Things to do in Edinburgh Scotland
Elegant, civilized and dignified are the adjectives most frequently used to describe the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh. As you visit the city most of the sights are within walking distance of each other you may well add surprising to that list of adjectives. You'll be astonished by an easygoing atmosphere and the graceful architecture, more usually associated with a southern European city. From the castle above the city you'll look down on one of Europe's finest urban panoramas. Impressive buildings set in green and manicured parks, broad and stately streets, ancient steeples and towers all proclaim that Edinburgh has undeniable individuality and style.
The scene of so many dramatic historical events, Edinburgh is today the setting for the drama, liveliness and excitement of a three week international festival held at the end of summer. It's one of the great arts festivals of Europe. Edinburgh is very much the cultural capital of this nation of some 5 million people that has made such an impact on the world. Scotsmen have ranged far and wide as soldiers, scholars and priests, as explorers, poets and engineers.
And in turn, the romance of Scotland and the reputation of the Scots have drawn people here from all over the Anglo Saxon world to claim decent from clansmen of old and to share in national pride. Whether your name is Scottish or not, you'll find that the generosity and lively humour of this immensely talented and practical. people will dispel from your mind forever the image of the dour and tight fisted Scot.
Places to visit in Edinburgh and car hire
Scotland is a diverse place to visit, and whether you want to discover the city of Edinburgh or take a trip out into the stunning countryside which surrounds the city, pre-book a hire car from Edinburgh Airport.
Heavy with history, Scotland's most popular tourist attraction stands on an extinct volcano, high above the city. No one knows how long ago Edinburgh's history began on this great rock, but a stone fortification was definitely erected late in the 7th century and the first proper castle built in the 11th century. Two Royal Scots guards, bayonets fixed on their unloaded rifles, are posted for your camera at the first gate leading up the cobblestoned ramp ways to the castle.
The impressive black naval cannon poking through the ramparts have never been fired, but you'll see the canon which booms out over the city every weekday to mark 1 p.m. Why isn't it fired at noon? Remember where you are, quips the guide. One cannon shot at one o'clock is much cheaper than 12 at noon.
Tiny St Margaret's Chapel with its plain whitewashed interior is the oldest building in Edinburgh and the oldest church in use in Scotland. Built by the devout Queen Margaret in about 1076, it survived assaults over the centuries that destroyed the other structures on Castle Rock. The simply restored Norman chapel is kept decorated with flowers each week by Scotswomen named Margaret.
On the promontory here commanding one of Castle Rock's many grand views over Edinburgh stands Mons Meg, a stout cannon forged in the 15th century, probably in Flanders. The five-ton monster ingloriously blew up 200 years later while firing a salute to the Duke of York. Close by is an oddity, the world's most spectacular canine graveyard. In a niche overlooking the city you'll find the Cemetery for Soldiers' Dogs with tombs of regimental mascots.
In the Palace Yard is the Great Hall, built in 1502, which claims the finest hammer beam ceiling in Britain. The oak timbers are joined without a single nail, screw or bolt. Scotland's parliament met here for a century. Among 171 the arms on display is a hefty 900-yearold claymore (from the Gaelic word for broadsword), labelled only with Do Not Touch. The adjacent military museum exhibits a vast array of regimental paraphernalia. Queen Mary's Rooms in the royal apartments include a very small chamber where she gave birth to James VI (later James I of England) in 1566.
The castle's greatest treasure, the crown, sceptre and sword of Scotland, are displayed in the Crown Room. At times more than 10,000 viewers a day file through here to see the oldest royal regalia in Europe. The gold and pearl crown has been altered since it was first used for the coronation of Robert Bruce in 1306. Charles II wore it for the last time in 1651. Popes Alexander VI and Julius II gave the sword and sceptre to James IV. In cases on the wall hang a huge necklace and other pieces of dazzling jewellery.
