Edinburgh: City of Imagination

While walking down the twisty maze of historic streets I stopped and turned to Aaron and said, “I think American cities lack imagination.”

There was not really any other way to describe the feeling I got while exploring the lovely city of Edinburgh. There was imagination around every corner, with buildings crammed one on top of another, spires twisting to the sky and streets that created an intricate web of history, both true and fiction.

Edinburg is most famously known as the city where JK Rowling penned Harry Potter, and it is said she pulled inspiration from the city around her. Walking along the streets, I knew I was in Harry’s world – there was a magic here that I hadn’t felt anywhere else in my travels. From the school that is the inspiration for Hogwarts, to the famous Victoria Street, that is the real life Diagon Ally, I kept wondering, “could Harry Potter have been written America? Could our cities have been inspiration for an epic fantasy world?”

The answer I kept coming to: No.

Exploring the streets of Edinburgh is its own joy, uncovering it’s secrets is a challenge that is worth undertaking. We started off our visit the most basic of basic: a free 2-Hour walking tour of the city with a local guide. The tour was great, history splashed with local flavor with an energetic tour guide. We hit the highlights: Grassmarket (the public square, where people were often hung), Victoria Street (aka Diagon Alley), the Royal Mile (the street up the to castle) and Greyfriar’s Cemetery (where JK Rowling famously sat at a cafe overlooking it writing Harry Potter).

We were lucky enough to have a sunny day in famously cloudy Scotland, so that meant that Arthur’s Seat was our next stop of the day. A short distance from the Royal Mile, Arthur’s Seat is the famous hill that overlooks the city and on a clear day, it gave us outstanding views. The walk was steep but short and made easy with steps carved into the hill. The locals were out in force, soaking up the rare sunshine but that only made the climb more exciting, adding a homey flair to a city filled with tourists. On our way back from The Seat we suggest taking some time to wonder around the neighborhoods in the area to soak up a little more local flair.

With the city bustling with tourists, Aaron and I were left a little disappointed by the main tourist attractions: Edinburgh Castle and the Scottish Museum. The castle it’s self is really cool, the main drawback is the price; at £18/person, the castle did not seem worth the entry price. The views were great and the history of the castle serving as a fortress for almost 1,000 years is amazing, but overall we have been to other castles with better exhibits and better curation especially for the price.

The Scottish Museum was jammed with school groups and families exploring the kid friendly (and interesting) touring exhibits. But we were interested in learning about the history of the Scots, which is unfortunately housed in a confusing building with more confusing curation. Sorted by theme (war, house life, history of the church, etc…) and not chronological, the museum was hard for a non-native to follow. There were interesting artifacts but it was hard to put them into context of date or monarch. Also, the building that held the collection was a post-modern nightmare of small galleries, confusing staircases and bad lighting. As if Michael Graves studied architecture at Hogwarts, and flunked out.

Edinburgh, overall, is an amazing city full of lovely bars, gracious people, haggis on baked bakes potatoes, deep fried Mars Bars, and city streets that lead to a world beyond belief. This city has tales to tell, stories to hear, and epics yet to be written, and all you have to do is open your imagination.