Edinburgh
As luck or God would have it, we ended up in a B&B about 15 mins walk into the Royal Mile. The royal mile is the street that runs from Edinburgh Castle up on top of its crag, down to Holyrood palace on the flats. It is the oldest part of Edinburgh. On the Saturday night we walked in to town, finding a nice café that did dinner, desert and coffee £7. Then a quiet beer in the oldest pub in Edinburgh, or so the sign said.
Edinburgh is where J.K. Rowling lived when she wrote Harry Potter. As you walk around and learn something of the history you quickly see how Harry Potter came to be. Scotland burnt over 3,000 woman as witches in the witch burning years, and most places have some kind of witches tour happening. Edinburgh burnt more than their fair share. J.K. sat in the Elephant House café while she wrote Harry Potter 1, a really nice café that overlooks the Greyfriars cemetery (of Greyfriars Bobby fame – the dog that wouldn’t leave his master, and stayed at his masters grave until he too died) where 250,000 people are buried in quite a small space, and also looks up to Edinburgh Castle perched on a crag, one of the more dramatic views of the castle really. And all around are these dark and forbidding Gothic and Victorian buildings, and tour groups led by Dracula’s talking about witches and wizards, and even a system of underground passages. This is the world of Harry Potter. As an aside, we can also recommend the shortbread at the Elephant House, yes we went there.
In our day in this wonderful place we toured the castle, as you do, walked the Royal Mile, ate at the Elephant House, twice, and generally wandered around, finishing with a drive up around the coast. It is a lovely lovely city.
The next day, on our way out, we drove around the new city, built in the 1700’s in the Georgian style, which is very pretty as well. Then off to explore the sites of battles and victories, and great defeats, all of which forged Scottish identity today.
Edinburgh is where J.K. Rowling lived when she wrote Harry Potter. As you walk around and learn something of the history you quickly see how Harry Potter came to be. Scotland burnt over 3,000 woman as witches in the witch burning years, and most places have some kind of witches tour happening. Edinburgh burnt more than their fair share. J.K. sat in the Elephant House café while she wrote Harry Potter 1, a really nice café that overlooks the Greyfriars cemetery (of Greyfriars Bobby fame – the dog that wouldn’t leave his master, and stayed at his masters grave until he too died) where 250,000 people are buried in quite a small space, and also looks up to Edinburgh Castle perched on a crag, one of the more dramatic views of the castle really. And all around are these dark and forbidding Gothic and Victorian buildings, and tour groups led by Dracula’s talking about witches and wizards, and even a system of underground passages. This is the world of Harry Potter. As an aside, we can also recommend the shortbread at the Elephant House, yes we went there.
In our day in this wonderful place we toured the castle, as you do, walked the Royal Mile, ate at the Elephant House, twice, and generally wandered around, finishing with a drive up around the coast. It is a lovely lovely city.
The next day, on our way out, we drove around the new city, built in the 1700’s in the Georgian style, which is very pretty as well. Then off to explore the sites of battles and victories, and great defeats, all of which forged Scottish identity today.
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