Note: Edinburgh Castle's entrance lies just beyond the Esplanade, formerly a site for the execution of witches, later a parade ground, now a modern parking lot where the celebrated Military Tattoo is performed during the annual Edinburgh Festival. On Castlehill the Camera Obscura atop the Outlook Tower offers a fascinating 25 minutes in clear weather. After climbing the 98 steps to a darkened octagonal chamber, you'll enjoy living panoramas of Edinburgh projected onto a circular table screen by a periscope like device. The accompanying commentary is masterly.
Entrance is free to the castle's outer precincts, including St Margaret's Chapel. But for a token charge you can join a group being escorted by one of the witty and lore loving palace guides, a great bargain.
The Royal Mile Edinburgh
It's all downhill along the high ridge from Edinburgh Castle to the royal palace, Holy rood house. The Old Town's famous thoroughfare, its cobbles now smoothed, is actually about 2 km. Edinburghers of this area of high tenements and narrow closes (entryways) seem to take delight in recounting how the residents used to toss their slops and refuse from windows after a perfunctory shout of Gardyloo !the local equivalent of gare de I'eau. That meant centuries of rampant disease and a decidedly unpleasant reputation for a city so graced with intellectual genius.
Today, odourless, tidy and lined by historic buildings, the Royal Mile assumes five names as it descends: Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Canongate and Abbey Strand just before the palace.Food and cloth merchants no longer hawk from stalls in the Lawn market. In James Court here (named after its builder, James Brownhill), Samuel Johnson once visited his biographer, James Boswell.
Brodie's Close recalls one of Edinburgh's favourite stories. Deacon Brodie was a respected city official and carpenter by day, a burglar by night (having taken wax impressions of his clients' house keys). Finally arrested and condemned to death, Brodie thought he could escape death by wearing a steel collar concealed beneath his shirt. He was wrong. The city gallows, which he himself had designed, worked. Brodie's double life inspired R. L. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
It's a brief detour down George IV Bridge to the head high statuette of Greyfriars Bobby. This Skye terrier waited by his master's grave in nearby Grey friars Churchyard for 14 years until dying of old age in 1872. Admiring the dog's fidelity, authorities made Bobby a freeman of the city meaning he had the vote long before women, they'll tell you. Back along the Royal Mile, St Giles, the High Kirk of Scotland, dominates Parliament Square.
Its famous tower spire was built in 1495 as a replica of the Scottish crown. The oldest elements of St Giles are the four huge 12th-century pillars supporting the spire, but there was probably a church on the site since 854. John Knox preached here and is thought to be buried in the rear graveyard. St Giles' soaring Norman interior with splendid stained glass is spectacular, filled with memorials recalling great moments of Scottish history. Most beautiful is the vaulted Thistle Chapel, ornately carved of Scottish oak. You'll see a stall for the queen and a princely seat for each of the 16 Knights of the Thistle, Scotland's oldest order of chivalry.
Farther down the Royal Mile are the popular Edinburgh Wax Museum, the Museum of Childhood with toys from yesteryear and Huntley House, the principal city museum. From carefully restored White Horse Close,17th-century stage coaches used to trot off towards London.
The celebrated royal palace of HoIyroodhouse began life about 1500 as a mere guest residence for the adjacent, now ruined, abbey. Much expanded and rebuilt in the 17th century, it has often housed visiting monarchs. During the summer, Holyroodhouse is closed to the public for the week or so that the Royal Family is in residence. In the long Picture Gallery, snide comments abound as guides shepherd groups past portraits purportedly of Scottish kings, dashed off between 1684 and 1686 by Jacob de Wet, a Dutchman who had imagination, brushes and paint.
Upstairs III King James' Tower, connected by an inner stairway, are the apartments of Darnley and Mary Queen of Scots. A plaque marks the spot where the hapless Rizzio, Mary's secretary, was stabbed 56 times with a dagger. You'll hear all about it.
