Source : the age
I’m standing next to the 17th-century landmark West Bow Well near one of Edinburgh’s most notorious streets, Grassmarket in the city’s Old Town, when my tour guide, Dakota Jones, blurts out: “This is definitely not a Harry Potter tour.”
Edinburgh, where J.K. Rowling reportedly found inspiration for the fictional teen wizard, has a troubled past with witchcraft and those who renounced prevailing religious norms.
West Bow Well in Edinburgh’s historic Old Town.Credit: iStock
As Jones, who identifies as non-binary, describes Grassmarket’s dark past as a site of executions, the vibe is broomsticks-apart from the joy of fans following in the footsteps of Harry Potter. But the grim stories provide great material for Jones because divulging Edinburgh’s wicked past has become their lifeline.
I’m on a walking tour run by Invisible Cities, a social enterprise that aims to show cities in a new light and also be a light for the disadvantaged. The organisation trains people affected by homelessness to become walking tour guides, leading visitors through the streets where they once slept. It was founded in Edinburgh in 2016 by Invisible Cities chief executive Zakia Moulaoui and has expanded across five other British cities.
An Invisible Cities tour guide leads a group through the streets of Edinbugh.Credit:
“Our training program includes public speaking, confidence building, customer service, body language and first aid,” Moulaoui says.
She says the training process involves each guide developing their own tour. “We really encourage people to have their voices heard and to decide what they want to highlight, and sometimes that has a powerful message around it. But sometimes, it’s just purely historical because they don’t want to share personal details, it’s entirely up to them.”
Walking tour participants are regaled with quirky stories about the Scottish city.Credit:
It’s easy to see how Invisible Cities has thrived in Scotland. Storytelling is embedded in Scottish culture and the country prides itself on sharing folklore and championing its poets and writers.
Edinburgh: City of Witches and Magic is a tour created by Jones, a practising pagan, which melds enthusiastic storytelling with their own spirituality and allows us to see the darker side of Old Town’s famed attractions.
We dodge tourists along the Royal Mile and disappear down Edinburgh’s many narrow laneways. The vibe gets brighter as we stroll Victoria Street, one of the city’s most appealing streets for colourful heritage buildings.
We arrive at our last stop, The Witches’ Well, almost two hours later. The memorial commemorates people executed, many burned at the stake, on the doorstep of Edinburgh Castle during the 16th and 17th centuries.
The winding cobblestoned Victoria Street is a popular tourist haunt in the Old Town of Edinburgh.Credit: iStock
What makes these tours unique is how participants can glimpse global social issues such as homelessness. Jones is forthcoming about their hardships, revealing they had been homeless twice and had suffered abuse. “After experiencing a very rough year recovering from abuse and PTSD, I tried to get back to where I was career-wise, but I found it too much of a jump to go from nothing to that,” they say.
Jones previously worked in charity management and wanted to combine their desire to help people with storytelling. “Becoming a tour guide helped rebuild my confidence, which was kind of broken.
“I enjoy the experience of leading tours – it fulfils my need to help people.”
Presenting the city their way has enabled Jones to start afresh and be their authentic selves while becoming an unlikely ambassador for Edinburgh.
“I like immersing myself in the city and its history,” they say. “There are so many different experiences of Edinburgh, which is why being able to choose, design and research our own tours makes Invisible Cities a great thing. It’s a way for people to enjoy the city in a way they probably wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.”
The writer was a guest of Visit Britain and Visit Scotland.
The details
Fly
Qatar Airways flies to Edinburgh from Perth, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. See qatarairways.com
Tour
Invisible Cities’ Edinburgh: City of Witches and Magic tour is £17 ($33). See invisible-cities.org
