a wee mag for lasses & laddies

table of contents Editor‘s Note 4Appetising Bites 5Warning! this may raise your blood cholesterol! 6Guide to sweet Edinburgh 7How to find your inner gourmet 9Is it Possible to Fall in Love with a Potato? 11

Old! But Not Boring. 13 People, Let‘s Go Dancing! 14Royalty - a lost virtue today? - Not in Edinburgh! 16The Palace of Holyroodhouse 18Craigmillar Castle 20How the Scottish Parliament became what it is 22Grave Night Out 23

Green Edinburgh 25The Botanic Garden 26Visit Calton Hill! - Overlook Edinburgh! 28A Desert Island is Only a Bus Journey Away 31The Amazing Coast 33

For Art‘s Sake 34The Shadow over Edinburgh 35Four strings, three pipes, lot‘s of keys and a voice - or totally different 41Grassmarket: A Vintage Haven 43Stand up for The Stand 45Fear and Loathing in Edinburgh 46Welcome to the House of Film 48Scottish Surrealism? 50

Readers, Writers and Speakers 52Secondhand But Twice as Precious 53Laddies and lassies!!!Are ye ready for a wee blether?? ,...Aye, I guess?...‘ 55Sounds of the Scots 58The fictional Edinburgh:

Drugs, Clubs, and Mr Hyde 60The Characters Behind the Lines: The life and sorrows of 3 famous Scottish writers 62Just Walk the Words! 65Newsroom! Quiz Night! Read All About It. 71

Culture ´n` Stuff 73The Spirit of Scotland 74Braveheart Country 76Kilts are everywhere – a short review about the Scottish national dress 79Edinburgh - Just a Traditional City? 81Big News from the Newsroom 84A day out for the young and the old, and everyone in between 85Travelling Beyond the Numbers 87The Pope is coming - how get people affected? - A way through Scotland‘s world of religion - 89Small matters that matter – Edinburgh examined with a fine - tooth comb 91Edinburgh‘s Unequal Faces – Where Past and Future Come Together 94

Good to Have a Plan! 96A place where tradition and modernity melt into one 97The Perfect Saturday Morning 99From a Kilt to a Rolex – Shopping in Edinburgh! 101

Tips and Tricks 103Highland Hospitality - an unofficial rule 104INTERVIEW - Orlene, a university student 105Adventure: Public Bus! 107Snip ´n`Sip 108Glossary 108

The Team 111Editorial 116

editor‘s note So you think you‘ve seen all the sights of Edinburgh? Sure, you‘ve padded around the castle and been startled by the one o’clock cannon; you‘ve strolled the Royal Mile and been bombarded with offers of tartan scarves and postcards; heck, you‘ve even choked down some haggis and Irn Bru in Deacon Brodie’s at the height of your attempt to become acquainted with the Scottish capital and its customs. But have you perused the second-hand bookshops in the Grassmarket for some first-edition gems? Been twirled around by a stranger at a traditional ceilidh? Donned some wellies and trekked to one of barren isles of the city’s windswept bay? If not, you’ve missed out on some of the finest cultural offerings of Edinburgh, a city with an artistic spirit as hearty as its inhabitants and a social tradition as robust as its landscape. Enter Back Alley Edinburgh, a magazine devoted to exploring the underground facets of life in the ‘Burgh that have yet to make it into generic travel guides. We’ve done the dirty work of examining the niche nooks and crannies of Auld Reekie’s darkest alleyways, and the cultural gems that we’ve unearthed will intrigue even the most conversant of visitors. Written for young and old adventurers alike, Back Alley Edinburgh is a guide for anyone who’s a lass or laddie at heart! So grab your kilt, knock back a wee dram, and get ready to delve into the shadowy alcoves of the city that even the Romans couldn’t conquer.

Slainte!

The Team

appetising bites 6

Warning! This may raise your blood cholesterol!

