love?

 

Off course, no self respecting horror-location is complete without a community garden.