The New Town of Edinburgh
Until late in the 18th century all of Edinburgh was confined to the crowded, unhealthy Old Town along the ridge from the Castle. The population, about 25,000 in 1700, had nearly tripled by 1767 when James Craig won a planning competition for an extension. With significant help from the noted Robert Adam, the resulting New Town has become the most complete complex of Georgian architecture. A fetid stretch of water called Nor' Loch was drained and made into Princes Street Gardens, the city's attractive green centre-piece. Rising from the gardens is the landmark spire of the Scott Monument, which has a statue of Sir Walter with his dog, statuettes of Scott's literary characters and 287 steps to the top. For climbing them you get a certificate and an excellent panorama. The celebrated floral clock, with some 24,000 plants, also adorns Princes Street Gardens.
A sloping road known as the Mound (formed from refuse during construction of the New Town) passes through the gardens. Here you will find the National Gallery of Scotland, a distinguished small collection of the great painters. Look for Van Dyck's The Lomellini Family with its five pouting members, Rubens' dramatically gory The Feast of Herod, Velasquez's striking Old Woman Cooking Eggs and four Rembrandt portraits. The English school is represented by Turner, Gainsborough and Reynolds, and you'll see numerous paintings by the city's own Henry Raeburn.
Past Edinburgh's main thoroughfare, ever busy Princes Street (the apostrophe was dropped long ago), spreads the neoclassical New Town. Its masterpiece is Charlotte Square, the noblest square in Europe.
The 11 symmetrically facaded houses forming the square's north side are considered the finest accomplishment of Robert Adam, Scotland's esteemed 18th century architect. No 7 Charlotte Square has been converted by the National Trust for Scotland into an authentic Georgian show house. In the dining room you'll see an enviable table setting for eight of Wedgwood and Sheffield, and in the bedchamber a marvellous old medicine chest, a canopied four-poster and an early 19th-century water closet called the receiver.
Things to do in Edinburgh
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art occupies premises in Belford Road. The collection is ambitious, with an emphasis on Scottish and British work. Along Tnverleith Row extend the 75 acres of the much admired Royal Botanic Gardens with perhaps the world's largest rhododendron collection, cavernous plant houses and a remarkable rock garden containing hundreds of meticulously cultivated specimens. A colony of some 200 parading penguins is the main attraction at Edinburgh's famous zoo, set in rolling parkland in the western suburb of Corstorphine.
Excursions from Edinburgh and car hire
Although there are plenty of organized trips from Edinburgh, the easiest and most economical way to get around and discover the area is to hire a car from Edinburgh Airport before you fly.
Hopetown House, the finest Adam mansion in Scotland, lies 10 miles (16 km.) west of Edinburgh. Deer and the rare four horned St. Kilda sheep roam the grounds of this neoclassical house set in 100 acres (40 ha.) of parkland. The ruins of the great fortified palace where Mary Queen of Scots was born stand nearby in Linlithgow, overlooking the loch.
Picturesque landscapes unfold east of Edinburgh in the resort area of East Lothian, with its pretty villages and romantic ruined castles. Further south, four great monasteries founded in the 12th century lie in ruin. The battered shells of the abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso and Jedburgh bear witness to a violent past. The monks used to export cloth to the Continent, and weaving is still a major industry in the border area.
Eating Out in Edinburgh
When the Auld Alliance linked Scotland to France five centuries ago, Scotsmen began to take a serious interest in food. Since that time porridge, kippers, smoked haddock, smoked salmon, shortbread and marmalade have been exported worldwide to the further glory of Scotland. The secret of Scottish cooking lies in the quality of the ingredients used. Aberdeen Angus cattle provide prime beef. From the icy waters of the North Sea and north Atlantic come some of the world's finest seafood. Scotland is also the land of game: venison, pheasant, partridge.
