The Royal Mile
Royal Mile is Edinburgh’s historic highway and is tantamount with the Old Town. Stretching out for 1 mile and 107 yards, the ‘High Street’ (the other name by which it is commonly known), connects two of Edinburgh’s most prominent attractions which have remained the foci of attraction in the pages of Scottish history – Edinburgh castle on one end and the Palace of Holyrood House on the other.
Decked up all the way with numerous places of historical and cultural significance, specialized shops where a visitor can hop in to get anything they are looking for, spacious restaurants that offer culinary delicacies and pubs with the liveliest atmosphere, the Royal Mile is definitely a treat!
The Royal Mile is in fact a concoction of several streets, all of which have something unique to it. The Esplanade, Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Netherbow, Canongate and Abbey Strand are the succession of streets which form the main thoroughfare of Royal Mile, which today stands as the backbone of Edinburgh’s Old Town. Having had a place in some of the key moments in Scottish history, legends of mystery as well as ghosts do its rounds in this heavily populated street. The Royal Mile has so much to offer a visitor that it is difficult to explore it in a single day. The streets that make the mile by themselves serve as a national treasure and are some of the best places a visitor to the country can choose to spend his time on.
Castle Esplanade which was initially laid out in the 19th century to serve as a parade ground for troops is today the venue of the famed annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo – an enthralling programme which sees participants from across four continents performing against the backdrop of Edinburgh’s best tourist attraction – the floodlit boulevard of Edinburgh Castle. With the Hub which houses the Edinburgh International Festival, the Scotch Whisky Experience, the Camera Obscura and the Cannonball House (keep your eyes open to see the cannonball which was fortuitously fired from the castle and which remains wedged in the wall even today), all sited at a close distance to one another here, the Castle Esplanade and Castlehill is truly worth the traveller’s time.
The Lawnmarket which is chiefly a linen market is lined up with tourist-oriented shops. If you are there at the place during the annual Edinburgh Festival, the High Street area is where you should be. Jam-packed with entertainers, buskers and tourists, High Street remains the city’s central focus during the festival and is the best place that helps in gifting visitors the festival mood.
The Camera Obscura which has been gifting travelers a panaromic view show of Edinburgh in the slightest detail for the past 150 years also boasts about the biggest showcase of holograms in the European continent and houses a mesmerizing exhibition of pin-hole photography, optical illusions and historic photographs of Old Edinburgh. The Goosepie house constructed by Allan Ramsay in the year 1740, the Whisky Heritage centre which enlightens one on the history of Scotland’s national drink in the most entertaining manner and the St Giles Kirk, Parliament House and Arthur’s Seat In Holyrood Park which can be found on a walk down the hill from the Edinburgh Castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse are a few of the numerous attractions which are bound to enthrall visitors for hours together.
With only the Princes Street in New Town as its contender, the Royal Mile is Edinburgh’s most eventful and busy tourist street. Enough reasons as to why the Royal Mile is Edinburgh’s hottest tourist spot today!
