Edinburgh Castle

From royalty to witches to murderers and body snatchers, Edinburgh aka Dun Edin (fort on the hill) aka Auld Reekie (old smokey/old smelly) is a charming city with beautiful buildings and a history longer and more dense than the towering 14 story buildings that once stood inside the Flodden walls. It is no wonder that JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series from this city! 

From the castle, which is set upon an extinct volcano, you can look down the lava flow known as the Royal Mile, past Arthur’s Seat (a second extinct volcano and the highest viewpoint) to the Firth of Forth. Calton hill is another viewpoint offering sweeping landscapes, both towards the old city (delineated by the Flodden wall), and towards the Firth. 

Scot Memorial

Although this was my second visit (and likely not the last) to Edinburgh, I was amazed once again by the beauty of the old buildings and overloaded with new information. I have now visited at the end of winter, and at the end of summer, and can most certainly say that I will not be back in the winter! Honestly, my memories of Edinburgh the first time I went, was of being colder than I had ever experienced in my life, and I am born and bred Canadian! I was quite thrilled to find the weather much warmer this time, needing only a fall jacket, not woolen undergarments!

Looking out to Arthur’s Seat

I arrived into Edinburgh from London at daybreak (6 am) and quickly found my hostel (The Baxter). I strategically chose this hostel for it’s proximity to the bus terminal, the Old City, and for its 24 hour reception. I couldn’t check in until 2 pm, but they fed me breakfast, let me hang out in the kitchen area, and stored my bags for free (something I am used to in South America, but is apparently not as common in the UK). I was surprised but comforted by the sounds of “Somos Dos” and “Fiesta”  playing over the sound system. These songs are by Bomba Estereo, a Colombian group who filmed “Somos Dos” in and around Parque Tayrona and one of our repeat beach hostel getaways of Costeño Beach (now Brisa Tranquila).

St. Gile’s Cathedral

Free WiFi is always a plus, and I took my “free time” to research different activities to do in Edinburgh. I had been hoping to make my way up to Stonehaven, near Aberdeen, to visit a friend, but due to unforeseen circumstances, and being sent off-shore for work, we were unable to connect. As such, I now had the day to fill. Having just bought a new camera before leaving on this trip (I am making my way into the DSLR world), I was thrilled to find photography tours of the Old City. Unfortunately for me, these are popular tours, and were completely booked up for almost a full week. So, I opted for a free walking tour, run by Sandemans. I had never heard of them before, but I found out that they run tours all over Europe, including London. As with any free walking tour, if you feel the service was good, you are expected to tip at the end (usually between 10-20 dollars/pounds or whatever you can afford). For 2-3 hours of  detailed information, it is well worth the price! I am a fan of walking tours, having done them in Rome, Sydney (day tour and night tour) and San Francisco’s China Town. I find I get to see the sites, and get a lot more history and understanding than simply wandering around on my own. It is also an excellent way to meet people to have lunch/dinner with! (As was the case in Sydney as well).

Unicorn at Mercat Cross

Being a lengthy tour, I will not (and cannot) go into all the details of everything we saw, so you will just have to make your way there! Even after hearing many of these stories multiple times, I still can’t keep all of that history in my head! Of the bits that stuck, there are a few things I can tell you. The Scottish Parliament is held in Edinburgh and their national animal is the unicorn. Although now proven to be only a mythical creature, at the time that Scotland chose their national animal, it was believed to be real, with magical properties (purifying water and healing I believe) and its only real enemy was the lion (conveniently the national animal of the neighbours to the south, England). We went through the Mercat square, past St. Gile’s Cathedral (built in a Gothic style, it was originally a Catholic church, but is now Presbyterian church, as are pretty much all of the other churches (kirks) since the Protestant revolution). We also found the Midlothian Heart, and heard the tales of the prison and tollbooth that once sat on this location. Many people will spit on it as a sign of disgust for the “law”.

 

Walking through a close

We made our way through some of the closes (narrow alleys and courtyards) and wandered down Victoria Street. We also made a stop in Greyfriars Cemetery, where we saw Greyfriars Bobby, the dog who lovingly sat on his master’s grave for 14 years after his death, and we visited the tombs of McGonagalls and Riddels, right beside the George Harriet school, all of which are possible inspirations for (and located right nearby where) JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter. Our final stop was outside the National Museum of Scotland, where Dolly the sheep is housed (her taxidermy body, at least). All of this and we are only at lunch time!

Greyfriar’s Bobby

Being in Scotland means that I enjoyed a delicious lamb shank for lunch at The Mitre. While finishing lunch, we noticed that there was a parade starting, so we went to check it out, and ran into a lady from Ottawa, who explained that this was the “Riding of the Marches”, a tradition where once a year, over 200 horsemen/women ride up the Royal Mile to re-enact the return of the soldiers after their defeat in the Battle of Flodden in 1513.