The Scottish Tourist Board has launched a campaign to revive some of Scotland's traditional specialities, including cockaleekie soup, an Edinburgh favourite made with chicken, leeks and prunes, and Fife broth, a rich soup of pork ribs, barley and potatoes. For the next course, how about young chicken stewed with spinach and served with poached eggs. Kingdom of Fife pie contains rabbit and bacon, while the pastry of Forrar bridies encloses a rich steak filling. That king of fish, salmon, is poached and served with a delicate wine sauce in a dish called Tweed kettle. Perhaps one of the most intriguing Scottish preparations is haggis. Burns' great chieftain of the pudding race comprises sheep's innards, oatmeal, suet, onion and seasoning stuffed into a sheep's stomach bag and boiled. Eat it with chappit tatties and bashed neeps: mashed potatoes and turnips.
Drinks in Edinburgh Scotland
Nobody outside Scotland has been able to duplicate Scotch whisky, however hard they try. The Scots claim it is the pure water, the aroma of peat and the highland air that makes Scotch what it is. There are two types straight malt, distilled from malted barley, and grain whisky distilled from malted barley and grain. Most whiskies are blended from both types. You may offend your Scottish host if you drink his malt with anything other than a little plain water. The other great Scottish drink is beer. Ask for a pint of heavy. You can drink it as a chaser with your whisky, in which case you ask for a half and half.
Shopping in Scotland
Woollens are among Scotland's finest products. Tweed is woollen cloth unrivalled for warmth and durability, especially Harris Tweed from the Outer Hebrides. Shops selling tartans will endeavour to find some clan affiliation for you, however un-scottish your name sounds. Shetland sweaters, cashmere and sheepskins have a deserved reputation for quality. Bagpipes will proclaim unmistakably that you've been to Scotland, especially if you learn how to play them. The Scottish Craft Centre in Canongate, a non-profit making enterprise, sells the work of local artisans.
The variety of handcrafted goods is astounding textiles, pottery, silverware, metal, wood and leather work, tapestry, calligraphy.
Few visitors can resist the array of Scottish edibles: cakes, shortbread, marmalade, fudge, and other sweets. Scotland's most famous product, Scotch, is quite likely to be no cheaper here than anywhere else, and probably somewhat more expensive. But you will be able to purchase some rare whiskies and fine malts that would otherwise never leave the country.
The scene of so many dramatic historical events, Edinburgh is today the setting for the drama, liveliness and excitement of a three week international festival held at the end of summer. It's one of the great arts festivals of Europe. Edinburgh is very much the cultural capital of this nation of some 5 million people that has made such an impact on the world. Scotsmen have ranged far and wide as soldiers, scholars and priests, as explorers, poets and engineers.
And in turn, the romance of Scotland and the reputation of the Scots have drawn people here from all over the Anglo Saxon world to claim decent from clansmen of old and to share in national pride. Whether your name is Scottish or not, you'll find that the generosity and lively humour of this immensely talented and practical. people will dispel from your mind forever the image of the dour and tight fisted Scot.
Places to visit in Edinburgh and car hire
Scotland is a diverse place to visit, and whether you want to discover the city of Edinburgh or take a trip out into the stunning countryside which surrounds the city, pre-book a hire car from Edinburgh Airport.
Heavy with history, Scotland's most popular tourist attraction stands on an extinct volcano, high above the city. No one knows how long ago Edinburgh's history began on this great rock, but a stone fortification was definitely erected late in the 7th century and the first proper castle built in the 11th century. Two Royal Scots guards, bayonets fixed on their unloaded rifles, are posted for your camera at the first gate leading up the cobblestoned ramp ways to the castle.
The impressive black naval cannon poking through the ramparts have never been fired, but you'll see the canon which booms out over the city every weekday to mark 1 p.m. Why isn't it fired at noon? Remember where you are, quips the guide. One cannon shot at one o'clock is much cheaper than 12 at noon.