Sticky, greasy fingers, oil dripping from your mouth, a paper wrap drained with fat – for some people this may sound as much arepellant for a meal as ants or spiders. But for others, especially the Scots, this makes a perfect take-away for lunch. Using batter and vegetable oil, Scots are able to deep fry almost everything, and as far as take-away shop staff are concerned, there is nothing one cannot deep fry, including meat, potatoes, bread, vegetables, fruit, cookies, sweets, and even ice-cream, although the classic remains fish- fish’n chips is still the all time favou-rite, despite competition with haggis up here in Scotland. But even if you

don’t like fried food, as long as you have a sweet tooth and are in for a treat, you should overcome your fear of taking in far too much satu-rated fat and try the famous Fried Mars Bar. For the author, the best way to have it is shortly before mid-night on the Royal Mile. Stop by at the Clam Shell Take-Away on your tour through bars and pubs, and it will be freshly prepared right be-fore your eyes. As soon as your teeth crush the thin crispy batter and the hot creamy caramel chocolate inside melts softly into your mouth you’ll know it is worth every single calorie.

Text and Photos by Luise Hausweiler

So do you dare to risk your health and/or figure? Check out these places:Clam Shell, 148 High Street: Qui-te pricey, but still number one in Old TownCastle Rock Chip Shop, 87 Grass-market: Close to the area’s pubsFor something cheaper, try the ones along Leith Walk

appetising bites 7

Guide to Sweet Edinburgh

Fudge- The sweet treat

Fudge is made out of milk, cream, butter, and sugar which is mixed t o g e t h e r to make smooth and creamy bars. While you can buy packaged fudge in supermarkets, I would recommend going to a more traditional place like The Fudge House. This shop, which is over 60 years old, sells handmade fudge in a variety of flavours. You can have caramel (the most popular), coco-nut (my favourite), and even peanut butter, made especially for American customers. In addition to the fudge, you can try something even more Scottish, a treat known as tablet. It is very similar to fudge, but the tex-ture is grainier. Still, it melts in your mouth and leaves a creamy feeling on your tongue. The Fudge House is a traditional family business in which quality and friendliness are most im-portant- so when you stroll along the Royal Mile, make sure you stop by to experience the sweet treat.

Edinburgh Rock- The commercial one

Edinburgh Rock is a traditional Scot-tish confection, and it is quite distinct from the hard minty candy often found in seaside towns. Edinburgh Rock consists of sugar, water, and cream of tartar. It is formed into sticks and has a soft and crumbly tex-ture. In Edinburgh, you will find the best sugar canes in all colours and

flavours, even Irn Bru. Nowadays, almost all shops sell some sort of Edin-burgh Rock, but if you want a more special place, try the I Love Candy shop, a pretty pink

shop that is an experience in itself. It has loads of shelves filled with sweets, and the air is filled with the sweet smell of them. If you can’t decide on a treat, go for Edinburgh Rock, which can never go wrong.

Scones- The all-rounder

What is one of the things Britain is most famous for? The five o’clock tea of course, and what would that be without scones, a fluffy kind of bread

appetising bites 8

with a crunchy outside. You can have scones plain or with raisins, and they are wonderful accompanied by but-ter, jam, cream, or clotted cream. In Always Sunday, there is a great choice of scones: they have apple and cinnamon ones in addition to sa-

voury ones with cheese. Here you can enjoy a scone at every time of the day, whether it is for breakfast or as a small snack in between meals. While the great-

est variety can be found in Always Sunday, the best-quality scones are served in Café Truva in Leith. Here you get your scones toasted and warm. On a sunny day, you can sit outside with your scone, watch the Water of Leith, and relax after a busy day in the city.

Cranachan- The fancy one

Although Cranachan is a typical Scottish dessert, you can’t always find it easily. The best way to locate a place that sells Cranachan is to look at all the restaurants and pubs you pass. If you are lucky enough to find one on the daily menu, cancel all your other plans and take your time

to order this delicious pudding. The dessert consists of layers of raspber-ries, cream, hon-ey, oatmeal, and whisky (of course it does- we are in Scotland!). Best to dive your spoon into the glass and taste all layers at once. I recently came across a Cra-nachan accidentally in The World’s End. This pub also serves other food, so the dessert is great after a nice dinner. It might be a bit ex-pensive, but it is worth every penny.

