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It is no surprise that Edinburgh, like any city would, has jumped on the Harry Potter bandwagon. After all, it was in this city that JK Rowling first started writing what would quickly become the most popular book series of all time. Evidence of this can be found all around Edinburgh. You will see plenty of shops, cafés, memorabilia and, of course, walking tours. These tours have been set up to bring a large amount of Harry Potter fans to some of the places that inspired JK Rowling in her writing. Being a huge Harry Potter fan myself, I knew that I must take one of these tours during my stay in Edinburgh. After much deliberation, I settled on The Potter Trail. This was a free walking tour provided to the public on a daily basis. It is safe to say I came away very happy with my choice.
A Little Information About The Potter Trail Tour
Start Time: 2 pm every day from September to March, 12 pm and 4 pm from April to August
Duration: Tours last for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes
Price: The Potter Trail is a free walking tour and the guides get paid from tips only, so be generous if you can!
Starting Location: The tour starts from the Greyfriars Bobby statue on George IV Bridge. This is a statue of a dog outside the Greyfriars Bobby Bar.
Ending Location: The tour ends on Victoria Street, not too far from its starting location.
Do You Need To Book in Advance?: Absolutely not! Just turn up on time and you can join the tour.
***Disclaimer*** The following contains a lot of information about what you will see on the tour. If you want it to be a surprise, click away now!!
Let The Magic Begin!
The tour began with the group being led into Greyfriars graveyard by our energetic guide Charlotte who was wearing her very own witch’s cape. In the graveyard, she gathered the group and told us all a little bit about the tour and how it was going to go. She then passed around a handful of wands, enough for everyone to have one each. It was time to learn some magic. We were taught a spell that must be used to turn red traffic lights to green. I’m not usually the type of person to spend my afternoon walking a city, waving a wand at traffic lights and shouting spells, but it was all good fun. Also worth remembering that you are one of about 30 people on the tour and this happens every day, so no need to be embarrassed.
It was then time to learn about all things Harry Potter. We took a short walk across the graveyard to the grave of a man called William McGonagall. Fans of the series will instantly recognise his second name. This was used as the inspiration behind Professor Minerva McGonagall in Harry Potter. Only the name was used as inspiration though. William McGonagall was a Scottish poet and most notably, a bad one. He earned the reputation as the worst poet in the world and even became a laughing stock during his life, doing readings whilst the public threw fruit at him.
In eyesight of McGonagall’s grave was the campus of George Heriot’s School. This is one of Scotland’s most distinguished primary and secondary schools. It was also where JK Rowling sent her children to school when they moved to Edinburgh. Like Hogwarts, the pupils of George Heriot’s School are split into four houses. All of which have a colour scheme exactly matching the four houses of Hogwarts. The key difference though is that the pupil’s house is randomly selected on enrolment. Not a sorting hat in sight, unfortunately. It is worth noting that JK Rowling’s children were placed in the house with the exact same colours as Gryffindor.
Across the graveyard, is by a distance the most famous grave there. That is one of Thomas Riddell and the Riddell family. Not the one you see in the movies of course but clearly the inspiration behind the name of none other than Tom Riddle, better known as Lord Voldemort. Our guide did tell us the reason behind the spelling change was to avoid giving the Riddell family some notoriety. Of course, that did not happen and once fans became aware of the grave, they began to show up in their masses. We were also told a funny anecdote about how fans used to leave love letters to the dark lord but how the Scottish winds would wreak havoc on the piles of letters. This led to pieces of paper being blown all over the graveyard on a regular basis.
At this time, we were at the halfway point of the tour. Wands at the ready, it was time to leave the graveyard and move onto the streets of Edinburgh. Our first location was a place called Potterow Port. Most fans, myself included instantly think this is where Harry Potter came from. Potterrow Port in the area the books were written can hardly be a coincidence. Apparently, it is. The only inspiration this might have had on the series is it looked very similar to the location where Harry and his cousin Dudley were attacked by the dementors in the Order of the Phoenix movie. However, this is purely speculation. Our guide did say that JK Rowling had a huge input into the movies and that this was a route she walked regularly. It is for that reason the connection has been made.
If anyone has ever heard JK Rowling speak about writing the Harry Potter books, they would know she spent a lot of time writing in cafés. She only stopped after becoming too famous and fans and journalists kept approaching her looking for autographs or the latest scoop. The first café we stopped at was Spoon, once know as Nicholson’s Café. This was where JK Rowling wrote the majority of the first Harry Potter book. At the time it was owned by her brother-in-law. Today, only a small plaque is in place to say that this is where the book had been written. Very unlike the nearby, The Elephant House. They advertise themselves as the ‘Birthplace’ of Harry Potter. It is true that many of the second and third books were written there but apparently not too much of the first. Still, can’t let the truth get in the way of some good advertising.
The last stop of the tour was Diagon Alley or to give it it’s real name Victoria Street. Much speculation has been made about where the influence for Diagon Alley came from. The nearby Cockburn Street is another contender. This tour though labels it as Victoria Street. The long curved street has many similar characteristics as Diagon Alley, including the types of shops that are located on it.
That brought the tour to its conclusion. We, unfortunately, had to return our wands and be on our way. Overall, it was a very enjoyable tour. Our tour guide Charlotte was excellent, full of life and had many stories and anecdotes up her sleeve. A tour guide can make or break these experiences so it is always a relief when you get a good one. The Potter Trail is a tour I would recommend to any fans of Harry Potter visiting Edinburgh. It was one of my favourite activities from my time there and has even inspired me to re-read the entire series again.
To read more about Edinburgh including the best local eats the city has to offer, click here.
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I went to Edinburgh last summer and loved it! I loved the little nods to Harry Potter they have everywhere, and you can definitely see Diagon Alley in Victoria Street! I loved all the HP stuff in the shops too, but missed quite a few of the locations you went to, so they’ll be on my list for next time! 🙂
Rhianna x
http://www.tsundokugirl.com