📌 Read in / Lire en : Français (French)
Anyone who has walked around the Scottish capital (📖 read our guide) knows what we’re talking about. As you enter Edinburgh city centre, you instantly get this smell. A fairly familiar scent for many, it can be quite a bother for others strolling in the streets of the city.
The explanation: this smell is that of malt. It’s coming from distilleries all over the region, and in particular the North British Distillery Company, based in Georgia, in the suburbs of Edinburgh, according to the local blog Secret Atlas. Its author explains that the reputation of the city “that smells” is in no way recent, in fact it goes back to the Middle Ages. At that time, Edinburgh was best known for the smell of its sewers.
📺 You may also be interested in: 5 unusual places to visit in Scotland to discover in video.
Depending on the weather and more specifically the winds, the smell of malt is more or less identifiable in the tourist part of the city. If that typical Edinburgh smell bothers you too much, go to the heights on Arthur’s Seat Hill or Calton Hill. Otherwise, fight fire with fire by going into a local pub…
And if you want to bring home something from Edinburgh (well, something other than the smell), here are our suggestions of top 6 souvenirs to bring back from Scotland.
