Badjao B&B

19/10/2026

I heard the first Christmas song last night, It id like hearing the first nightingale of sprint or seeing the first swallow of Summer, but with added gloom if you prefer daylight and bright evenings.

The end of this month sees the Samhain Fire Festival on Calton Hill, marking the end of the Celtic year which started with the the Beltane Festival. It coincides with Halloween, the season where the veil between this world and the spirit world thins and, as in Mussorgsky’s music, creatures from the other world emerge to frolic till dawn.

Calton Hill has long been associated with the fairy people, last seen in Edinburgh in 1930. According to legend in the 17th Century a ten year old boy from Leith would visit the hill one a week to play music for the fairy folk. Some say this was in the cave later used by a Jewish business man as a tomb. The tomb is marked on the ground outside the wall of what used to be the city observatory, but has been surveyed and sealed off.

Two of the buildings on the Hill suffered from a common problem. The National Monument and the Nelson Monument were both launched on the basis of pledged donations but the donors were surprisingly absent when it can to time to pay up. A tea room opened at the base of the Nelson Monument and the profits paid for finishing it.

Today many people sit on the National Monument in Summer. Perhaps climbing up from the back which the council have tried hard to seal off. The Nelson Monument is more accessible but not free to visit. At One O Clock the timeball on top of the monument falls.

If you are planning to visit Calton Hill be sure you can climb the steep steps to the top and wear warm clothing, The view from the top is worth the climb.

08/10/2026

Fantastic Beasts in Edinburgh

The Pelican has long been associated with self sacrifice. In Egypt it was associated with death the afterlife and protection while in some American Indian tribes it was a medicine bird granting spiritual power.
There is an image of a pelican on the badge of the graduated of the Old Royal Edinburgh infirmary in Lauriston place.

The Woodwose or, wild man symbolised a few things in the middle ages and can be seen on the right over the door of the Central Library on George IV Bridge.
Above Lakeland at the junction with George Street there is a winged lion, and another above the Royal College of Physicians in Queen Street. It was a guardian god in Mesopotamia

The National Academy at The Mound is topped by Egyptian Sphinxes, though they have not asked anyone difficult questions recently.
There is a unicorn on the Mercat Cross and another on Middle Meadow Walk.
A chimera resides in the grounds of Canongate Kirk and a stone sculpture titled "The Last Chimera" by Josephine de Vasconcellos is near the Canongate Mercat Cross on the Royal Mile .
There are gargoyles on the Scott Monument. Their sour expression is probably caused by pigeons.
Finally there are dragons along Lawnmarket and on the Witches Well.
Google “fantastic Beasts Edinburgh” to be presented with plethora of tours of the city that feature fantastic beasts. Be prepared to do a lot of walking.

26/09/2026

Mornings are bright and sunny here. Afternoons not so much. Hopefully the Samhain fire festival, held on Calton Hill on October the thirty first will be blessed by good weather.
The Beltane festival and Samhain festivals mark the start and end of the Celtic year and are both celebrated on Calton Hill, which has always had an air of not being truly in the mundane world. Your mileage may vary but try it and see. Sunset is a good time, especially with the spectacular view from the top.
You can access Calton Hill from Regent Road, which is the top of a bridge the split Old Calton Cemetery into two. The main part of it is on the right with the remaining portion on the left, reachable from the street called Calton Hill.
The Fairy Boy of Leith was said to have played, every Thursday, for the fairies that lived on the hill. There are theories that the cave which became the Jewish Mausoleum was the original inspiration for the legend of the Fairy boy. The cave is now blocked off, presumably for safety reasons. It has been surveyed by Canmore and its location is marked by stones outside the walls of the Collective Gallery, which used to be the City Observatory.
The approach to the hill from London Road is much steeper than that from Regent Road. The Hume Walk, given to the citizens of Edinburgh by philosopher David Hume, offer a gentler way up than the Regent Road stairs.

02/09/2026

The Festival is over and the city is calmer. Princes Street has reopened. The weather is cooled and windy, which means the windsurfers off Cramond Promenade will have a great time. There are a few concerts at the Corn Exchange near us.

