First week in Edinburgh
After being delayed over a year because of the pandemic, I have finally made it to Edinburgh! Due to jetlag and rainy weather, I haven’t explored too much of the city center, but below are some photos and impressions of the Canongate area, in the Old Town section east of Edinburgh Castle.
First up, a view down Canongate:
The Canongate area gets its name from the road (“gait”) traveled by the priests (“canons”) who lived in nearby Holyrood Abbey back in the twelfth century. At the time, Canongate existed outside of Edinburgh proper, but it was eventually incorporated into the city in the nineteenth century. Although this is a main tourist road running through the Canongate/Holyrood, most of the area consists of similar buildings, lending this part of town a charming, historic feel.
Next, the Tolbooth and Kirk:
The Tolbooth was once, as its name indicates, a toll booth, but also a court, town council, and jail; it now houses a museum (closed during the pandemic, unfortunately) and a pub. Interestingly, the iconic clock wasn’t added until the 1880s. Next to it is the Kirk (a Scottish word for church, apparently), where the royal family occasionally attends services if they’re in town. It’s a beautiful building, with pretty and well-kept grounds around it.
Across the street is the Museum of Edinburgh and Bakehouse Close:
For Outlander fans, Season 3 was filmed here (according to the signs, anyway). Aside from this, the museum is well worth a half day in its own right, providing an interesting and concise history of Canongate and the Old Town part of Edinburgh via displays of architecture, silver and glassware, pottery, clothing, and random but interesting objects (including an oatcake baked by Robert Burns’ wife that definitely looks original to the period!). There’s also a featured display of Greyfriars Bobby, an adorable terrier who is said to have guarded his owner’s grave for 14 years. Hachiko’s got nothin’ on this little guy.
Finally, lest you think it was all about feeding the mind, let me recommend to you Oink, further east down Canongate:
Started by a pig farmer and a sheep farmer, Oink is a local restaurant chain built around one thing: a roast pork sandwich to end all roast pork sandwiches. Ordering is simple; you choose the sandwich size (medium, in the above picture), add your choice of stuffing (haggis, in my case – the other choice was bread and herb), and top with a sauce (apple for me, but choices include mayo/mustard, barbecue, chili cheese, and chili jam). You also get a bit of that crackling skin to go with it, but the strawberries were my own meager attempt to add something healthy to the plate. As someone who grew up eating pulled pork from the Deep South, I will heartily endorse Oink’s sandwich as one of the best expressions of pork I’ve ever eaten. The meat is slow roasted instead of barbecued, so there’s not the complexity of smoke woven into each bite, but the pork is rich, juicy, and unctuously tender in a way that barbecue isn’t, and the crackling is simply divine. Finally, the haggis and apple add counterpoints of flavor, resulting in a uniquely Scottish offering that definitely goes into my gustatory hall of fame.
And for those wondering about the lack of whisky: patience! With so many choices of whiskies and whisky venues, I will dedicate a separate blog post to Scotland’s favorite drink. Just give me some time, so my liver doesn’t completely fail before my stay is over!