travelling is reading, reading is travelling

Have you always wanted to get the feel of being a writer or a story’s character? Then come to Edinburgh! This is a place full of amazing legends and thrilling stories, and when I tell you that stones can talk here – I mean it! (Don’t miss the stone plates in front of the Writers’ Museum and Walter Scott Memorial!) It seems that in the next coffee shop you’ll run into J.K. Rowling, Hogwarts is just at the next turn, and if you unleash your imagination you’ll hear the voices of famous writers and see vague silhouettes of your favorite characters.
If you love literature, good cuisine, interesting design and excellent service, your must-see in Edinburgh is Deacon Brodie’s Tavern, right on the Royal Mile, at 435 Lawnmarket.
William Brodie (1741-1788), a cabinetmaker, locksmith, deacon of a trades guild and Edinburgh city councilor, was respectability incarnate…by day. By night he burgled the houses where he himself had installed door locks, gambled, drank and visited his mistresses. No one could even imagine that this honorable citizen was the leader of a gang terrorizing Edinburg.
The history of Brodie deeply struck R.L. Stevenson. Together with W. Henley he wrote the drama Deacon Brodie, or the Double Life (1880), however the play failed. Stevenson returned to the figure of Brodie in 1886 in his famous work “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and created a splendid description of man’s double nature, expanding the real story with fantastic and alchemistic notes.
Brodie lived an interesting life and died an ironic death — and here we enter the realm of legends and black humor. A skilled craftsman, he put his hand to the building of new gallows. The pitcher goes often to the well, but is broken at last: Brodie’s gang could not be caught for a long time, but in 1788 the ordinary night operation failed. Brodie tried to escape to Amsterdam, but was caught and brought back to Edinburgh — becoming one of the first “clients” of the same improved gallows he helped to design.
The history of Brodie became world-famous thanks to Stevenson and is still touching hearts. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the name of the main character in the TV show Homeland, the war hero and/or terrorist recruited by Al Qaeda, is Nicholas Brodie.
At Deacon Brodie’s Tavern, thanks to historic interiors, interesting pictures and an authentic atmosphere, I immersed myself in the 18th century. So, grab your copy of Stevenson’s book and come here, too!