All in all the next few months look like fun. There is the fire festival at the end of October and, as I mentioned previously, Doors Open day this month. Then there is Christmas and Hogmanay.

If you are coming here we recommend you take out travel insurance however.

There is a stature of Philosopher John Hume where the High Street joins George IV bridge. As well as being a great philosopher ( and despite some quotes, less racist than most people of his time) Hume was a close friend of Adam Smith, who authored “The Wealth of Nations” and the book he intended to be read alongside it “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”. Of course employers read the forst book and ignored the second, which resulted in widespread poverty and a rebellion in Glasgow, which was suppressed and the weavers involved being sent to Edinburgh to build the Radical Road in Holyrood Park, as suggested by Walter Scott. Building the road was intended to destroy their hands and make sure they could never work as weavers again.

Further down, the High Street crosses North Bridge, and proceeds to Holyrood Palace. On the way it passes John Knox’s House and several museums terminating at Holyrood Abbey. Unfortunately there is nowhere to eat or buy a drink at that end of the Royal Mile. It is still a pleasant place to visit, if the weather holds.

29/08/2026

Underground Edinburgh: Libertons Wynd

Edinburgh is two cities, one above ground, one under ground. From the remains of air raid shelters under Princes street to Mary Kings Close to the Gilmerton Cove the city has hidden layers.

In the 1830s Libberton Wynd was eaten by George IV bridge a bridge intended to improve communication between the old and new towns. The remains of the Wynd were discovered by chance in the 1990s, behind a door in the National Library of Scotland, though they may have been known to the working classes earlier if not to the more highly educated members of city society.

The Wynd is between the bridge walls and the library building and accessed by a hidden door. Unfortunately it is not accessible to the public except possibly on Doors Open Day. The corrIdor is known as The Void by the library staff and the passage includes entry into rooms that may have been storage vaults in the bridge walls. There is apparently a door into the cowgate at the other end of the passage.

The Wynd was the path from Cowgate to the gallows in the Lawnmarket, where multiple murderer William Burke was hanged in 1829. After it was demolished the national library of Scotland was built on top of the remains with floors all the way down to Cowgate (the Central Library opposite also has floors all the way down to Cowgate).
The wynd was probably named after James Libberton who had a large property on the street and died in 1501.

Today Cowgate is a grim looking canyon with a number of pubs and nightclubs, having been a rich mans street and a slum in the past.

23/08/2026

About a mile from us is a very attractive part of the Water of Leith Walkway, a walkway that runs from The Shore in Leith to Balerno in the west where its name changes is about a mile from us, the entry being opposite the Water of Leith Visitor Centre. This part of the wlkway is known as Colinton Dell

This section of the Walkway is subtly curated and has enough paths that one can explore it on many ways.

Entering from Lanark Road the main path runs alongside the river and is well signposted. You can reach the reat entrance of the Redhall Walled Garden, which is now a facility for people recovering from mental problems. The Garden Walls were built from the remains of Redhall Tower which was destroyed during Cromwell’s invasion of Scotland.

On the main path is one of the bowers where ladies used to rest on their Sunday post church walks. The seats have long been removed. This bower marks the boundary between the old Colinton and Craiglockhart estates/

On the other side of the river it is possible to walk past the remains of an old railway that used to run along here, until you reach the painted Colinton Tunnel which brings you out into Colinton itself.

There is allegedly a lot of wildlife here but most of it is very good at hiding during the day. At around sunset you will hear and see birds and possibly squirrels, though at this time of year the only evidence of these is likely to be a shower of chestnut shells descending from the trees. I have seen a heron a few times.

Just before the Water of Leith Conservation centre is the Prince Charlie Aqueduct where you can ascend to the Union Canal and either walk back towards the city centre or west towards Falkirk, 35 miles away. At Kingsnowe you will encounter. Just off the tow path, the statue of Edinburgh’s notorious serial killers, Burke and Hare, carved from a diseased elm and erected as a memorial to all who worked on the canal.

