Greyfriars is where Edinburgh keeps its dead, its martyrs, and — by accident — half the Harry Potter cast. The kirkyard sits just south of the Mile, ringed by the city's oldest surviving wall and overlooked by a school that launched a thousand Hogwarts theories. It's a short walk, heavy with history and oddly green.
Start at the bronze terrier on Candlemaker Row — Greyfriars Bobby, the grave-guarding dog, nose worn gold — then through the gate into the kirkyard itself. Wander first; the views back to the castle are the reward. Find Thomas Riddell's stone near the back, the name Rowling borrowed for Voldemort. At the dark south-east corner, the gated Covenanters' Prison, where a thousand prisoners were held through the winter of 1679. The kirkyard's south wall is the Flodden Wall, flung up after the 1513 catastrophe; follow it west to the view over George Heriot's turrets.
Climb out by Forrest Road to the top of the Mile and the Esplanade, where the city opens up below. After an afternoon of graves and defences, the high open ground is the point.
