U.K: Scotland

Imagine a wide, cobbled avenue lined with medieval buildings & gothic cathedrals, tiny skinny 'wynds' and 'closes' cutting through either side offering glimpses down over the city, and a grand old castle at the top of the road. This is the Royal Mile in the Old City of Edinburgh and I was lucky enough to stay in a flat on this road with two lovely couchsurfers! I arrived here around 8.30pm in the soft summer evening, to crowds of Spanish supporters pouring out of bars as they'd just beat Germany. Apparently Edinburgh's two largest immigrant populations are Spanish & Polish (one of the many interesting facts I learnt from Dan who was hosting me!)

Dan took me up to the castle which is on top of an extinct volcano at the end of the Royal Mile, (the parade ground for the Edinburgh tattoo is just outside it and looks bigger on TV) and we got in for free thanks to his friend working there. It has

• the oldest building in Edinburgh (a tiny chapel from 1100's with stained glass window of William Wallace)


• massive cannons & cannon balls


• a cemetery for Soldier's Dogs


• the Stone of Destiny (a slab of rock thought to have Biblical origins, used by Scottish in all inaugurations of monarchs, stolen by English in 1296, put in a golden coronation chair on which all English monarchs were enthroned, stolen back by 4 Scottish students who broke into Westminster abbey on christmas day 1950, then in 1996 The Queen officially allowed it to stay in Scotland.)
  

Walked all the way down the Royal Mile to Parliament, then around the base of Arthur's Seat (another volcanic hill) where suddenly it felt like you were in the countryside with woods and marsh and long grass. Up the top of Calton Hill was another spot I loved, it was quiet with great 360 degree views over the city/ castle/ water/ and the industrial town Leith where Trainspotting was set.

That night Dan & I went on an 'adults only because it's so scary' ghost tour but managed to stuff it up, listened to the first guy until he realised we didn't have tickets yet so started listening to the next tour, who was telling exactly the same stories, so we went to have a pint and then caught them up at the bit we hadn't heard yet... in the Underground Vaults. Learnt all the dark secrets of Edinburgh Old City with murders and betrayals and tortures and hauntings... and the vaults were really scary! They used to house the black markets & brothels etc and our guide would point out corners of rooms and tell of who had been seen there... and blow out the candles and make us stand right back at the edge of the rooms! If only he didn't have such an annoying pommy accent (the second guide wasn't scottish) so 'rocks and rubble' became 'wocks and wubble..'

Came back outside at the perfect moment of the clocktower striking midnight and watched a film crew spraying hoses into the air to make it look like it was raining on a horse and cart. It's the sort of place where you put a horse and cart in front of you and suddenly you're so easily transported back in time.

Unfortunately didn't experience any "jumper-ooterer's" who are uni students employed by the ghost tours (at £10 a scare!) to hide and jump out to scare tour groups around town!