Edinburgh

Thinking about what to do for New Year's Eve, I remembered with nostalgia 3 years ago when, defying the cold and the crowds, we went to Edinburgh to take part with another 120,000 people in Hogmanay. A big end-of-year celebration held in the city center that closes some of the main streets, which become a stage for music of various kinds, with 4 stages in different spots for dancing and singing and waiting all together for the fireworks and light shows that burst from the castle towering reassuringly above the hill. During our 3-day stay we roamed far and wide through the streets of this stunning little city with its Gothic colors and atmospheres, through the narrow, dark passageways, into the writers' museum or the churches hosting very alternative Christmas markets. The Royal Mile is the main street of the Old Town, which starts at the castle and goes straight to Holyrood House.

One morning was dedicated to the castle, full of views and panoramas worth capturing forever, then a walk around the castle area, Castlehill, full of souvenir shops, products made in tartan and picturesque buildings. Continuing on, you walk through the area called Lawnmarket, where the market once took place. Here we visited the Writers' Museum dedicated to the three great Scottish writers Robert Burns (a very important Scottish poet); Walter Scott (an author famous for his historical novels); Robert Louis Stevenson, known above all for his novels "Treasure Island" and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". The museum is housed in a 17th-century house and is full of objects, manuscripts and curiosities relating to these 3 great authors.

Both in this area and in the following ones called High Street and Canongate, opening up between the various streets are the closes, that is, narrow covered passageways that cross the hills, descending from one level to another of the streets of the Old Town resting on the hill. These, together with the grey color of the buildings' stone, give the atmosphere its typically Gothic and fascinating feel. Some closes take their names from shady characters of dubious reputation wrapped in halos of mystery. The final part of the Royal Mile, called Canongate, was a disreputable district of the city that today retains its Gothic charm. At the end of this mile-long street paved with volcanic rock, we visited Holyroodhouse Palace, residence of the Scottish monarchy since the 16th century, where Mary, Queen of Scots, spent most of her reign.

We were captivated by the gardens with the remains of a 12th-century monastery with its roofless church, under a gloomy sky that carried us straight into the Middle Ages. If you want to breathe a different air, a particular atmosphere that makes Edinburgh seem a place far away in time and space, a 15-minute walk from Princes Street, along the banks of the Water of Leith, you simply must visit Dean Village. This hamlet, which arose as a village of workers' houses in the second half of the 1800s, was also known for its mills, now destroyed, but it retains a typical architecture and, with the sound of the stream, amid the peace of the little streets and crossing the courtyards, you can catch glimpses of the inhabitants' daily life. Here noise, traffic and frenzy are nowhere to be found.

In short, Edinburgh, this stunning little city with its Gothic colors and atmospheres but full of life, cheerfulness and young people, won us over.