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JK Rowling famously wrote a lot of Harry Potter whilst in Edinburgh, therefore it comes as no surprise that there is plenty of inspiration for the stories on display around the city. There are tours dedicated to the books  that you can take to see all the sights that meet outside “The Elephant House”, however none of these fitted with our itinerary so we decided to see a couple of them in our own time.

The Elephant House is the café where JK Rowling sat to write some of the books so this was our first stop. The café clearly plays on its famous clientele and you can buy various souvenirs from them. Aside from that you can get a drink and a piece of cake. The cakes all looked delicious and I can highly recommend the white chocolate blondie. We were shown to a free table by a waiter from where we could see out the window across to the castle, it was easy to see how Hogwarts came into being from this view alone. One thing to note is that during peak times the queue to get in can be extreme, snaking its way out of the door.

Outside the café and past Greyfriars Bobby (the dog statue) just down the road you reach Greyfriars Kirk. This ancient graveyard has been used since the late 16^th century and is worth visiting just for the history and the impressive graves. If you look closer at some of the headstones you will not only see the names of some famous Scots but also some recognisable names from Harry Potter. I am sure there were more than we managed to find in our limited time but we did see Tom Riddle and a McGonagall.

For any Harry Potter fan a trip to Edinburgh is like a trip to the Holy land, to where it all began.

Have you been to Edinburgh? What Harry Potter sights did you see? Are there any major ones I missed?