Text and Photos by Helene Hirschl

Box Fudge: Fudge House, 197 Canongate, Royal Mile. Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun 11-6. Price: £ 2.49 per 100 g.Box Scone: Always Sunday, 170 High Street. Mon-Fri 8-6, Sat&Sun 9-6. Price for Scones: £ 1.75.Café Truva, 77 The Shore. 9-6.30 daily. Price for Scones: £ 2.10.Box Rocks: I love Candy, 38 Hanover Street. Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun 11-6. Price for Rocks: 45 p.Box Cranachan: World’s End, 4 High Street. Opening Hours: Daily 11-1. Price for Cranachan: £ 4.99.

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How to find your inner gourmet

Since Edinburgh lies right beside the sea shore, why not try the fresh seafood that is offered at several places around the city? It won’t cost you a fortune!

Scotland has a large fishing area around its shores with seafood from the Atlantic west coast as well as the Shetland Isles in the North. It is very popu-lar throughout Scotland; in Ed-inburgh some of the fine but rather expen-sive restaurants (e.g. Fishers Bistro and The Shore Bar and Restau-rant) can be found on The Shore in Leith. While some places in the city‘s Old Town are as pricey as those at the waterfront (like as the Mus-sel & Steak Bar on Grassmarket and Creeler’s Restaurant in Hunter Square just off the Royal Mile), all of them have attractive lunch time offers of two courses from a set menu for usually no more than £ 10.

For small budget foodies, how-ever, two places on Rose Street might be the more interesting:

On one hand, there is the Mussel Inn, which features a maritime interior with colourful mosaics on the walls. Specializing in all kinds of seafood beyond just fish, it is the perfect place to have a very first meal of mussels, prawns, scallops and oysters. Go with some friends, order different starters (£3-5) or grilled platters (£5-10), and share – not at all slimy! Even better and befitting the restaurant’s name are the ½ kilo pots of mussels for only

appetising bites 10

£5.80, perfectly cooked in different stocks that you can choose personally (for example, roasted pepper, Mo-roccan, or blue cheese) - delicious un-til the last drop that you‘ll eventually wipe up with the warm fresh bread that is refilled for free.

On the other hand, there is The Seadogs, a quirky but classy place that is my personal fa-vourite because of its fantastic price-to-per-formance ratio. White walls, partly decorated with ornamental wall-paper and various col-lections of wood and red plastic furniture, create a chic but cosy atmosphere. The menu in-cludes traditional Scottish seafood dishes, like tomato chowder and high standard fish and chips (with differ-ent sorts of fish like plaice or trout to choose from), as well as vegetar-ian meals like barley paella. During the daytime, everything is around £ 5, but the wider dinner menu are also reasonable- a dish costs rare-

ly more than £ 10. The recipes are down-to-earth but with a twist, a genius combination of main ingre-dients and lots of fresh herbs (for ex-ample, cider-smoked haddock with thyme mussels). While the bread is

not free, it is obvious-ly home-baked and very moist and well-worth the extra £ 0.95.

Having seafood might be a culinary adven-ture and gastronom-ically-virgin soil for you, but it doesn‘t have to be expen-sive or pure glibber. So when you‘re in

Edinburgh, sharpen your teeth and senses and broaden your ho-rizons on a delicious exploration!

Text and Photos by Luise Haus-weiler, Photo by Helene Hirschl

Seafood venues with great value for money:Costs: usually £ 5 - 10Seadogs, 43 Rose StreetMussel Inn, 61 – 65 Rose Street

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Is it Possible to Fall in Love with a Potato?

In terms of eating, vegetarians are

often at a disadvantage. But for-

tunately Edinburgh offers a lot for

the meatless people. At Cockburn

Street, for example, there is an awe-

some store

called The

Baked Po-

tato Shop.

