Edinburgh

Edinburgh is really a fascinating city. I mentioned before that it was built on a hill and surrounded by a stone wall. Since everyone was worried about invasion, they all stayed inside the walls - which quickly lead to rather cramped living conditions and architectural innovation. Apparently, the tail of land that slopes up the cliff the castle rests on is made of sandstone. Because sandstone was so easy to dig into, it was actually easier to dig into the side of the rock face if you wanted a basement rather than down under your building. Pretty soon, there was a rabbits warren of basement tunnels being dug into the rock below the city. As the city filled, these basements were rented as (horribly awful) living quarters. At the same time, the city was getting taller and taller and the the buildings were becoming closer and closer together. By the 1750s or so, most of the buildings had reached 14 stories, which was unheard of in those days, and not at all safe. Between buildings, there was often only a three or four foot wide alley, or "close." A number of these still exist. You can see one in the picture. They usually had a gate on either side, which would be closed at nighttime for security.

Eventually, the political climate calmed down enough that people were willing once again to build outside of the walls. By this time, Edinburgh was leading the world in engineering, and they decided to build four (five?) bridges spanning out from the city. Of course, it was the wealthy that went to live in the new parts of the city, so the center of town (still as crowded as ever due to a new wave of immigration) became a slum. Inevitably, I suppose, a fire broke out and most of the central city burned down. The current city is still rather densely packed, but not anywhere near as much as it once was. Many of the basements were filled in, but not all of them, and there are still pockets of underground city that are discovered from time to time.

We never found time to visit it, but one pocket of underground city is Mary King's Close. The story goes that when the Black Plague hit Edinburgh it was so quickly widespread, that the city decided on a lock-down. They locked up all the closes and wouldn't let anyone out for 14 days. At the end of fourteen days, they hoped anyone who was going to die would do so and everyone else would be safe. Mary King's close was especially hard hit. No one survived at all, and the scene was especially grisly when they were found. No one wanted to move into the close after that. Rumors of hauntings and visions of ghosts by those who did try to re-inhabit the building kept everyone else away. When the city finally failed at giving away living quarters there for free, they decided to build a government building over the top of the close. It was forgotten for quite a while, but was rediscovered at some point and there are tours of it today.


Russell and I had one full day to wander around the city and see the sights. We started with the castle. The main attractions at the castle are the crown jewels of Scotland and the Stone of Scone. The crown jewels are considerably older than those of England and were lost for a time. They were re-discovered not too long ago in a chest hidden in one of the towers. The Stone of Scone is the stone slab all Kings of Scotland have been crowned on. I've all of the sudden gone blank on the date, but the stone was stolen by England at some point and built into a throne that was used in their coronation ceremonies. The throne is still in Westminster Abbey, and is still used for the coronation of the British Monarchs. At some point in the recent past, however, Scotland asked for the stone back. England agreed, so long as Scotland would lend it back to them for coronations and that's how it is today. I believe this whole agreement took place after Elizabeth II was crowned... so it hasn't had to be sent back yet, but presumably it will be. Incidentally, the Scotsman who gave us the tour of the castle was very careful to point out that in Scotland, the current monarch is Elizabeth I, not Elizabeth II, and all their coat of arms are labeled in that fashion.

Russell and I never got a chance to hear it, but apparently, every day (accept Sunday) one of the large canons at the castle is fired at 1:00. Our guide mentioned that people often ask why they don't mark the hour at 12:00, like most everyone else does. The guide answered that this is Scotland, and if they marked the time at 12:00, it would cost 12 shells. Very prudent.

Among other places, we also stopped for a coffee at the Elephant Cafe - famous for being the cafe where most of the first Harry Potter was written. It was a comfortable place, and had a beautiful scenic view of the castle.