Museum of Edinburgh, Edinburgh

A visit to the Museum of Edinburgh, set in the 16th century Huntley House on The Royal Mile, is the one not to be missed, for sure. Housed in the former Guild of Hammermen building, this wonderful museum is all about the origins, history and legends of the city.

In addition to the many fine silverware objects displayed here, there is also a collection of beautiful glassware engraved in nearby Canongate, fine Scottish pottery, magnificent grandfather clocks and a Sedan chair. The interactive area, apart from hosting workshops and quizzes, allows visitors to dress up in period costumes representing fashion of different epochs. Each item within the museum is clearly labeled with a short description about its history and origins.

Among these, you can see relics from a 1st century Roman settlement unearthed during excavations in Cramond, a small village to the north-west of Edinburgh, where the River Almond empties into the Firth of Forth.

You will also find the original copy of the National Covenant, James Craig’s designs for the New Town and Greyfriars Bobby’s dog dish and collar. There is a “rogues’ gallery” of sorts, where you will meet Deacon Brodie, who was a cabinet maker by day and a house-breaker by night, or Burke and Hare, the infamous body-snatchers who sold their gruesome merchandise to Dr Robert Knox of the University of Medicine.