Auld Reekie long gone, but some things never change

Edinburgh's Old Town was famously dubbed Auld Reekie by the precocious poet, Robert Fergusson, who penned a poem of the same name in 1773, which described the Old Town in rich colloquial speech. Fergusson wrote how the smoke from Edinburgh's Old Town's chimneys could be seen from Fife. The smoke (generated by coal and wood burning fires) has long since gone. Fergusson is buried in Canongate Kirkyard, on the Canongate. Tourists with The Royal Mile & More, Walk Talk Tour, podcast guided tour will learn about other famous Scots that are buried in the Kirkyard.

Some things in the Scottish capital do not change, as researchers compiling an online archive of Scottish acts of parliament passed between the 13th and 18th centuries discovered. Visitors to Edinburgh can hear how the new Scottish Parliament ran over budget and beyond timetable with The Royal Mile & More, Walk Talk Tour, mp3 guided tour. The overspend led the Parliament to be dubbed 'Follyrood'. The Scotsman on Sunday reported on 11th May how Parliament House, found close to St Giles Cathedral, was completed late and over-budget when it first opened in 1639. To hear an audio sample from The Royal Mile & More iPod travel guide please click here.

According to the research, environmental issues were regularly raised in the Parliaments of the past. The motivation may not have been the same as campaigners today. Maintaining animal stocks was regarded to be important so hunting could continue to take place. Landowners had their rights enshrined in law in a bid to curtail poaching. Tourists in Edinburgh can reduce their carbon footprint and burn a calorie or two with The Royal Mile & More and Old & New Towns iPod travel guides.

The latter downloadable travel guide begins in the Castle Esplanade then takes Walk Talk Tourists from the Old Town, via the Grassmarket, to the New Town. Edinburgh’s New Town was built to alleviate overcrowding in the Old Town. Listeners to the Royal Mile & More city guide will discover how Nor' Loch, on the site of modern day Princes Street Gardens, was once a place where suspected witches would be dumped into the water. As part of the plans for a New Town, which gained momentum from 1700 onwards, the loch was drained in 1759 and the Mound which separates the East and West Princes Street Gardens, was built using the excavated earth. Strict planning guidelines governed the design of building constructed in the New Town. James Craig, a young architect, won the competition to design the new development in 1767.

The Old & New Towns tourist guide finishes in Charlotte Square, where visitors can see a recreated Georgian House and Bute House, the official residence of Scotland's First Minister. The splendour of the New Town and the activities of some of the individuals who lived there led the city to be called 'The Athens of the North.' Graham Alexander Bell the inventor of the telephone was born close to Charlotte Square and Sir Douglas Haig, who became Commander of the British Forces during World War One was born in Charlotte Square. The elegance of the New Town must have seemed a million miles away from the horrors of the Western Front. The distance between the foul smelling overcrowded wynds (narrow road or path between houses) of the Old Town and the spacious, regulated development of the New Town would have seemed large enough.

To listen to an audio sample from the Old & New Towns podcast guide please click here.