The AthensEdinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle sits on Castle Rock — a volcanic plug formed 350 million years ago when magma forced up through the earth and solidified, then the surrounding softer rock was stripped away by glaciation, leaving a vertical-sided basalt column 130 metres above sea level. People have lived on this rock continuously for 3,000 years. The castle contains the Scottish Crown Jewels (the Honours of Scotland — the oldest surviving crown jewels in the British Isles, hidden in a walled-up room for 111 years after the Act of Union 1707 until Sir Walter Scott found them in 1818), the Stone of Destiny (returned from Westminster in 1996), and the One O'Clock Gun (fired daily at 13:00 since 1861 to allow ships in the Firth of Forth to set their chronometers).

The Royal Mile descends from Castle Rock to the Palace of Holyroodhouse along the spine of the volcanic ridge — the main street of the Old Town, flanked by closes (narrow alleys running down both sides of the ridge) and lands (tenement buildings that reached 8–12 storeys in the 16th and 17th centuries, making them the earliest high-rise residential buildings in Europe). The closes are the essential discovery: dark, steep, cobbled passages that descend suddenly from the main street into entirely different layers of the city — courtyards, forgotten stairs, views of the Firth. Lady Stair's Close (Writers' Museum), Anchor Close (where Robert Burns first published) and Dunbar's Close Garden are all free.

The official Scottish residence of the King — built from 1501, expanded in 1671. The historic apartments include the rooms where Mary Queen of Scots lived in 1561–1567, and specifically the supper room where her Italian secretary David Rizzio was murdered in March 1566: dragged from the table, stabbed 56 times in the adjoining chamber, in front of the pregnant queen, by a group of Protestant nobles including her husband Lord Darnley. The brass plaque in the floor marks the spot. A stain is pointed to as Rizzio's blood; it is not. The actual historical rooms are extraordinary without the embellishment.

Edinburgh is a whisky city — the Scotch Whisky Experience on the Royal Mile has 3,384 bottles (the world's largest collection) and guided tastings, but the correct Edinburgh whisky education happens in the pubs. The Bow Bar (West Bow) has over 140 single malts and the staff to explain them. Sandy Bells (Forrest Road) has live traditional folk music every evening from 21:30 with no cover charge — fiddles, pipes, guitar, chanters, anyone can join. The combination of a dram and a session is the most specifically Edinburgh evening available.