Canongate Kirk

You've now crossed into the Canongate, once a separate town that grew up around Holyrood Abbey — its name comes from the canons, the clergy, who walked this "gait," or way. Canongate Kirk, with its curved Dutch-style gable and royal coat of arms, was completed in 1691 and remains the parish church of both Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse; royalty attend services here when in residence. In 2011, Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter Zara Phillips married rugby player Mike Tindall in this modest kirk. The churchyard is one of the city's most storied: here lies Adam Smith, father of modern economics; the poet Robert Fergusson, whose statue strides along the pavement outside — Robert Burns admired him so much that he paid for his headstone; and, according to persistent legend, David Riccio, the murdered secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots. Pause among the stones; few churchyards pack in this much history per square metre. When you're ready, carry on down the Canongate. A couple of minutes further the street opens up, and on your right stands a building that looks like nothing else in this city.