6 – Grassmarket

Grassmarket - Edinburgh

We discovered Grassmarket on a Fair Day during the Fringe Festival. A very coloured and cheerful atmosphere indeed ! Most picturesque too with its cobbled streets and crow-stepped gable houses, its old fountain and the castle looming over the place. We lingered a couple of hours along the stalls where food, old clothes, arts and crafts objects were lavishly displayed. It was a hot day but there was no vacant table inside or outside the famous pubs to be served a refreshment,so we cling to our cameras to capture the atmosphere of the mythical pubs : the Black Bull, the White Hart Inn, which is Edinburgh’s oldest pub, the Beehive, the Last Drop…so, not a drop for us but certainly the last one for all those condemned to death who were brought here to be hanged in the olden times. Another place to discover at night or at least when the place is empty…

7 – Holyrood Palace

Holyrood Palace - Edinburgh

We arrived at Holyrood Palace, the Queen’s official residence in Scotland, just before closing time so that we had to rush along the many sumptuous rooms of the palace to visit them. Not enough time to let us impressed by the gloomy history which is linked to the place and especially that of Marie Stuart and her fateful secretary Riccio who was assassinated here, in front of her eyes, and in a most horrible and cowardly way. Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed here during the very short and glorious time of his victory, in 1745, and a description of the banquet he gave to his supporters is described in Waverley, Walter Scott’s famous novel. We wandered some time in the romantic scenery of the ruined Abbey before walking out in Holyrood Park. Quite astonishing to find such a piece of natural wilderness in the heart of a town. We would have liked to have much more time to make an idea of what the Rough Guide describes as an “amazing variety of landscapes… mountains, crags, moorland, marshes, glens, lochs and fields… packed into an area no more than five miles in diameter and representing something of a microscosm of Scotland’s scenery.” Arthur’s Seat will undoubtedly be our next target in Edinburgh ! It dominates the whole place, the Queen’s residence as well as the New Parliament…

Edinburgh Princes Street Garden - Edinburgh

No need to spend many days in Edinburgh to fall in love with it … just stroll along the place and let you be caught in the city atmosphere together with the people who live here. There is no better way to feel it than to sit on the grass in Princes Street Gardens, the beautiful gardens which separate Old town from New Town. Whatever the traffic, whatever the noise, it’s magic. Close your eyes and try to imagine that instead of flowers and trees you are surrounded by a marshy loch, for that was it here, a long time ago. Not so long ago, indeed, for the garden is about the same age as the new town which was built nearby in the 18 th century. Nor’ Loch was drained before being filled with the earth excavated from building Princes street, the houses of which would soon overlook kind of a big valley dominated by the old Castle, and later on the magnificent gardens we admire today ! But most of the original houses of Princes Street, build down only one side, have now disappeared to be replaced by department stores. Are you getting lost in time with all my stories, then go to the magnificent floral-clock which is flourishing in the garden. Not only it’s very beautiful in its seasonal looks but it will give you the right time…

9 – Walter Scott Monument

Walter Scott Monument - Edinburgh

We do love Walter Scott and have pledged ourselves to read all his books… but it’s certainly easier to climb up the 287 steps of his 61 metres high neo-gothical monument, in Princes Street Gardens, than to read the whole of Waverley Novels. Anyway, we did climb up there ! What a view over Princes Street Gardens, the Old and the New Town… but don’t miss, while climbing up, to look out for the 64 niches which are to be found on the walls of the monument and make it a game to try and guess which character of Walter Scott’s novels is hiding there. A very difficult game but a very useful trick to get one’s breath back ! Scotiana’s “coup de coeur”: Walter Scot’s beautiful statue, carved in the purest white Carrare marble, with a book in his hand. I don’t know if the great Scottish writer would have liked to be honoured with such a monument in the midst of Edinburgh but he certainly would have liked to sit in company with his beloved dog, Maida….

10 – Calton Hill

Calton Hill - Edinburgh

Don’t be mistaken, you’re not in Greece but in Edinburgh ! Maybe the National Monument, this neo-classical building, partly explains why the town has often been called the Athens of the North and Calton Hill compared to the Acropolis ! A landmark in the postcard view of Edinburgh ! This Scottish Parthenon was built as a memorial dedicated to the Scottish soldiers killed during the Napoleonic wars but was never achieved. We climbed up the hill, which is about 100 meters high, and we were not disappointed. The weather was fine and the panoramic views were worthwhile the effort of climbing ! Maybe not a bad idea to begin the visit of Edinburgh here. Still better to climb up the 143 steps of the Nelson Monument. Once up there, try to find your bearings on the lively map which opens in front of you . You’ll soon recognize the town’s major landmarks : Arthur’s Seat and Salisbury Crags, Holyrood Abbey and the Palace, the Old Castle, Princes Street, Waverley Station, Walter Scott’s monument and many more… Stevenson said it was on Calton Hill that we had the better view of the town since we can see at the same time the old Castle and Arthur’s Seat…

On Top Of Salisbury Crags

Hi Mairiuna  Come and look at the view! Over there, it’s Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat.

Can you see the path climbing up the hill?  … look… there are people at the top !

Can’t wait to walk up there, be sure to include it in our next itinerary.

I’ve read a few things about the place while waiting for you. Quite interesting indeed. Arthur’s Seat and the Salisbury Crags are part of Holyrood Park and we can see the Palace and the Abbey from here.

See how steep the Crags look. These abrupt cliffs were formed more than 340 million years ago.

View of Salisbury Crags from Calton Hill, Edinburgh

You know, they are a favourite place for rock climbers. Better for us to take the so-called Radical road to climb up there. It is said that it was paved by unemployed radical weavers of West Scotland, at Walter Scott’s suggestion.

