Edinburgh's glorious art gallery - on every street corner

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When you remove the tourists and  the traffic, you start to appreciate the beauty of Auld Reekie.

Scotland's capital has revealed so much in lockdown. 

A city used to the bustle of life, has become still, breathed once more, and given us all an opportunity to explore, to enjoy and to discover.

It's easy to get tangled up in the endless tourist tours which criss-cross the city centre every hour, pointing to the same old statues and landmarks, and delivering the same old stories to first-time visitors who then leave with identical experiences.

Edinburgh has so much more to offer than the top ten must-see places which appear in every single guide.

Step back from the crowd, look up and look to the horizon, and you find gems which simply beg you to explore further.

It's almost 38 years since I last spent so long in this city, and it has been a joy to rediscover its beauty, its rich history and its wonderful creativity.
The sheer volume of public art - everything from graffiti to intricate murals - is astonishing.

Something new has stopped us in our tracks on almost every single one of our daily walks through empty, silent streets.

And finding new places has been one of the joys of lockdown. It's as if someone gave us permission to explore without a time limit, and drink in the sights.

Leith is awash with wonderful art, perhaps more so than any other part of the city.

I'd never seen the murals on doorways in Quality Yard - I'd never seen Quality Yard off Mritime Lane, full stop - , while the walls of the Leith Depot offer a canvas for local artists to add splashes of colour, wit and community spirit; qualities which would have been denied forever had developers had their way and razed the place.

Across the road there's a mural of placard waving animals, while, further up, a wonderful 'Keep The Heid' drawing sits in front of a shop window.

Heading back up the walk and turning left opposite McDonald Road brings you to a new mural celebrating Black Lives Matter.

It's has so much to see - giant figures leap out, and, among them, the statement  "the revolution will be feminist or won't be" wrapped around a flower stem.

In the depths of the Cowgate - a place where historic tenements sit next to some truly ugly modern office blocks - a piece of artwork celebrates an escape room, while giant wooden doors at a restaurant have been transformed by a mural of two bull-type figures.

I love the glorious set of dark red wings on a gold background which stand out on Candlemakers Row, while the mural of a giant fish leaping along the side of a wall next to the Festival Theatre is simply perfect. The building serves the best fish and chips in town.

On Morrison Street, there's a cool dude on the wall of a pub, while up at Bristo Square, my favourite - a typewriter nailed to the front of a bar. Why?   Why not ...

Individually, the pieces of work create the most vibrant, free, outdoor art gallery which weaves a path around much of the city.

It's one worth exploring while the streets remain quiet.




Feathered wings on Candlemakers Row




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