Edinburgh – I was looking for the Moody Side of Scotland.

And I think I found it!

Often being a tourist in a big city of a country you have often dreamed of seeing can be a bit too touristy and a bit disheartening but Edinburgh did not disappoint us in any way. Yes, it is touristy but we were so excited to be in the land of our ancestors and the setting of many books that we read that it could hardly be anything but exciting, shiny and wonderful. On our first day we walked around getting a feel for our surroundings and, of course, headed up toward the Castle and the Royal Mile.

I was particularly interested in the little closes that run north and south off of the Royal Mile. They are little alleyways that are tightly enclosed spaces, often with long stairways going down the hill. One in particular that I wanted to find was the Advocates Close. We had lunch at the Devil’s Advocate on our second day. It was a busy little restaurant but well worth the visit.

I have a ton of these little alleyways in my picture collection but below is my favorite.

A bit dystopian, I think. Another pic that I snapped and loved was in a pub. Right outside the Castle, you can either get into a huge lineup for Whiskey Tasting – line ups are not for us – or go into this little pub almost right next, unfortunately, I could not find the name of the place but recall it was a school at one point and that some child died. Hence the following picture. BUT please don’t think that it was not a great place for a rest and refreshment – I just got enthralled with the story and thought this told it in a bit of a spooky way…

We did go up to the castle, honestly, but it was raining so much! I got a few pictures but they will wait for another day. Here is one that was taken in a moment of respite from the rain. These young men were very serious and did not even look beyond their straight-on vision point.