Taking a Walking Tour Around Edinburgh

Right after a magical breakfast at the Elephant House, Anjali, Asya and I headed over to the Royal Mile to start our free 3-hour walking tour of Edinburgh! This tour is hosted through Sandeman, a very well-known tour group that hosts guided tours in almost every city imaginable in Europe. The tour guides are sustained by tips and donations and since most of them are locals or dedicated ex-pats, you know you are really getting an amazing inside look of their hometown! I would still recommend keeping some money on your person since these tour guides really go out of their way to make your time memorable.

Just look for the red umbrella!

Although the tour lasts 3 hours, it is basically an introduction to Edinburgh. Many of the places we saw on the tour are on our list to visit during our stay in the city. Edinburgh is a fairly small town divided into Old Town and New Town, but our tour mainly focuses on the features and attractions in Old Town.

A Brief History of Scotland and Edinburgh

After signing up and receiving our ticket, we began fairly punctually at 11AM. Our lovely guide led us from the red umbrella meeting place through a small close (alleyway) to begin our tour with a brief history of Scotland and the city of Edinburgh.

Our Edinburgh-born tour guide!

The Writers’ Museum, Edinburgh

In a nutshell: aside from the historical inaccuracies of Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, the Scottish Wars of Independence was an important turning point in Scottish history. With the defeat in the Scottish Wars of Independence during the 13th and 14th centuries, Scotland fell to English authority. That is why Edinburgh is separated into Old (Scottish) and New Town (English influenced). Edinburgh since grew, becoming one of the most well-preserved medieval towns in the world. Today, we are going to walk the streets where royalty traveled, the Scots battled for their freedom, and where their ghosts still dwell.

The Royal Mile

From there, we made our way through the main street in Edinburgh: The Royal Mile. The Royal Mile connects many important streets and landmarks in the city, which is great for navigating this small area. It is almost impossible to miss this street when visiting Edinburgh!

St. Giles Cathedral

St. Giles Cathedral

Edinburgh Castle

From the Royal Mile, you can grab a quick look up to Edinburgh Castle! Around this time of year, the city was in the midst of preparing for the Military Tattoo Festival so those bleachers to the right would normally not be there. We have been told that Edinburgh Castle has some of the best views of the city. We’ll be revisiting the castle in a later post. I promise!

We will be going there tomorrow.

Grassmarket

Past Edinburgh Castle is where you’ll find Grassmarket, a small town square infamous for hosting public hangings back when Scotland practiced capital punishment. Today, it is home to fabulous pubs, weekly street markets, and pleasantly whimsical cafes.

Sorry random guy.

Grassmarket Street Market

This was the point in our tour to take a break and explore the area on our own for a little while. Some took the time to use the restroom or sign up with other Sandeman tours held later that day. Luckily for us, there was also a street market today so we all took out our pocket change and went shopping!

Here you’ll find artisanal foods and local artists bringing their wares to visiting tourists.

A vendor selling Anjali a quirky Harry Potter inspired clock necklace.

Doctor Who, Harry Potter, and Hunger Games inspired jewelry for sale.

Instead of trinkets, I went for the food. Namely, the macarons (I LOVE macarons).

I went for the Lavender, Hendrick’s Gin, Passion Fruit, and Salted Caramel macarons. Although they were slightly more than what I am used to paying for macarons, the flavors were incredible and none that I have ever tasted before! It’s great for sharing!

Candlemaker Row

Walking up Candlemaker Row was my favorite part of our walking tour. I did mention that J.K. Rowling lived here while she wrote the first book of the Harry Potter series, but I can’t help but see Edinburgh as an even more magical place! Candlemaker Row is what Diagon Alley looks like, to me, in real life! There is even a joke shop at the beginning of the street that is as outlandish and loud as the Weasleys’ Wizard Wheeszes. I especially liked the old used bookstore at the top of the street where you can buy antique maps and yellowed volumes crisp with age. I like to picture myself browsing through the books and finding the dust in the store magically transporting me into the pages itself. I don’t consider myself an imaginative person so the fact that a city has that effect on my brain is mind-boggling and incredibly exciting!

Can you see Diagon Alley?

End of Candlemaker’s Row

Greyfriars Cemetery Entrance

Bobby the Dog

Just outside Greyfriars Cemetery is a small statue of a dog named “Bobby.” In the mid 1800’s, Bobby once belonged to a night watchman of the nearby cemetery. At his master’s early and unexpected death, Bobby stood over his grave for 14 years and during that time became a much beloved local figure. Today, you can visit Bobby’s grave at Greyfriars where people from over the years left flowers, dog toys, and sticks for him to fetch in the afterlife. Dogs are really man’s best friend!

Rub his nose for luck!

Greyfriars Cemetery

Our tour guide led us through the gates of Greyfriars Cemetery into the area where hundreds (thousands?) call their final resting place. It is believed that over hundreds of years of expansion and growth, the entire city of Edinburgh is built upon the grave sites of generations before. While our presence seems blasphemous to the tranquil grounds, our tour guide fervently assured us that it is culturally acceptable to visit old cemeteries in Edinburgh.

Listening to Naomi explain the horrendous history of Greyfriars Cemetery and Edinburgh itself.

In many places and cultures around the world, visiting a cemetery for tourist purposes seems fairly unusual. I do share some of those feelings so when we walked into Greyfriars Cemetery, I was surprised at what I experienced. Greyfriars did not have a burial since around the end of the 1800s so this place feels eerily old and, to me, incredibly beautiful. There is such a cruel and brutal history of the occupants of this cemetery but you would not really know it just from walking around the grounds. I have heard that on those rare sunny days, locals would even bring picnics to the nearby cemeteries to enjoy an afternoon meal.

It is also believed that J.K Rowling also walked by these tombstones and found some inspiration for the names of a few noteworthy characters…

National Museum of Scotland

We ended our tour in front of the National Museum of Scotland. Here, you can find Dolly, the first cloned animal, as well as many exhibits of Scottish artifacts and history. While there are not too many specific details I can remember about the tour, I know that I found it absolutely fun and engaging. I loved our tour guide and I thought she did an amazing job for giving us a 3 HOUR tour! I gave her £15 for what I thought was a great tour of Edinburgh!

Now onto more adventures!