Edinburgh on the Rocks - A Guide with a Twist - A city map 4 Key of venue: see back 5 6 How to Treat me Right (An Instruction Manual to the Guide) -Hot- - Read me carefully - don‘t just tell everyone you did. - Appreciate and honour me. - Recommend me (even if you‘d rather not). - Trust and obey me. - Believe in me - and only me. - Cuddle me from time to time, a book needs love too. - Let me be the last thing you think of before you go to bed, and the first thing once you get up. - Pass me on to people you hold very dear, but don‘t just give me away to anybody. -Not- - Don‘t hit other people or animals with me. - Don‘t throw me away in a fit of an ger or exhaustion. - Don‘t drown me by spilling any kind of liquid over me. - Don‘t rip me into pieces. - Don‘t tease me - a travel guide has feelngs too. - Don‘t eat me - no matter how hungry you get from sightseeing. - Don‘t burn me on a bonfire. - Never ever forget me! 7 Contents Intro 9 History 10 Lifestyle & Culture 39 Sights & Activities 59 Day Trips 103 Nightlife & Entertainment 119 Food & Drink 133 Accommodation &Transport 149 Dos & Don'ts 152 The team 154 8 Edinburgh Spotting Choose your destination. Choose your flight. Choose an effing big suitcase. Choose a bed to rest your weary head on, and be just as tired in the morning. Choose square sausages, bacon rashers, potato scones, baked beans and how you like your eggs. Choose your daily itinerary. Choose your museums, galleries and cafés. Choose your sandwich fillings and a bottle of Irn Bru. Choose whisky-tasting, shopping and your hill to climb to enjoy the city view from. Choose to escape reality at a cinema or a theatre. Choose to wander the streets in search of a friendly ghost. Choose a pub. Choose your kind of music. Choose your dancing shoes and kilt for a ceilidh. Choose stumbling home eating a deep-fried Mars Bar. Choose an effing hangover. Choose your literature/book to read on a bench in the park. Choose a round of golf. Choose Edinburgh…but why would you want to do a thing like that? We will show you… Choose this guide to discover the diversity of Edinburgh’s many facets through an eclectic mix of articles, written by dif- ferent people from around the world. 9 HISTORY “Edinburgh is an experi- ence A city of enormous gifts Whose streets sing of his- tory Whose cobbles tell tales.” Alan Bold 10 Edinburgh’s Characters - Real Life and Myth Any observant traveler wandering through Edinburgh will notice that it is a city built wholly upon the past. The very streets you walk on are built over the cobblestones and closes of yesteryear, and museums and storefronts continue to honor personages and parables that have been kept in mind for generations. History cannot be separated or extracted from an action taken today—the smallest deed done will leave a mark on this permeable place, an impression that will be incorporated into the story of Edinburgh told tomorrow. Here are stories of individuals who have left their own marks on Edinburgh. Whether they were real or fantasy is of no consequence—they were no passing fancy. You, the traveler, see and feel the weight of their actions, today; perhaps someone here will remember you someday… 11 On the second of September 1784, Maggie Dickson was publicly executed in the Grassmarket. 40 years later, she died a happy woman, with a loving husband and children surrounding her. How can this be possible? ‘Half-Hanged Maggie,’ as she is affectionately called in Edinburgh, suf- fered many hardships in her early years, among them, a public execution. However, to the dismay of the citizens of Edinburgh, she survived. But let us start at the beginning. Maggie was a lovely and unassuming young woman who made her home in 18th century Edinburgh. When she was still in her teens, she fell in love and married a young man. They spent a happy year together, until he disappeared, leaving her poor and desti- tute. The shame of being thus left was too much for Maggie to bear, and she ran away. She found an inn and begged the innkeeper to let her work there in return for free room and board. All was well until Maggie met the innkeeper’s son. Sparks flew, and before too long, Maggie found her- self pregnant. With no better plan, she carried the growing child, hoping no one would notice. Luckily, no one did, and Maggie gave birth to a premature infant son. He was very sickly and weak, and survived only three days. Rushing to the river, Maggie planned to throw the child into the chill, swirling waters. Yet, when she tried to do so, something stopped her. Instead, she wrapped the child in blankets and hid him beneath the bridge, praying that no one would discover him. Unfortunately, someone did find the child, and traced the path back to Maggie. She was ar- rested and dragged back to Edinburgh to be tried not for the child’s death, but for a more onerous offense—the Act of Concealment of Pregnancy. Tales from Bey .ond the Grave... 