The Royal Mile

Day 6
Edinburgh is a pretty big place if you want to venture beyond the old town. We did a little bit of just that by taking a trek over to Dean's Village. The Leith River runs through this section of the city and is surrounded by some old buildings that make a nice setting. On the way there, we got some great views of the castle from a park below it on the east side.

We had heard that a fun thing to do in Edinburgh is to go on a ghost tour. We chose one called City of the Dead - underground. This was both enjoyable and educational. Our guide, Natalie, first asked us if we believed in ghosts. Well, of course I believe in ghosts. I believe in the Holy Ghost and in "spirits," but that's not what she meant. Many on the tour were hoping to see orbs, hear moans, feel tingling, chills, and touching by those "BOO" kind of ghosts. At the end of the tour, I experienced no ghosts, but one lady said she got a picture with an orb in it.

Now, there was some great info she shared as we passed through underground chambers. The early city was a sad place to live if you were poor. Chambers were formed in the archways of bridges when the city built buildings up against the bridges to as high as 14 stories - in the 1700s. The poor lived and died in these chambers. Bodies of the dead were sold to the university for medical disection. Gangs even dug up the newly dead from graveyards and sold the bodies. Down in the revine next to the old town, there was a lake of sewage that washed there from residents dumping raw sewage into the streets. It was so thick that you could walk across it. But, it was risky as sometimes a person would fall through and drown. Many bones were found in later times.

On a lighter note, we were told that the official animal of Scotland is the unicorn. This was set back in the 1400s when people believed in fairies and mythical creatures, and some still do. And then there is this dog called Bobby that slept by his masters grave for 14 years. The graveyard is behind our AbnB. There is a statue of the dog and people touch its nose for good luck. I skipped this activity as I considered the millions of hands that had touched that thing. Another note is that the buildings are black stained because of the soot from coal burning over a century or more ago. I wonder if a power washer would help?

This day had another first for me. I ate a haggis pie. I've included a picture. It is essentially sheep organs ground up, seasoned, and cooked. My pie came with mashed potatoes on top. It was good. Especially the potatoes. The haggis was highly seasoned.

Tomorrow, we we are off to the highlands.Read more