Walking through the Colinton Dell or along the canal is a restful way of passing a couple of hours after a day in the city centre.

20/08/2026

"Doors Open Days
Doors Open Days returns with a fantastic programme of free events which celebrates Scotland's places and stories, old and new. Edinburgh’s programme runs from 26 to 27 September.

Whether you want to peek inside an 18th century farm steading, walk around an operational bus garage, or take a tour of a working courtroom, this is a great way to see inside many of the city’s fascinating buildings, many of which are not normally open to the public."

Find out more here. It is always fascinating to look behind normally closed doors.

Doors Open Days returns with a fantastic programme of free events which celebrates Scotland’s places and stories, old and new.

18/08/2026

Its the final two weeks of the festival. September will be much quieter and all the local shops and restaurants will be recovering from the rush. September visitors should have a much more relaxed experience. The buses should run more predictably and traffic will be much less. Perhaps Princes Street will be open after the fire in July.

We may have a sunny September, but if it rains the museums are good places to visit from the National Museum in Chambers Street to the plethora on the Royal Mile. My favourite was always the Museum of Childhood, but there is also the Museum of Edinburgh.

The smallest museum in Edinburgh, and indeed in the world, is the William Burke museum at 84 West Bow. The sole exhibit is a calling card case made from the skin of William Burke, who was executed for a number of anatomy murders committed by him together with William Hare around 1826. The case is on the counter of the Cadies and Witchhery tours shop.

Another quirky museum is the Museum On the Mound. Free to enter but closed on Mondays the museum is run by the Bank of Scotland and dedicated to the history of Edinburgh’s relationship to money. It houses a million pound banknote and has exhibits designed to amuse children if not their parents.

There are more unusual museums throughout Edinburgh, such as the Writers Museum and the Georgian House in Charlotte Square. Too many to explore properly in a day.

14/08/2026

Edinburgh’s summer festivals are in full swing. The weather is warm but cooler than in Europe and the USA.

We watched two comedy shows the other afternoon, “One English One Irish, and This is your trial, both excellent, followed by Pizzas at a restaurant in the Grassmarket and were entertained by roaming comedians. Unfortunately clouds prevented us seeing the solar eclipse.

Next month, September, will be much less frenetic but there will still be a lot going on. The main event I have in mind is the Open Doors Days when, over two or three days, many places normally closed to the public allow free entry and even put on talks and exhibitions.

Princes Street is likely to be open again by September, but it would not be surprising if it took longer to render the former Debenhams building safe.

We are getting bookings for September and for 2027. We have some limited space for Hogmanay and a few days in August.

“Hogmanay” was a word meaning “Beg Money” as new year was one of the seasons for licensed begging.

At one time Edinburgh had licenced beggars distinguished by a blue coat, who could beg all year round. In 1682 Alexander Cockburne, the Hangman of Edinburgh, was executed in January for the murder of blue coat beggar John Adamson known as "M’Keinzie".

This post was NOT produced using AI.

04/08/2026

The Festival season is about to start. Apart from the Fringe and International festivals there are the international Arts Festival and the International Book Festival, as well as ( of course) The Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

The Aftermath of the Princes Street fire in July that reduced a former department store (Debenhams) to a shell not safe against vibration from traffic is still closed with buses routed through George Street, Princes Street’s upmarket neighbour which adds 20 minutes to journeys through the city, and trams from the airport are stopping at the west end. The chaos is steadily decreasing and should be under control by the time the festivals start. It is still possible to walk the length of Princes Street by going though Princes Street Gardens (The flowers are nice at this time of year).

The Floral Clock in the gardens nearest the Mound is in bloom. The Clock was designed and installed by James Ritchie and Son, the firm responsible for the time ball in the Nelson Monument in 1903. It used parts salvaged from a church in Fife and was mechanical. Requiring daily winding, till 1973 when it was converted to electricity. A mechnical cuckoo emerges and sounds every 15 minutes.

The National Gallery, near the Floral Clock is adorned with Sphinxes on the roof. These are some of the many fantastic stone beasts found throughout Edinburgh.