The Old Town has preserved its medieval plan and many Reformation-era buildings. Edinburgh Castle dominates the centre of the Old Town and the Royal Mile, a pituresque and atmospheric medieval street, leads away from it. Old closes or wynds lead downhill from the Royal Mile. These contain many interesting shops and attractions. Large squares mark the location of markets or surround public buildings such as St. Giles' Cathedral and the Law Courts. Other places to visit include the Royal Museum of Scotland, Surgeons' Hall and McEwan Hall. The street layout is typical of the old quarters of many northern European cities, and where the castle perches on top of a rocky crag (the remnants of an extinct volcano) the Royal Mile runs down the crest of a ridge from it.
Due to space restrictions imposed by the narrowness of the "tail", the Old Town became home to some of the earliest "high rise" residential buildings. Multi-storey dwellings known as lands were the norm from the 16th century onwards with ten and eleven storeys being typical and one even reaching fourteen or fifteen storeys. Additionally, numerous vaults below street level were inhabited to accommodate the influx of immigrants during the Industrial Revolution. These are surrounded by legends of an underground city. Today there are tours of Edinburgh which take participants into the underground city, Edinburgh Vaults, including Ghost Walks.
Edinburgh Royal Mile
Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace
the lounge area