Edinburgh Things to Do Tips by Dabs

Museum of Edinburgh Royal Museum Review

The Museum of Edinburgh is small museum located on the Royal Mile that's worth a stop should you find yourself with an hour or so to spare. The museum houses collections relating to the history of Edinburgh from prehistoric to present day.

In one of the rooms, there a sweet little display for Greyfriars Bobby, the loyal Skye Terrier who stayed by his masters grave in Greyfriars kirkyard.

Address: 142 Canongate

Directions: Royal Mile, old town

Edinburgh Castle Castle Review

If you are a history buff, do not let the admission price (currently L10.30) deter you from visiting Edinburgh Castle, for me it was the one must see place in the city. Perched on top of a volcanic hill, the Castle looks to be impenetrable and in fact was for the most part.

Start your visit with the included guided tour that starts near the entrance, the 1/2 hour tour takes you up to the top of the Castle where you can start your visit of the interior.

Highlights of the Castle

*The Scottish crown jewels, not as impressive as the ones in the Tower of London but still interesting to see, there's a crown, sceptre and sword

*the War Monument, be sure to check out the interesting stained glass windows depicting scenes with soldiers and military

*Prisoners of War, an underground display on the life of prisoners, complete with soundtrack

*St. Margaret's Chapel, the oldest structure in Edinburgh

*Mon Megs, a medieval cannon, not to be confused with the one o'clock gun

*The one o'clock gun, if you are still there at 1 pm, you can watch the gun being fired

Address: top of the Royal Mile

Website: http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/properties_sites_detail.htm?propertyID=PL_121

Palace of Holyroodhouse Holyrood Review

At the bottom of the Royal Mile, opposite end of the old town from Edinburgh Castle, is the Palace of Holyroodhouse, built in the 16th century by James IV next to the abbey that was built by David I in the 12th century. You can still visit the ruins of the hauntingly beautiful Abbey but only the north tower of James' Palace still stands, what you see today was built by Charles II.

You can visit the Palace in about an hour, the L8.50 admission includes an audio guide that leads you through the Palace giving you a nice history on the period of time when Mary Queen of Scots was in Edinburgh and the visit of George IV, a portrait of him in highlander costume is shown in the Palace.

One of the most interesting stories of the Palace was the stabbing death of Mary Queen of Scots' Italian secretary, David Rizzio, arranged by her 2nd husband, Lord Darnley who was later also murdered, presumed to have been arranged by Mary's 3rd husband, the Earl of Bothwell perhaps with her knowledge and consent.

One of the rooms in the Palace contains some trinkets from the time of Mary Queen of Scots, of particular interest is a piece of needlework done by her featuring a cat and mouse, her cousin Elizabeth I being the cat and she the mouse. Poor Mary never did get to meet Elizabeth and plead her case, Elizabeth locked her up and was eventually persuaded to sign her death warrant.

Also of note is the largest building in the Palace, the Great Gallery which is lined with portraits done by Jacob de Wet, commissioned by the King in 1684. He was churning out something like 1 portrait a week to keep with the terms of his commission, some of the portraits are of real kings, some fictional.

In the warmer months you can also visit the gardens which were not open in January. The Palace is closed when the Queen is in residence, this is her official residence in Scotland.

If you have to choose between visiting Holyrood and Edinburgh Castle, my vote is for Edinburgh Castle, there are only a handful of rooms open for viewing in the Palace.

Address: Canongate, eastern end of Royal Mile

Other Contact: bookinginfo@royalcollection.org.

Phone: 0131 556 5100

Website: http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page559.asp

Secrets of the Royal Mile-Mercat Tours Review

After taking the Ghost & Ghouls tour with Mercat the night before, I decided to do a 2nd one with them during the daytime, Secrets of the Royal Mile. The crowd was a wee bit smaller for this one (2 of us!) I really enjoyed this one as well, our guide Olive took us into St. Giles pointing out things that I hadn't seen the day before when I visited, Parliament Hall, which is now a Law Court, which I hadn't known you could visit, showed us where John Knox is buried (in a car park behind St. Giles, marked only with a small square), told us the story of half-hangit Maggie and showed us the "peeing" statue of Charles II. The tour ended when we reached the top of the Royal Mile near Edinburgh Castle.

Cost was L7.50, you can save L1 if you have done a previous tour with them, bring your ticket with.

Address: Mercat Cross

Other Contact: info@mercattours.com

Phone: 0131 557 6464

Website: http://www.mercattours.com/home.asp

Ghost & Ghouls Tour-Mercat Tours Review

There are several different companies offering ghost tours in Edinburgh, something about the mood of the city lends itself very well to this sort of thing, creeping along the dark closes of the city after dark and in the dark, dank vaults under the Royal Mile.

There are several companies that do these tours, I chose Mercat, no advance reservations were needed, just show up near St. Giles on the Royal Mile and look for the guy in the cape.

Mercat's tour wasn't like the cheesy ones we've done in places like New Orleans where you know you've heard the same story set in a different locale, really how many sausage makers ground their wives into sausages? And had a local police man bite into her wedding ring? This tour seemed to be based in fact, the guide enhanced the stories with gruesome sound effects, gory details and much animation which made it both historical and fun.