Of course, on

almost every

second corner

in Edinburgh

you can buy

a baked po-

tato, but this

is without a

doubt the best place in the city to

get a baked potato. For years, the

shop has sold potatoes in every vari-

ations and sizes. The great cooking

and good service of the Baked Po-

tato Shop keeps the customers com-

ing through the door in flocks. Even

if you’re not a vegetarian or vegan,

the delicious taste of their potatoes

is simply mouthwatering for every-

body. It’s cheap, it’s a lot of food (the

portions are over-generous), and

it’s is very, very yummy. The shop

only uses the freshest of ingredients,

and you can taste that by far. An-

other great

thing are the

many fillings

to choose

from - far

too many to

try all in one

trip. They

are all pretty

impressive,

with stag-

gering range

of veggie

and vegan options from peppers

and avocado to chili, curry, cheese

and beans, coleslaw, tuna, or sour

cream. There are alternatives to the

main stuff: mushrooms, cous cous,

sweet corn, of course the delicate

home-made soup of the day, varied

selection of filled rolls, filled pittas

or sausage rolls- the list of the deli-

appetising bites 12

cious meals goes

on and on. Being

a vegetarian or

vegan has rarely

felt better. These

stuffed potatoes

are something

you absolutely

must try to com-

plete a Scottish

visit. For dessert,

you should try

one of the home-

made cakes, es-

pecially the vegan carrot cake. After

all that, you’re likely to feel totally

pigged out, but it´s absolutely worth

it. The Baked Potato Shop is mainly

a take-away shop, but you will find

a very small square table with a

bench. Why don´t you try to have

a sit? Frequently, you will meet

complete strangers there with excit-

ing and funny stories from around

the whole world, and you will love

sharing dinner with them. If it’s good

weather, find a place along the Roy-

al Mile to sit down, eat, and watch

the world go by. You will love it!

Text and Photos by Nadine Massag

Where to find: 56 Cock-burn Street Edinburgh EH1 1PB Costs: From £ 1.40 to £ 4.00

old but not boring 14

People, Let‘s Go Dancing!

...But not the kind of dance where you don’t move away from the safe spot you found somewhere on the dance floor, hardly moving your body and only rhythmically nodding with the head to the base drum. No! We’ll be going to a Ceilidh!...Excuse me, what, you ask? The name Ceilidh is Gaelic and has its origin in the Highlands. Traditionally, clans always had to arrange their own entertainment programme be-cause there was nothing else to do around the area at night, so clan chiefs would invite all the clan mem-bers to their houses, usually the big-gest of them all, where they gath-ered to tell stories, play music, and take advantage of the good chance for young men to meet young girls of their clan. While the Ceilidh originally had nothing to do with dancing, over time dancing became an established part of the gatherings and is now the central idea of Ceilidh nights. As one of Scotland’s many cultural tradi-tions, participants must do the tradi-tional dancing to the tunes of a Scot-tish band and join in the drinking and the socialising with all kinds of people to get the full hands-on experience.

In Edinburgh there are many great places where people get together in the evening (after supper- ‘cause you will need loads of energy) to enjoy cheerful music, to meet out-going people, to see Kilts which spin around dangerously high, and of course- to do a lot of dancing! At a Ceilidh there is always a caller who announces the upcoming dance and explains the steps to it. You then repeat the steps and everything comes together for an energetic and cheerful dance, which pften involves changing partners, many twists, jumping, and sometimes being spun around in the air. While it might be a bit daunting at the beginning see-ing some “real” Scots in their national dress jumping around as if there’s no tomorrow to get warmed, do not

old but not boring 15

worry and don’t decide to just “turn off” the brain, thinking you don’t know how to do this. Rather, join in, learn the steps and have a great night out; it will be an awesome ex-perience and a blast you would not want to miss out on. After all, there’s always a bar close by so you might as well drink the worries away before getting started on the dance floor!

Text by Gabriella FriesenPhotos by Gabrielle Friesen, Magda-lena Hinterhölzl & Andrea Micheal

Places to go to for a Ceilidh night

The Lot, 4-6 Grassmarket Edin-burgh EH1 2JU;

Tuesdays from 8pm-11pm; Tick-et: £6

The Ghillie Dhu, 2 Rutland Place Edinburgh EH1 2AD;

Friday nights 7.30pm; £25 (din-ner incl.)Gabriella