St Giles' Cathedral
After a very lazy sleep in (we earned it!) we strolled back into Edinburgh to be tourists. We bought our tickets for Mary King’s Close and checked out St Giles Cathedral before we went for lunch at the World’s End. Here Julian experienced haggis, neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes) for the first time. I wasn’t sure I could handle a whole dish of the stuff, so I just tried some of his and enjoyed my steak and ale pie instead! Although the haggis was nothing to write home about, it was quite alright and tasted like a peppery mince mix.
Haggis, neeps and tatties
Mary King’s Close was fascinating. Legend goes that the street (or close) was sealed up when the bubonic plague hit Edinburgh, with live people still inside. Apparently the bodies were so stiff when the foul clangers came to collect them, limbs had to be hacked off to get the bodies through the narrow doorways. Unfortunately, this story is a myth. The street was sealed up, but no-one was still living in the area at the time. The one thing Julian and I did find was that it’s very hard to get a real sense of what was street and what was private residence. Everything is still below the foundations of existing buildings on the Royal Mile, so alleyways could easily be houses.
We booked a ghost tour for the evening, so we headed out for dinner. We enjoyed a delicious meal at David Bann’s, across from our hotel, but I’ll do a separate review about that (and our dessert at Stac Polly’s).
We did our ghost tour through the Black Hart tour company, which was recommended by the Lonely Planet. The tour started at St Giles Cathedral, where we were told some amusing stories about the city, and one of its most famous residents, Robert Louis Stevenson (of Treasure Island fame). We then headed down a back alley and onto Cowgate, stories all the while. Eventually you end up going into the vaults which exist beneath and within the South Bridge. The vaults are quite spooky in their own way, although we didn’t see any ghosts! Perhaps they were scared away by the thumping music from the adjoining nightclub…
We really enjoyed our time in Edinburgh, although we have seen some of our worst weather here. That being said, apparently the weather has actually been quite good!
Cowgate Rd
