Edinburgh, a true magical city on its own. With imposing castle, monuments, cobblestone roads, old stone buildings, narrow dark alleyways, eerie graveyards, no wonder this is a rightful place for the birth of the magical Harry Potter. Please stay tuned to know how this magical city inspired JK Varling to create this beautiful city.
the epic Harry Potter story. Magic started here at this humbled Nicholson's Cafe. This junction between Nicholson Street and Drummond Street is where J.K.
Rowling started writing Philosopher's Stone and created the immortal character Harry Potter. This place was earlier co-owned by Rowling's brother-in-law. Much of the first Harry Potter book was written here.
You can see a plaque stating that J.K. Rowling used this establishment for her early books. A short walk from Nicholson's Cafe, you will find Bristol Square.
A small underpass here seeks your attention, which bears the name of the world's favourite wizard. Local Edinburgh Potter fans swear that this was the inspiration for or the world famous name. JK Rowling never confirmed this fact, but hey, you never know!
Known as the Harry Potter Cafe in Edinburgh, it's hard to miss his bright red eatery on George IV Bridge. The Elephant House Cafe is one of the most popular destinations for Harry Potter fans in Edinburgh. It's even branded itself as the birthplace of Harry Potter.
Jo wrote many of her early books from here. The main highlight in this cafe is Strangie's toilets. Every inch of the toilets are filled with graffiti by Potter fans from across the globe. Unfortunately, a fire in October destroyed this building.
It is currently under renovation and we hope Harry's Magic Wand brings back this establishment to its former glory days. Victoria Street in Edinburgh's Old Town is truly a magical street. With a cobblestone paved street, colourful shop fronts and a lovely curved street, it will suit any magical story. No wonder this was the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Potterbooks, where wizards and witches do their shopping. You can do the same.
There are many shops where you can buy Scottish gifts, sweets, handmade souvenirs and even wands. Yes, a shop called Museum Context sells magical items like wands and broomsticks for budding magicians. This place used to be called Robert Kress's Brush Shop and functioned from 1873, selling all kinds of brushes including broomsticks.
Now, you can collect Harry Potter items from this shop and it also serves as a tiny museum with interesting displays. The next important stop for Harry Potter fans is Greyfriars Kirkyard Cemetery. This lies just next to the Elephant House Cafe. This graveyard is one of the most famous and attracts curious visitors all over the world day and night. Many tombstones in the cemetery served as an inspiration for many of the characters in her book.
Watch out carefully for names you might recognize. You can see Hogwarts from the corner of Greyfriars Kirkyard. Well not exactly Hogwarts, but George Heriot School, a popular independent school in Edinburgh.
You might feel like the towers and turrets are very familiar. No wonder, as this was a true inspiration for JK Rowling when she visualised Hogwarts. Similar to Hogwarts, this school has four houses and the house colours match with the magical school Hogwarts. Coincidence?
Well we call this inspiration. Do you see Gringotts Bank up there? Actually, this is the former head office of one of the oldest banks in the world, Bank of Scotland.
The imposing facade and the dome above will surely remind you of Gringotts. As the Potter books gained popularity, J.K. Rowling could not find a quiet place to do the latter part of her series.
So, from humble cafes, she moved to this grand hotel. Room 552 in the Balmoral Hotel was her home where she completed the last scenes of her final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The room renamed as the J.K. Rowling Suite in her honour and still holds her writing desk and a few more memorabilia. The suite door is painted purple and has an owl door knocker.
You can also book the suite and immerse yourself in Pottermania for a cost of about £2000 a night. Walk down into City Chambers where the Edinburgh City Council functions from. Just look down whilst walking in the quadrangle of this imposing building.
You will find handprints of famous people from Edinburgh on the floor. Here you can see gold prints from JK Rowling. This was produced in 2008 when she received the Edinburgh Award. How could we miss Butterbeer when we talk about Harry Potter?
There are a few establishments in Old Town that serve Butterbeer. The Dog House in Clark Street is one among them. Famous for its quirky interior, this place serves butterbeer.
butterbeer and cocktails. Remember, Scotland has got a strict age restriction and only over 18s are allowed here. How it tastes?
Haha, I'll leave it for you to decide. kind of like work your recipe that's made in-house and then we top it up with a lager it's normally bostos but today we're going to use Heineken so it has a bit more flavour plus the added bostos. I hope you liked this video and thanks for watching.
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