Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Drinking
28 Athletic Arms
A6
29 Bennet's Bar
D5
30 Cumberland Bar
E1
31 Regent
H2
Entertainment
32 Bongo Club
G3
33 Cameo
D5
34 King's Theatre
D5
35 Queen's Hall
G6
36 Studio 24
H3
Shopping
37 Adam Pottery
D1
38 Galerie Mirages
C1
39 Meadows Pottery
G6
Old Town
Edinburgh's Old Town stretches along a ridge to the east of the castle, and tumbles down
Victoria St to the broad expanse of the Grassmarket. It's a jagged and jumbled maze of
masonry riddled with closes (alleys) and wynds, stairs and vaults, and cleft along its spine
by the cobbled ravine of the Royal Mile.
Until the founding of the New Town in the 18th century, old Edinburgh was an over-
crowded and insanitary hive of humanity squeezed between the boggy ground of the Nor'
Loch (North Loch, now drained and occupied by Princes Street Gardens) to the north and
the city walls to the south and east. The only way for the town to expand was upwards,
and the five- and six-storey tenements that were raised along the Royal Mile in the 16th
and 17th centuries were the skyscrapers of their day, remarked upon with wonder by visit-
ing writers such as Daniel Defoe. All classes of society, from beggars to magistrates, lived
cheek by jowl in these urban ant nests, the wealthy occupying the middle floors - high
enough to be above the noise and stink of the streets, but not so high that climbing the
stairs would be too tiring - while the poor squeezed into attics, basements, cellars and
vaults amid rats, rubbish and raw sewage.
 
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