12 For this most awful of crimes, she was convicted and hanged. Her body was put in a wooden casket to be car- ried to her family’s village for burial. A cart driver, well used to the eeriness of toting dead bodies to the cem- etery, settled in for a routine journey. As he drove, however, he began to hear noises coming from the back of his cart. Not one to be shaken by tales of ghosts and monsters, he ignored the scraping, and then knocking sounds. A muffled ‘help’ had him pulling sharply on the reins and leaping from the cart. Upon closer inspection, he found the culprit of the sound, and pulled open Maggie Dickson’s casket. To his surprise and dismay, she was still alive. The town was in an uproar when they heard the news. How had she survived? Had she paid the hangman off? But more importantly, what would they do with her? Could she be tried again, and hanged, or let free? In the end, the lawyers of the town decided that according to the law, a person could not be convicted of the same crime twice. So, Maggie Dickson was free to go, and she lived another 40 years, married and had many children. Today, she is a local favorite, and in the Haymarket, the sight of her botched execution, a pub proudly bears the name Maggie Dickson, a tribute to Edinburgh’s own ‘Half- Hanged Maggie.’ Tales from Bey .ond the Grave... 13 Body Snatching The 19th Century opened with a new and unsettling branch of buying and selling. Science had become a viable field of study, and many scholars were eager to delve into the mysteries of the human body. However, they faced the restrictions of strict laws that forbid the use of cadavers, except in special cases. Frustrated, these scholars had very limited resources with which to discover. Thus, a black market trade of bodies began, with grave robbers at the forefront. No questions were asked, and graves became conspicu- ously empty as classrooms suddenly boasted increased numbers of cadavers. Precautions were taken to guard against these crimes, but as there was no law against stealing bodies because they were not property, the thieves had little to fear. Professors and doctors turned a blind eye to the sources of their bodies, and though night guards were put on duty, cemetery walls rose, and metal cages were erected over the gravesites, body snatching became a lucrative trade. Though often associated with this particular method, William Burke and William Hare were not, in fact, body snatchers. Theirs was a much more terrible trade. Even so, they most likely did not intend to leave such a murderous legacy behind when they arrived from Ire- land. However, circumstances led them down a path that resulted in an infamous history. William Hare and his wife owned a lodging house, and when one of their tenants, Donald, died suddenly, he left a four pound debt on their hands. At the time, this was a great deal of money, and caused considerable upset. Inspired by the criminal activity of the time, how- ever, Burke and Hare took Donald’s body to the university’s medical buildings to be sold. It was there that Dr. Knox, the university’s most renowned medical lecturer, paid about ten pounds for the body, no questions asked. During the height of their trade, they officially committed 16 mur- ders, but speculations rise to even 30 victims. They targeted people 14 who would not attract suspicion—those travelers or homeless citi- zens who would not be missed. Luring them into their lodging house, they would ply them with drink, take them upstairs and suffocate them. This particular method left no trace of murder on the body. Their system worked for a time; however, as they became more and more successful, they also became reckless. Not so careful with their victims, they murdered several well-known citizens—including a favorite prostitute, Mary Paterson, and a children’s entertainer, “Daft Jamie.” When these bodies were brought onto Dr. Knox’s lab table, several students recognized them. Though Dr. Knox shook off the speculation, he tellingly began to dissect their faces first.