You know how Scotland is fond of mysterious stories, folk tales and legends. And I have one to tell you which is reputed to have happened here, on Calton Hill: the story of  “ The Fairy Boy of Leith “.

Walter Scott mentions it in his novel,  The Heart Of The Midlothian, but we can trace it back to the 17th century in Richard Bovet’s Pandaemonium also called the Devil’s Cloister (1684).

I first read about it on the Internet  in an article written by Andrew Tibbs for Mysterious Britain & Ireland website . Let me find the printout in my backsack and I will read it out loud for you. Listen to this Mairiuna !

(….) Captain George Burton, whilst staying in Leith, came across a boy known locally as the ‘Fairy Boy’ who had been given the gift of second sight by the fairies. Every Thursday night, the boy would go to Calton Hill (then a remote place between Leith and Edinburgh) where he would enter the hill through huge gates, only visible to those with ‘the fairy gift’ and commune with the fairies.

Fairies - Rackham

At these gatherings the boy would play drums for the little folk who danced and feasted. One Thursday night, the Captain, and some acquaintances, held the boy in conversation, hoping to avert his trip to the hill, but the boy gave them the slip, but was found and brought back to the house, where upon he managed to slip away for a second time. There the story ends with most accounts stating that the boy made off to Calton Hill to once again meet with the fair folk.(….) But Bovet’s original account differs considerably.

Scottish Fairy Tales

There is little useful information in the original account which can indicate whether the story is true or not, with the exception of one point. Burton alleges that the boy went to ‘Yonder Hill’, interpreted as Calton Hill. These days Calton Hill is in the centre of Edinburgh but back then, before Leith became part of Edinburgh, it was between the two areas. Calton Hill sat dominant, amongst the farmland and fields, and in the 18th century the boundaries between Leith and Edinburgh was shrinking and a hundred years later the two were almost joined together. Calton Hill then, as now, has remained relatively undeveloped.

So did the boy enter into the Hill?

In the 1790′s Herman Lion was a Jewish merchant living in Edinburgh. Sometime after 1791 he started looking for a burial plot for himself and his wife. Being Jewish he did not want to be buried in a Christian burial site and appealed to the Town Council to sell himself a piece of land on Calton Hill, and eventually they agreed. 200 years later, the site of Lion’s tomb was rediscovered. The Edinburgh Evening News told the story of two men in the Observatory complex on top of the hill. Apparently they climbed through a rabbit hole and ended up in the tomb. Their description of Lion’s tomb implies that it may have originally have been a cave or fissure. Perhaps this is the cave that the Fairy Boy use to dance in with the fair folk.  (…)

Wow…Fairyland ! Did I ever tell you Mairiuna that I believe in Fairies ?

Calton Hill stairs 2007

The east of new Edinburgh is guarded by a craggy hill, of no great elevation which the town embraces (…)You mount by stairs in a cutting of the rock to find yourself in a field of monuments. (Robert Louis  Stevenson – Edinburgh Picturesque Notes - 1878 )

I’m coming Janice ! Didn’t you say Calton Hill was  333 feet high ? that’s about  100 metres and there is  a staircase to begin with, a family walk actually and worth the effort if the weather is fine. We’ll have to climb a little more than that if we want to get to the top of  Arthur’s Seat.  The famous volcanic rock which dominates the city is  823 feet high, that is about  251 m (who said I was bad in mathematics !) … not a Munro anyway nor even a Corbett[1] … but up Calton Hill for now…

R.L.Stevenson "Edinburgh Picturesque Notes" illustration

I’ve taken with me my old illustrated edition of Edinburgh Picturesque Notes. No better guide to visit the place than Stevenson. Born in Edinburgh in 1850, he knew pretty well his native town. Some of the Calton monuments must have been quite new  at the time he used to walk up there to see the town from above. Let us see what he wrote about the place … Oups ! mind the step !

Calton Hill Nelson Monument 2007

What’s that ? A big tower has just emerged in front of me which  looks like a  lighthouse. If we hadn’t seen what kind of construction  Stevenson’s family has built all along the Scottish coast I would have wondered why  Stevenson did not use himself such  a comparison to describe Nelson Monument instead of comparing it  to a telescope or a butterchurn ! This monument seems to have been built to celebrate Nelson’s victory against Napoleon , at Trafalgar in 1805. But let us go ahead,  there seems to be  other monuments in the area!

Calton Hill Commemorative & Nelson Monuments 2007

All these [monuments] are scattered on a green turf, browsed over by some sheep…

No more sheep today but many people resting on the grass or  strolling around the place. The weather is fine.  The melancholy accents of a violin are rising in the air together with the more cheerful notes of a guitar… Oh ! here’s Janice, sitting in front of that monument which looks like the Greek Parthenon. No wonder Edinburgh has often been called “The Athens of the North”. Hi, Janice ! could you tell us more about that place ?

[1] Munro : 3000 feet (914 m) – Corbett : between 2500 feet and 3000 feet (between 762 m and 914 m)

Calton Hill

Mairiuna, step into your most comfortable shoes as we are walking up to the top of Calton Hill, my favourite place for fantastic views of the city and let us not forget our camera as there will be magnificent panoramas to capture !

From the heights of Calton Hill (333 feet), we see in the distance the Firth of Forth and the prominent Arthur’s Seat, which we have yet to climb my dear friend

To bird view Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the Scottish Parlement, Princes Street and the New Town is a delightful experience. And much agreable to just stroll atop in a relaxed atmosphere, take time to rest, lye on the grass listening to tunes of musicians gathering on the National Monument to perform freely and with much enthusiasm.

Let’s take a look around !…..