Gladstone's Land & The Writers' Museum

This six-storey building with its distinctive arched frontage is Gladstone's Land, one of the oldest surviving tenements on the Royal Mile, dating back to the early 1600s. It's named after Thomas Gledstanes, a wealthy merchant who bought it in 1617 and extended it towards the street to maximise valuable frontage. Step back and look up: in the 17th century, a building like this was a vertical cross-section of Edinburgh society. Wealthy merchants occupied the comfortable middle floors, tradesmen and shopkeepers worked at street level, and the poorest crammed into the cellars and attics. With the city walls preventing outward growth, tenements here reached ten storeys or more — remarkable skyscrapers of their day. Inside, the National Trust for Scotland has restored painted Renaissance ceilings and period rooms that let you smell, almost taste, life in the crowded Old Town, when this single street held tens of thousands of people. Walk on a few steps east and look for a narrow opening on your left: Lady Stair's Close. Tucked down there is an ornate 17th-century townhouse — the Writers' Museum, celebrating three giants of Scottish literature: Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Burns, Scotland's national poet, gave the world “Auld Lang Syne” — sung every New Year's Eve across the globe. Scott practically invented the historical novel and almost single-handedly rebranded Scotland's romantic image in the 19th century. And Stevenson, born here in Edinburgh, wrote Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde — a tale said to be inspired by his home city's split personality: the respectable New Town and the shadowy Old Town. In the courtyard, look down: quotations from Scottish writers are carved into the paving stones of Makars' Court — “makar” being the old Scots word for poet. Edinburgh takes its words seriously; in 2004 it became UNESCO's very first City of Literature. Back on the Royal Mile, carry on downhill; the crowned spire ahead of you is our next stop.