Half day ‘Edinburgh’s Links with America’ walking tour

The influence of medical pioneers, inventors, engineers, economists, soldiers, writers, artists and animal lovers.

This fascinating tour shows the different ways Edinburgh’s ‘special relationship’ with America benefited both countries. The tour is special because you will see a wide and varied range of places of interest including Edinburgh University, graveyards, art galleries, gardens, a library, a museum and a famous restaurant and bar.

The places of interest encompass the old town beyond the Royal Mile, the Royal Mile from St Giles Cathedral to the Canongate and the new town

 After a scenic walk in West Princes Street Gardens, we visit the National Galleries of Scotland, St Andrew Square and Café Royal before going along Waterloo Place to Old Calton Cemetery. Passing the American Embassy, we proceed to the Canongate with the Museum of Scotland and Canongate Kirkyard.  On the Royal Mile we see Carruber’s Close, New Carruber’s Close Mission and the Netherbow Wellhead and visit St Giles Cathedral. The final American connections are at New College, the main public library, Greyfriars Churchyard, the Old Medical School and George Square.

Along the way we shall ‘encounter’ Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Louis Stevenson, Benjamin Rush, Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, Walt Disney, John Witherspoon, Robert Louis Stevenson, Samuel Seabury, Dwight Moodie, Lord Adam Gordon and Benjamin West!

Highlights include:

• Emancipation monument
• Scottish American Memorial ‘The Call’
• Andrew Carnegie memorial bust
• Royal Doulton ceramic tile portrait of Benjamin Franklin
• ‘The death of a Stag’, largest painting in Scotland by an American artist