What a cute little guy!
This famous statue of Edinburgh’s favorite dog is across the street from the National Museum of Scotland. Since we got here early, we thought we’d stop by the Cemetery to take a look around.
Every business nearby, it seems, is named for this Victorian Skye terrier, who is reputed to have slept upon his master’s grave in Greyfriars Cemetery for 14 years. The story was immortalized in a 1960s Disney Flick, but recent research suggests that 19th-century businessmen bribed a stray to hang out in the cemetery to attract sightseers. If it was a ruse, it still works.
And no… the dog is not sitting on Jackie’s head. 🙂
Just behind Greyfriars Bobby is the entrance to his namesake cemetery. Stepping through the gate, you’ll see the pink-marble grave of Bobby himself.
Rather than flowers, well-wishers bring sticks to remember Bobby. The well-tended cemetery is an evocative place to stroll, and a nice escape from the city’s bustle. Harry Potter fans could turn it into a scavenger hunt: J.K. Rowling sketched out her saga just around the corner at The Elephant House cafe’ – and a few of the cemetery’s weather-beaten headstones bear familiar names, including McGonagall and Thomas Riddell.
At the far end, past a stretch of the 16th-century Flodden Wall, peek through the black iron cemetery fence to see the frilly Gothic spires of posh George Heriot’s School, said to have inspired Hogwarts. And just a few blocks to the east is a street called… Potterrow.
The cemetery just feels made for ghost walks. It’s said that the tombs with iron cages over them were designed so thieves couldn’t break into the grave and steal bodies to sell to the medical school across the street… which always needed cadavers. Yikes.