This tour focused on the area around the Royal Mile so there wasn't a ton of walking involved, after several stops above ground they took us into the vaults under the city. The guide did a really nice job of building up the haunted factor, even me, a huge skeptic, looked around in nervous anticipation of a ghostly spectre. And I may have even seen one in my room later that night ;-)

They offer a premium tour for an extra L1.50 which extends the tour to include a drink in a nearby pub, I didn't take this option because I still hadn't eaten dinner but in retrospect I should have, it would have been fun as I met some nice folks on the tour.

Some other options I've seen recommended:

Witchery Tours
Blackhart City of the Dead tour

Address: Mercat Cross

Directions: Near St. Giles cathedral, Royal Mile

Other Contact: info@mercattours.com

Phone: 0131 557 6464

Website: http://www.mercattours.com/home.asp

National Gallery of Scotland National Museum and Gallery of Scotland Review

I visit art museums in practically every large city that I visit and while the National Gallery is not one of the more impressive art museums that I have visited, it's free to visit so if you have a spare hour stop by and have a look at the section of Scottish art on display in the lower galleries, something you will not likely see in another art museum, at least not in this depth.

There are also some other well known painters on display and the museum is small enough so that you can view the other galleries and still not spend more than an hour.

There are other branches of the National Galleries of Scotland, the Dean Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Portrait Gallery and Royal Scottish Academy Building (next door to the main National Gallery), there is a free shuttle bus that runs between them from 11 am-5 pm.

Tip: Open until 7 pm on Thursdays

Address: 2 The Mound

Website: http://www.natgalscot.ac.uk/

Royal Museum and Museum of Scotland Royal Museum Review

These two museums are next door to one another, they are connected on the inside so you can walk from one to the other.

I didn't have a lot of time so I just took a brief tour of the Royal Museum, the focus of which is natural history, science & industry and decorative arts, then headed over the the Museum of Scotland, set up to take visitors on a chronological journey through Scotland, the earliest starting on the lower levels.

They announced a free museum overview tour as I was entering, turned out to be the only one on it. The guide took me to the different levels of the museum, explained how the exhibits were laid out and pointed out some of the highlights. Check in Hawthornden Court for a schedule, they also had a highlights tour that might be good if you are pressed for time like I was. The brochure also says they have free audio guides at the same spot.

Tip #1: for a great view over the city, head up to the Roof Terrace on the 7th floor of the Museum of Scotland

Tip #2: currently on Tuesday it's open until 8 pm. And like all the other museums in Edinburgh, it's free!

Address: Chambers Street

Directions: Old Town

Website: http://www.nms.ac.uk/nms/home/

Calton Hill Calton Hill Review

Edinburgh is a city chock full of great views, whether it be from the top of Edinburgh Castle, the top floor of the Museum of Scotland, Arthur's Seat (didn't get up there) or Calton Hill. If you do find yourself climbing up Calton Hill, be sure to walk all around it, from different sides there are dramatically different views, the Firth of Forth, Holyrood Palace and much of Edinburgh. I understand that an even better view can be had if you climb the Nelson monument but I was there too early for that.

The monuments on top of Calton Hill don't seem to have any connection, they all just seem to be placed there, independent of the others. The National Monument, meant to honor Scottish soldiers killed in the Napoleonic Wars is the oddest, designed to look like the Parthenon in Athens, funds ran out and it was never finished. Also found on top of the Hill are the Nelson Monument, the city observatory and the Dougal Stewart Monument. I never did locate the Robert Burns Monument, it's supposed to be somewhere on the southern slopes of the hill.

To get to the top, take Princes Street to Waterloo Place, just past Calton Hill, take the steps up to the top.

St. Giles' Cathedral St Giles Cathedral Review

It was at this church that John Knox, Scotland's equivalent to Martin Luther preached his sermons on the Reformation in the time of Mary Queen of Scots whose Catholic faith was in opposition to Knox's beliefs. The Cathedral dates to the 12th century, it was burned by the English in 1385, repeatedly renovated and rebuilt so that the landmark spire is all that remains from the medieval church.

Once inside, the highlights include:

Thistle Chapel, an ornately decorated chapel added in the early 1900s, beautiful stained glass windows and carved wood stalls. Be sure to look over the doorway on the way out, there is an angel playing the bagpipes on the right side

Statue of John Knox which can be found in the nave

Tombs of arch enemies, the Marquis of Montrose and the Duke of Argyll. If you have seen the movie "Rob Roy", the nefarious Duke of Argyll is brilliantly played by Tim Roth in the movie, one of the most deliciously evil movie characters I've ever seen. The Marquis was hanged at nearby Mercat Cross and his various body parts were on display across the country, his followers gathered them up and buried them in St. Giles. The Duke's fate was a little better, he was beheaded at Mercat Cross but at least his body parts weren't part of a traveling display. They are buried on opposite sides of St. Giles.

Address: Royal Mile

Directions: Lawnmarket section of the Royal Mile