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The Royal Mile Edinburgh is the original medieval High Street full of secrets! Only about a 25 minute walk or 5 minute taxi ride or a passing bus from Barony House. Book your stay with us HERE.
The Royal Mile contains a maze of tributary lanes of various sizes which spill off either side of the main cobbled street. A lane on The Mile is known as a “close”.
The Royal Mile is one road which connects Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace.
Half of The Mile is fully cobblestoned and the medievil section used to be completely walled in by a wall called “The Flodden Wall”. You can still see sections of the wall as you explore.
If you walk to The Royal Mile Edinburgh from Barony House, you walk up the one, main road which intersects The Royal Mile exactly in half. When you get there, simply turn left and walk up the cobble stoned half – mile section until you reach Edinburgh Castle at the top.
THE ROYAL MILE EDINBURGH PHOTOS:
The best way to have a sneak peak at the “feel” of The Mile is to look at some photos:
As you make your way up The Mile, on your left you will bump into St Giles Chathedral. An impressive place, very historic and often has choirs singing etc but a great cathedral to explore.
Keep walking to the next intersection and you can take a left then a quick right to walk to down the very famous “Victoria Street”:
The Royal Mile Edinburgh – Secrets?
Well, it is not so much a secret but a historical fact. Back in history, hanging someone was a huge event and drew a crowd. The purpose was to make an example of the condemned criminal. It was a show and a celebration that law and order existed and that if you do something wrong, like deserving of a death sentence, you would be held accountable.
The original Mercat Cross was made of timber and on the Royal Mile Edinburgh, you can still see marked in the cobblestone where it once stood. The timber was later replaced with a more solid stone version which you can see here:
There is a lot to do and see on The Royal Mile, particularly in the half mile section leading up to Edinburgh Castle. We highly recommend The Whisky Experience for all things Whisky. It is up near Edinburgh Castle. We also recommend doing an underground Tour. There are 2 major ones to do. Mary King’s Close, which is a high-production tour where operators dress up etc and you view video screens throughout or our fav has to be The Mercat Tours, history tour. Mercat Tours take you underneath South Bridge to explore secret underground vaults that were discovered by accident, full or rubble. Once excavated, the secrets of the past were suddenly on display!
Camera Obscura is a lot of fun, for the child in us all. Although at the top, they have an excellent vintage observatory dating back to early Victorian times. Well worth a look! The panaoramic views from the top of the tower are also well worth the climb.
To set yourself up for all this exploring, you need to start your day with one of our famous breakfasts:
WHO ORDERED PANCAKES?
We hope you enjoyed our brief write up on The Royal Mile, we can’t wait to welcome you to our Barony House world! BOOK NOW.