Tiny St Margaret's Chapel with its plain whitewashed interior is the oldest building in Edinburgh and the oldest church in use in Scotland. Built by the devout Queen Margaret in about 1076, it survived assaults over the centuries that destroyed the other structures on Castle Rock. The simply restored Norman chapel is kept decorated with flowers each week by Scotswomen named Margaret.
On the promontory here commanding one of Castle Rock's many grand views over Edinburgh stands Mons Meg, a stout cannon forged in the 15th century, probably in Flanders. The five-ton monster ingloriously blew up 200 years later while firing a salute to the Duke of York. Close by is an oddity, the world's most spectacular canine graveyard. In a niche overlooking the city you'll find the Cemetery for Soldiers' Dogs with tombs of regimental mascots.
In the Palace Yard is the Great Hall, built in 1502, which claims the finest hammer beam ceiling in Britain. The oak timbers are joined without a single nail, screw or bolt. Scotland's parliament met here for a century. Among 171 the arms on display is a hefty 900-yearold claymore (from the Gaelic word for broadsword), labelled only with Do Not Touch. The adjacent military museum exhibits a vast array of regimental paraphernalia. Queen Mary's Rooms in the royal apartments include a very small chamber where she gave birth to James VI (later James I of England) in 1566.
The castle's greatest treasure, the crown, sceptre and sword of Scotland, are displayed in the Crown Room. At times more than 10,000 viewers a day file through here to see the oldest royal regalia in Europe. The gold and pearl crown has been altered since it was first used for the coronation of Robert Bruce in 1306. Charles II wore it for the last time in 1651. Popes Alexander VI and Julius II gave the sword and sceptre to James IV. In cases on the wall hang a huge necklace and other pieces of dazzling jewellery.
Note: Edinburgh Castle's entrance lies just beyond the Esplanade, formerly a site for the execution of witches, later a parade ground, now a modern parking lot where the celebrated Military Tattoo is performed during the annual Edinburgh Festival. On Castlehill the Camera Obscura atop the Outlook Tower offers a fascinating 25 minutes in clear weather. After climbing the 98 steps to a darkened octagonal chamber, you'll enjoy living panoramas of Edinburgh projected onto a circular table screen by a periscope like device. The accompanying commentary is masterly.
Entrance is free to the castle's outer precincts, including St Margaret's Chapel. But for a token charge you can join a group being escorted by one of the witty and lore loving palace guides, a great bargain.
The Royal Mile Edinburgh
It's all downhill along the high ridge from Edinburgh Castle to the royal palace, Holy rood house. The Old Town's famous thoroughfare, its cobbles now smoothed, is actually about 2 km. Edinburghers of this area of high tenements and narrow closes (entryways) seem to take delight in recounting how the residents used to toss their slops and refuse from windows after a perfunctory shout of Gardyloo !the local equivalent of gare de I'eau. That meant centuries of rampant disease and a decidedly unpleasant reputation for a city so graced with intellectual genius.
Today, odourless, tidy and lined by historic buildings, the Royal Mile assumes five names as it descends: Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Canongate and Abbey Strand just before the palace.Food and cloth merchants no longer hawk from stalls in the Lawn market. In James Court here (named after its builder, James Brownhill), Samuel Johnson once visited his biographer, James Boswell.
Brodie's Close recalls one of Edinburgh's favourite stories. Deacon Brodie was a respected city official and carpenter by day, a burglar by night (having taken wax impressions of his clients' house keys). Finally arrested and condemned to death, Brodie thought he could escape death by wearing a steel collar concealed beneath his shirt. He was wrong. The city gallows, which he himself had designed, worked. Brodie's double life inspired R. L. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
It's a brief detour down George IV Bridge to the head high statuette of Greyfriars Bobby. This Skye terrier waited by his master's grave in nearby Grey friars Churchyard for 14 years until dying of old age in 1872. Admiring the dog's fidelity, authorities made Bobby a freeman of the city meaning he had the vote long before women, they'll tell you. Back along the Royal Mile, St Giles, the High Kirk of Scotland, dominates Parliament Square.