I finally checked into my room at the hostel and had a quick nap before running out for my evening walking tour (also through Sandemans) for the Dark side tour. Once again, this was an in-depth tour, but this time, it was more about the underbelly of Edinburgh past. We started out by crossing the North Bridge, and stopping at the Old Calton Burial Grounds, where the likes of David Hume (atheist philosopher who had to be granted permission to be buried here). This cemetery was originally outside the walls of the city, and was not considered desirable, but still better than being thrown in the Nor Loch, sold as a cadaver for the anatomy classes or left out to rot. Further up Calton Hill, you will find the burial place for a Jewish family, right near the Acropolis, as they could not be buried in the Christian cemetery. For more information on the Acropolis, or the Nelson Monument (still works as a time piece with the ball dropping at 1 pm), please feel free to click here.

Calton Hill

Overlooking the Firth of Forth

As dusk settled in, it was time to bring out the ‘darker’ stories of witches, murderers and body here), but the beginning boils down to King James VI, who believed the devil was working against him, in the form of a witch coven, when he had difficulty bringing his bride-to-be, Anne of Denmark, over on the stormy seas. He set out and tortured those he thought were involved, getting them to confess to witchcraft. The hunt did not end there though, and continued for approximately 200 more years, with many women (widows, independent and strong willed, or with red hair) being thrown into the sewage filled waters of Nor Loch (as there was no plumbing in the Old City, all the waste was washed downwards into this cesspit). There was no way to win at this, as you either drowned, and were not a witch, or you floated, and were dragged out to be hung or burned. It is interesting to note that Scotland had a much larger population tried as witches than other European countries (estimates are between 4000-6000 people). Given my independent nature, I would likely be accused if I lived in that time.
snatchers. First, let us sta
rt with the witches. There is much to the tale of the North Berwick witch trials, and other trials around Scotland (read more

A quick trip down Jacob’s ladder took us from witch trials tp murderers, and the tale of William Burke and William Hare. Before we begin this murderous tale, let me set the scene. We are now standing inside a mausoleum in the Canongate kirkyard. We have just seen the tomb of Robert Burns, and have heard about Ebenezer Scroggie, also buried here (although the real version was a ‘meal man’ or corn merchant). The sun has set, and it is now dark. Just outside the mausoleum, a homeless person passes, scaring some of the group. Then the story of two of Edinburgh’s most infamous men begins…

Inside the mortsafe

The tale takes place during the 1800s, at a time when Edinburgh is leading the way in understanding human anatomy, but where the supply of legally sourced cadavers (prisoners, orphans etc) was almost non existant. Many people, known as the body snatchers, resurrection men or resurrectionists, had started robbing graves of their bodies (freshly buried), which led to the dead being buried with metal gates over their graves in a mortsafe and family members guarding the graves of loved ones. Burke and Hare come into play when a boarder at Hare’s ‘hostel/inn’ died (of natural causes), but had not paid his rent. They overheard men in a bar (one of their favourite hangouts) discussing how Professor Knox, at the university was still in the market. They decided to sell the body, and received a handsome amount. Knox (through a messenger) informed them that they would continue to be paid well if they continued to provide bodies. This ultimately led to them murdering people (through intoxication and suffocation, so as not to leave any visible marks) and then delivering the fresh corpses to Knox for anatomy research and classes. They murdered 16 people in 1828, but were eventually found out when the body of their last victim, Marjory Doherty was discovered. After being caught, Hare took a deal giving him immunity for testifying against William Burke. Burke was found guilty and hanged. Like any good story, there is speculation that dolls in coffins found at the top of Arthur’s seat may have been placed there by Hare, representing each of the vicitims… Whether this is true is unknown…

After this chilling tale, it was time to warm up with some dinner and a pint of cider. Sticking with traditionally Scottish/British meals, I went for the steak and ale pie (done to perfection). The same Canadian I went for lunch with (I forgot his name… but he is a truck driver out of Vancouver) and I ended up meeting a lovely Irish couple, and we easily passed the time with stories of places in Ireland and school-kid antics (I was sharing some of my classic tales). From there, I made my way to Sandy Bell’s where I met up with Lauren and Bibi, 2 ladies that I met in my hostel earlier in the day. We listened to some folk music in the form of fiddles. Unfortunately, as this was a Sunday night, it was an informal ‘drop-in’ session, there were many pauses in the music as the musicians who came for this tried to coordinate. After a bit, we left in the hopes of finding more music, but ended up simply going home, saying goodbye to the Brazilians we met. I do wish that I had the chance to experience Edinburgh on a Friday or Saturday night, as I am sure the atmosphere would be incredible (like what my mom and I experienced in Galway).

Once again, Edinburgh is a fascinating and charming city with loads of things to do (I didn’t even make it into the new city!) For those that haven’t been yet, I strongly urge you to go (in the summertime/fall of course!) and to take more time than I did (I would recommend at least 3 days just in Edinburgh). If you fancy large groups of people, you can go for the Fringe festival and the Military Tattoo in August, and if you don’t fancy being squished like a sardine, there is still plenty of opportunity outside of the 3 week festival!

For those on Facebook, you can find my complete album from Edinburgh there.