As Lisa told you in our last post, we were recently(-ish) in Edinburgh. This was, in fact, no less than our fourth time in Edinburgh, but we had never before really seen the place. Dating all the way back to our honeymoon trip to the UK, we’ve passed through Edinburgh without ever really getting a chance to stop and see it. On our honeymoon the weather was so filthy we went to the movies; another time we just landed at the airport late at night, stayed in a hotel for a quick rest, then met friends, rented a car and made for the countryside. It was like that – we wanted to see Edinburgh, we’d get our noses up against the window, and that’d be it. So, heck with that, we carved out a few days to finally see the city.
Two other motivations called us towards Edinburgh. One was the previously-mentioned Andy Goldsworthy exhibition, which was as magnificent as last week’s post showcased. The second was a serendipitous chance to catch up with a new friend from America who was stretching her wings with some solo travel in the UK. She was going to be in the city while the exhibition was going on, and that was the final straw; we had to go. (Oh, darn.) We had a predictably annoying flight over on Ryanair -maybe someday we will shrug off the potential savings in favor of a more civilized flying experience, but that day has not yet arrived. We did arrange to stay at Eden Locke again, a place we discovered back in 2023 that suits as to a “t”. We were in the UK in late October, so the weather was garbage but we knew that going in and packed mostly appropriately.
On our one full day with our friend that wasn’t dedicated to the gallery exhibition, we made like tourists and went up into “Old Town.” Edinburgh spreads out and around from an oblong hill which, being a high point in the terrain, somebody put a castle on way back in the day. Thus the hilltop became the earliest kernel of the city and to this day has a certain cachet; an address in Old Town signaled prestige back in the day, although now it has a healthy dose of “also tourists out the ying-yang.” We wandered the “Royal Mile” for a bit, which is a stretch of road that terminates at the castle on one end and runs the whole length of the hill. Eventually we made it to an actual bit of classic tourism, a guided visit into “Mary King’s Close.”
Ok, so that name needs some unpacking. First, a “close” was what they called these streets that basically exist as alleys but between two rows of buildings rather than along the back of ’em. Closes were essentially the streets that poor folk lived on, in tenements going up into the sky. They provided a bit of shelter and stability, but all manner of industry took place in and round the closes so they were often smelly, dirty places. “Mary King” was a woman of some reputation and stature in her time, and since the closes formed naturally and without any central planning, they didn’t have official names to them. So, people settled on them by acclimation so to speak. Mrs. Close was a notable enough figure that her Close referred to her even long after her death. A company has taken over the close and several adjacent buildings and put on a tour with period costumes and a bit of narrative flair; they don’t take it too seriously but your guide does assume the role of a citizen of the time. It’s a good time, and you do learn a lot about life in the closes, including how they dealt with plague (badly), close quarters (as politely as you could stand), and their general lot in life (more acceptance than rebellion from what we could figure).
We had dinner that evening at The Witchery, which seemed particularly appropriate since we were visiting around Samhain. Alas, while it certainly lived up to its advertised ambiance, it seemed about 20% too much theme park vibe rather than genuine gothic decor and design. Nor was the food up to promised. It was a cozy enough experience, but certainly for the price we don’t feel compelled to make a repeat visit when we’re next in Edinburgh. Still and all, it was a lovely time that day in which we finally, finally got a taste of life in this city.