Its famous tower spire was built in 1495 as a replica of the Scottish crown. The oldest elements of St Giles are the four huge 12th-century pillars supporting the spire, but there was probably a church on the site since 854. John Knox preached here and is thought to be buried in the rear graveyard. St Giles' soaring Norman interior with splendid stained glass is spectacular, filled with memorials recalling great moments of Scottish history. Most beautiful is the vaulted Thistle Chapel, ornately carved of Scottish oak. You'll see a stall for the queen and a princely seat for each of the 16 Knights of the Thistle, Scotland's oldest order of chivalry.
Farther down the Royal Mile are the popular Edinburgh Wax Museum, the Museum of Childhood with toys from yesteryear and Huntley House, the principal city museum. From carefully restored White Horse Close,17th-century stage coaches used to trot off towards London.
The celebrated royal palace of HoIyroodhouse began life about 1500 as a mere guest residence for the adjacent, now ruined, abbey. Much expanded and rebuilt in the 17th century, it has often housed visiting monarchs. During the summer, Holyroodhouse is closed to the public for the week or so that the Royal Family is in residence. In the long Picture Gallery, snide comments abound as guides shepherd groups past portraits purportedly of Scottish kings, dashed off between 1684 and 1686 by Jacob de Wet, a Dutchman who had imagination, brushes and paint.
Upstairs III King James' Tower, connected by an inner stairway, are the apartments of Darnley and Mary Queen of Scots. A plaque marks the spot where the hapless Rizzio, Mary's secretary, was stabbed 56 times with a dagger. You'll hear all about it.
The New Town of Edinburgh
Until late in the 18th century all of Edinburgh was confined to the crowded, unhealthy Old Town along the ridge from the Castle. The population, about 25,000 in 1700, had nearly tripled by 1767 when James Craig won a planning competition for an extension. With significant help from the noted Robert Adam, the resulting New Town has become the most complete complex of Georgian architecture. A fetid stretch of water called Nor' Loch was drained and made into Princes Street Gardens, the city's attractive green centre-piece. Rising from the gardens is the landmark spire of the Scott Monument, which has a statue of Sir Walter with his dog, statuettes of Scott's literary characters and 287 steps to the top. For climbing them you get a certificate and an excellent panorama. The celebrated floral clock, with some 24,000 plants, also adorns Princes Street Gardens.
A sloping road known as the Mound (formed from refuse during construction of the New Town) passes through the gardens. Here you will find the National Gallery of Scotland, a distinguished small collection of the great painters. Look for Van Dyck's The Lomellini Family with its five pouting members, Rubens' dramatically gory The Feast of Herod, Velasquez's striking Old Woman Cooking Eggs and four Rembrandt portraits. The English school is represented by Turner, Gainsborough and Reynolds, and you'll see numerous paintings by the city's own Henry Raeburn.
Past Edinburgh's main thoroughfare, ever busy Princes Street (the apostrophe was dropped long ago), spreads the neoclassical New Town. Its masterpiece is Charlotte Square, the noblest square in Europe.
The 11 symmetrically facaded houses forming the square's north side are considered the finest accomplishment of Robert Adam, Scotland's esteemed 18th century architect. No 7 Charlotte Square has been converted by the National Trust for Scotland into an authentic Georgian show house. In the dining room you'll see an enviable table setting for eight of Wedgwood and Sheffield, and in the bedchamber a marvellous old medicine chest, a canopied four-poster and an early 19th-century water closet called the receiver.
Things to do in Edinburgh
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art occupies premises in Belford Road. The collection is ambitious, with an emphasis on Scottish and British work. Along Tnverleith Row extend the 75 acres of the much admired Royal Botanic Gardens with perhaps the world's largest rhododendron collection, cavernous plant houses and a remarkable rock garden containing hundreds of meticulously cultivated specimens. A colony of some 200 parading penguins is the main attraction at Edinburgh's famous zoo, set in rolling parkland in the western suburb of Corstorphine.
