Day 9-10 Edinburgh 

Tuesday October 28th & 29th

Edi Tourist Things

We got up and had a relaxing morning, tea and scones, which I’m craving again now. It was a crisp fall day, blue skies and hoards of tourists. We started on the Royal Mile, down to Princes Street, grabbed a couple books from Waterstones, back through the gardens, Grassmarket, down to Greyfriars Bobby for a wee pet. We checked out the National Museum in the afternoon before retiring to our abode, opting for Thai takeaway and another quiet night in. The next few days were equally nourishing. No timeframes, no rush. Wandering around a picturesque tourist city. Avoiding rain squalls, tucking into museums, collecting little treats and writing our postcards. 

The highlights of day 10 consisted of the best hot chocolate of my life and the National Portrait Galleries & a ghost tour – chefs kiss. Moo Pie is, I believe, primarily a hole in the wall gelato shop, but come October the hot beverages are a must. The best hot chocolate on earth starts with your preference regarding milk/dark, malt, 55%-70% dark, I went with 55%, topped with toasted marshmallow fluff and a pinch of chocolate shavings. Perfection. Utter perfection. I’m sure their gelato also slays. We love a well executed dream.

The National Portrait Gallery was amazing as well, set within a magnificent gothic palace – a work of art in itself – with a large selection of arts ranging from historic portraiture, contemporary works and exhibits. A personal favourite was the anonymous painting of the execution of Charles I, 1649.

We headed upstairs to view the current exhibit, photography by Alfred Buckham.

“Buckham served as an aerial reconnaissance photographer during the First World War, taking images from the air to aid military intelligence. It was an extremely dangerous occupation, with life expectancy measured in days not years.

During the war he crashed a terrifying nine times. His descriptions of these crashes are vivid with one being particularly memorable. When I discovered myself again, I was head foremost in a particularly wicked bush, which was doing its best to indicate the intrusion was unwelcome. But when I endeavoured to extricate myself it became positively cantankerous; and what I called that bush none but myself will ever know.

He emerged relatively unscathed from the first eight crashes but the final accident, over Rosyth in Fife, was serious. He suffered a throat injury leading to the removal of his larynx and relied on a tube to breathe for the rest of his life. In 1919 he was discharged from military service on a full pension. Despite this, Buckham continued to pursue aerial photography after the war.

Buckham’s photographs demonstrate his love of flying. He dashed through rainbows, soared through billowing clouds and gleefully looped the loop in his quest to convey the joy of being in the air.

The exhibition revealed the man behind some of the most iconic aerial photographs, and showed the death-defying lengths he took to capture the perfect image. It explored how his innovative techniques paved the way for modern technologies such as Photoshop and AI.”

• National Galleries

The exhibit was quite interesting, with interactive displays, explaining Buckham’s process with overlays to achieve his finished product. His aerial view of Edinburgh was a personal favourite and I managed to pick up a print in the gift shop. Buckham’s works were on display from mid October to April 2026, and the hall was rather busy, which was great to see. 

We wrapped up at NPG and headed back towards the Royal Mile, tucking through the Old Assembly Close, an old alleyway connecting to the old town. Originally gated private property, there are over 250 historic steep narrow walkthroughs throughout the city, offering a glimpse into 17th century life in Edinburgh. We passed Lady Stair’s Close and the Writers Museum, which we unfortunately didn’t fit into our visit. By 4 darkness starts creeping into the city, especially under slight cloud cover.

We popped out for a bite to eat before our last commitment in Edinburgh, a walking tour/ghost tour with Mercat, starting off in the Blair Street underground vaults – just down from our AirBnB. You descend into the dark dank chambers, built in the 1780’s, once upon a time housing legitimate merchants and cobblers before being taken over by illegal taverns, bootleggers and the impoverished. 

The story goes that bodysnatchers would store corpses overnight before being sold off to medical schools for fresh cadaver dissection or anatomy lectures. Not to be confused with grave robbers, who merely pillage the burial sites for sellable goods. The issue of rampant grave disturbing was eventually dealt with by installing mortsafes, imposing iron cages, on first glance, they appear like they’re designed to trap the dead in their graves as well. We wandered Greyfriars Kirkyard Cemetery, walked Cowgate, heard many a ghost story and lore. It was an enjoyable evening, and fitting way to wrap up our visit to Edinburgh, also fitting as we were coming up on Halloween. 

I’m going to continue the blog in one more short post even though it was only 3 days. The platform glitches a bit with the amount of pictures I upload and there were a few castle stops on our last big driving day from Edinburgh to Inverness. I also ramble about spurtles and haggis, so you have something to look forward to!

Cheers!