Next, we head to Grassmarket Square, which is surrounded by some of the oldest pubs in the city.  It's also very close to Edinburgh University and the Edinburgh College of Art, and the students are out in force, dressed in shorts and short skirts despite the weather (it's one of the first "warm" evenings, but is still very chilly by our standards).  The walk there takes us through Cowgate, one of the oldest parts of the city, past many bars overflowing with students.  One bar is showing a movie on the side of a building.  Between the old streets and architecture and the young students, the mood is electric, quite unlike anywhere else we've ever been.  It's like Friday night in the East Village, but much warmer and friendlier.

The Grassmarket was the site of public executions.  The exact spot where the gallows once stood is marked by a St Andrew's cross in the cobblestones bearing the inscription, "For the Protestant faith, on this spot many martyrs and covenanters died."  Most of the nearby pubs are haunted.  We hit several pubs in the square: the Beehive Inn, and then the White Hart.  Finally we go to The Last Drop (a reference to the gallows that stood nearby), but the upstairs room, where the ghost lives, is already closed for the night.   But the beer is fantastic, and we stay until the bar closes.