Excursions from Edinburgh and car hire
Although there are plenty of organized trips from Edinburgh, the easiest and most economical way to get around and discover the area is to hire a car from Edinburgh Airport before you fly.
Hopetown House, the finest Adam mansion in Scotland, lies 10 miles (16 km.) west of Edinburgh. Deer and the rare four horned St. Kilda sheep roam the grounds of this neoclassical house set in 100 acres (40 ha.) of parkland. The ruins of the great fortified palace where Mary Queen of Scots was born stand nearby in Linlithgow, overlooking the loch.
Picturesque landscapes unfold east of Edinburgh in the resort area of East Lothian, with its pretty villages and romantic ruined castles. Further south, four great monasteries founded in the 12th century lie in ruin. The battered shells of the abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso and Jedburgh bear witness to a violent past. The monks used to export cloth to the Continent, and weaving is still a major industry in the border area.
Eating Out in Edinburgh
When the Auld Alliance linked Scotland to France five centuries ago, Scotsmen began to take a serious interest in food. Since that time porridge, kippers, smoked haddock, smoked salmon, shortbread and marmalade have been exported worldwide to the further glory of Scotland. The secret of Scottish cooking lies in the quality of the ingredients used. Aberdeen Angus cattle provide prime beef. From the icy waters of the North Sea and north Atlantic come some of the world's finest seafood. Scotland is also the land of game: venison, pheasant, partridge.
The Scottish Tourist Board has launched a campaign to revive some of Scotland's traditional specialities, including cockaleekie soup, an Edinburgh favourite made with chicken, leeks and prunes, and Fife broth, a rich soup of pork ribs, barley and potatoes. For the next course, how about young chicken stewed with spinach and served with poached eggs. Kingdom of Fife pie contains rabbit and bacon, while the pastry of Forrar bridies encloses a rich steak filling. That king of fish, salmon, is poached and served with a delicate wine sauce in a dish called Tweed kettle. Perhaps one of the most intriguing Scottish preparations is haggis. Burns' great chieftain of the pudding race comprises sheep's innards, oatmeal, suet, onion and seasoning stuffed into a sheep's stomach bag and boiled. Eat it with chappit tatties and bashed neeps: mashed potatoes and turnips.
Drinks in Edinburgh Scotland
Nobody outside Scotland has been able to duplicate Scotch whisky, however hard they try. The Scots claim it is the pure water, the aroma of peat and the highland air that makes Scotch what it is. There are two types straight malt, distilled from malted barley, and grain whisky distilled from malted barley and grain. Most whiskies are blended from both types. You may offend your Scottish host if you drink his malt with anything other than a little plain water. The other great Scottish drink is beer. Ask for a pint of heavy. You can drink it as a chaser with your whisky, in which case you ask for a half and half.
Shopping in Scotland
Woollens are among Scotland's finest products. Tweed is woollen cloth unrivalled for warmth and durability, especially Harris Tweed from the Outer Hebrides. Shops selling tartans will endeavour to find some clan affiliation for you, however un-scottish your name sounds. Shetland sweaters, cashmere and sheepskins have a deserved reputation for quality. Bagpipes will proclaim unmistakably that you've been to Scotland, especially if you learn how to play them. The Scottish Craft Centre in Canongate, a non-profit making enterprise, sells the work of local artisans.
The variety of handcrafted goods is astounding textiles, pottery, silverware, metal, wood and leather work, tapestry, calligraphy.
Few visitors can resist the array of Scottish edibles: cakes, shortbread, marmalade, fudge, and other sweets. Scotland's most famous product, Scotch, is quite likely to be no cheaper here than anywhere else, and probably somewhat more expensive. But you will be able to purchase some rare whiskies and fine malts that would otherwise never leave the country.
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