Edinburgh - Calton Hill and Greyfriars Area

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• Part 1: Edinburgh - Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle
• Part 2: Edinburgh - Calton Hill and Greyfriars Area
• Part 3: Scottish Highlands and Urquhart Castle/Loch Ness



Whenever you see an image of Edinburgh from any travel magazine, it is nearly always from the top of Calton Hill with the Dugald Stewart Monument in the foreground. This is a very iconic part of the city and is a great place to have the kids run around, take in the city skyline, and have a picnic lunch. On top of Calton Hill, there are several buildings of differing origin showcasing an interesting mix of architecture. The unmistakably Greek-styled Dugald Stewart Monument sits across from the similarly styled National Monument of Scotland, which oddly sits unfinished and is therefore known by several names such as “Scotland’s Disgrace”. Next to this is the Nelson Monument, which looks like the mask of a buried ship, the top of which holds the 1 o’clock time ball. It is this ball, that when dropped every day, triggers the firing of the 1 o’clock cannon at Edinburgh palace. Historically, there would be a daily noon-time measurement of the sun to ensure that the 1 o’clock ball would be accurate for ships in the harbor. We didn’t stay around to see the ball drop, but it was a good continuation of our visit to Edinburgh Castle, where the cannon is fired.

At the base of the hill is also a good shopping area and is where Alex went on his Scottish shopping spree with his Grandparents. The ladies in the shop were excited to help doll him up as a Scottish lad, and he danced a jig for them in his kilt while we laughed and took lots of pictures. Afterwards, we walked through the relatively quiet St. Mary’s church, which to our surprise contains the relics of St. Andrew, the patron Saint of Scotland.

Speaking of churches, one of the most famous is in the Greyfriars area. More specifically, the kirkyard (or cemetery) is famous because of a story about a faithful dog. We highly recommend watching the Disney movie Greyfriars Bobby which explains the background of the kirkyard and its iconic dog, Bobby. The kids were excited to see the statue of Bobby and could imagine him sneaking through the gate into the kirkyard to sleep on his master’s grave. Outside the kirkyard, near the statue of Bobby, is Greyfriars Bobby Pub, which is also featured in the movie. We feared that the pub would be crowded, but it turned out to be low-key and cosy with a good selection of drinks and food. If you are around during happy hour, you can’t beat the specials, e.g. 9 GBP for a huge hamburgers, fries, salad and a pint of beer.

Across the street from Greyfriars is the National Museum of Scotland, which is free to visit and has an amazing collection of Scottish themed exhibits covering subjects such as geology, history and industry. They have a lot of kid friendly interactive activities such as a trebuchet exhibit, where Grace had fun knocking down a foam wall with a miniature trebuchet. You can probably visit several days to avoid museum overload, and they have different themed tracks which are easy to follow. We focused on the natural history areas because our recent lessons were on types of mountains, and Scotland has a very fascinating display of them. So, this was a great opportunity to teach them about the history and formation of the different mountains we’d seen around Edinburgh and through the Highlands (more on this next!)

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Links and Teaching Resources

1. Scottish Author Robert Lewis Stevenson
a. Read The Moon
b. Watch Kidnapped
c. Looney Toons spoof Hyde and Hare (search Youtube).
d. Read Treasure Island, watch movie, and go to Long John Silvers for lunch.
e. Memorize the poem At the Seaside (See video below)
2. Scottish Terrier
a. Read Scottish Terriers by Bob Temple
b. Watch Disney movie Greyfriars Bobby
3. Scottish Food
a. Forfar Bridies
b. Shortbread cookies
4. St. Andrew, Patron Saint of Scotland and Scottish Flag History
5. Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen

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