Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.02.2006, Blaðsíða 44

With an American espresso franchise on every
corner, Princes Street – Edinburgh’s main
shopping district – is a fine testament to the
corporate stranglehold modern cities endure.
White-collar professionals strut purposefully
towards the next bank or solicitor’s firm, with
their Case Logic on their shoulder. Inside the
cafés, men and women in suits have gathered
with laptops for working lunches and coffee
breaks. There is not a kilt in sight. In fact, the
tartan-clad souvenir shops offer the only sug-
gestions that we are actually in Scotland, rather
than any other shopping street on the Western
hemisphere.
We make our escape to the parallel Rose
Street. From an elderly woman heading for
a bible study group in a nearby congregation
home, we learn that Rose Street is actually
referred to as Pub Street by the locals. There
is a good reason for this alternative name. The
white-collar community is thirsty once the
eight hours are up. Along Rose Street, pubs
and casinos line up next to each other for what
could be an interesting pub walk.
Booze and Castles, the Royal Mile
Edinburgh Castle is the city’s most distinc-
tive landmark and remains the most visited
historic building in Scotland. It sits on top of
a volcanic crag overlooking the Princes Street
Gardens and borders on the most touristy
section of Edinburgh, the Royal Mile, offering
a great viewpoint over the city, especially over
New Town. Within the sturdy castle walls,
this is the best place to celebrate Scottish
military history: Museums and various collages
demonstrate the Scotsman at war. Scotland has
been a fertile recruiting ground for the British
Army through the centuries, and one gets the
impression that it has something to do with
the tradition of the Highlander. A number of
recruiting stations dot the Royal Mile, with
one recruiter explaining to me that being in the
army is a wonderful opportunity, “and it’s good
pay for a single lad.”
“There is no such thing as the best
whisky,” the shopkeeper tells us at the Scotch
Whisky Heritage Centre when we ask him for
recommendations. “The best is simply what
agrees with your taste.”
He proudly presents us with two bottles of
The Balvenie Cask 191, which sells at £6000
a bottle and explains that “although it is the
most expensive, it is not guaranteed to blow
your socks off.” However, he says, “For £6000,
I’ll throw you in a Coke to mix it with.” We all
agree that this is a very good deal, and I decide
to venture away from the touristy area.
Home to Trainspotting and Flat Screens
“Royal Mile is just for tourists. If you really
want to get to know Edinburgh you do the
Leith Walk” the bartender at The Doric, an
upscale bar on Market Street tells me as he
draws me an 80/- from a hand-pumped nozzle.
His two customers agree. “If you want a shag,
you go to Leith, that’s where the prostitutes
are,” another one of them tells me.
The bartender and his customers continue
to convey their knowledge of some of the
more under-the-table attractions available in
Scotland and Leith in particular. They warn
us not to try the absinthe, “at least not without
the sugar” the bartender insists. And we should
be very careful if we are offered poteen, Irish
moonshine made from potatoes. “Treat that
with respect,” the bartender emphasises, “that
drink will go straight to your head and make
you crazy.” They all agree on the dangers of
poteen. One of them tells us a story of waking
up after a night of drinking poteen to have a
glass of water, only to become immediately
hammered again, just from the water. Natu-
rally, we head off for Leith.
The town of Leith merged with the city
of Edinburgh in 1920, but it has served as
the city’s main harbour for centuries. Leith
has long been known as Edinburgh’s poor
district, a residential area for the lower classes.
Ravished with poverty and beset with crime,
Trainspotting’s author, Irvine Welsh, was born
and raised in Leith and his renowned book is
set in these streets.
In the last few years, a part of Leith has
witnessed an extensive revival. Down by the
harbours, big development projects are under
way. Seaside locations, and the continuing rise
of property prices in Edinburgh have made
Leith a fashionable alternative among younger
professionals. But so far, this only holds true
for a small section of Leith. And, as one
resident of Edinburgh told us, “You still have
to go through the poor part to get to the rich
part.”
We head down the Leith Walk, a long
commercial street leading from Edinburgh
centre into Leith. As we further descend to-
wards the town’s centre, the shift in economic
standings becomes obvious. Gone are the fancy
cafés and fashion shops that cater to the upper-
end clientele and tourists in central Edinburgh,
instead we find seedy bars, hotdog stands and
tattoo parlours. This is obviously
a part of Leith that has not been
deemed worthy by the multina-
tionals, stuck in a no-man’s land
between the revitalised northern
Leith and Edinburgh centre.
We enter a dimly-lit sailor
bar along Leith Walk, called
The Old Salt. It’s still early
in the afternoon, but here we
find a group of people enjoying
Polish karaoke. In between
serving drinks, the barmaid
springs in front of the counter
and performs one Polish hit
after another. “We’re having
a Polish night on Friday,”
she explains. “I want to be
prepared.”
“The money has always come
through Leith, down at the harbours. But it
never stops here, it all goes to Edinburgh,” a
man at a Leith local tells me. “And now the
yuppies are running us out. A few years ago, I
bought a flat in Leith for £24,000. And I did
that on social security. Now it would cost me
£130,000,” he explains. “And still it is cheaper
to pay of a mortgage than it is to rent. Ordi-
nary Leith people just can’t afford to live here
anymore.”
According to the newspaper the Scots-
man, he is right. Property prices in Leith have
surged with annual increases of up to 33%
in the last 15 years, freezing many first-time
buyers out of the market. With Edinburgh’s
increasing role as a financial centre, and the
recent addition of the Scottish parliament,
which attracts even more white-collar workers,
Leith’s central location is too convenient for it
to remain an impoverished area.
How Do You Say Auld Lang Syne in Zealan-
dic?
Harriet Michaels: Do you actually like haggis?
Not a Kilt in Sight
Edinburgh on Scotland’s National Day
by Sveinn Birkir Björnsson photos by Skari
THE BEST WAY TO GET TO EDINBURGH:
ICELANDAIR FLIES DIRECT FLIGHTS FROM KEFLAVÍK TO GLASGOW.
for more information, log on to www.icelandair.is
ICELANDAIR PROVIDED TICKETS AND A STIPEND FOR THIS TRAVEL PIECE.
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on tour EDINBURGH