Home to the earliest skyscrapers in Europe, some famous Edinburgh tenements were 14 stories high. The townspeople met to exchange news and gossip and listen to public pronouncements, and visitors to the city came here to find a guide who was both city grapevine and taxi driver. St Giles Cathedral was founded in 854 AD and has been site of some of the most dramatic events in the nation's history. Here merchants gathered to trade: 'Mercat' is simply the Scots word for market. Since the earliest times, Edinburgh has been at the forefront of religious and legal matters in Scotland. The Protestant Reformers, the brave Covenanters and the fiery Jenny Geddes who threw her chair at the Bishop - hear about them allYour tour begins at the Mercat Cross which marks the historic heart of Edinburgh !

Pick up your guide at the Mercat Cross and let him entertain you with stories from Edinburgh's past