Explore Edinburgh | Museum of Scotland, Museum of Edinburgh, Surgeons' Hall & City Art Centre

Hi everyone, I hope you're well and thanks for joining me for part three of my Explore Edinburgh series. Today I'll be visiting three of my favourite Edinburgh museums. The first is the National Museum of Scotland in Chamber Street, which is the perfect place to find out more about Scotland's history, heritage and culture, and they've got a pretty good cafe too as I do like my coffee and cake. Secondly I'll be visiting the Museum of Edinburgh, which is the best place to find out all about Edinburgh's long and fascinating history, with a large collection of historical objects and artefacts. It's a bit of a hidden gem and far too often overlooked by visitors. Lastly I'll be visiting Surgeon's Hall Museums on Nicholson Street, which houses one of the biggest and oldest pathology collections in the UK, dating all the way back to 1699. So on with the first of today's museums. The National Museum of Scotland is located centrally in Chamber Street and is free to visit. It's a superb museum to visit to find out more about Scottish history, the natural world, science and technology and world culture. It's packed full of rare and interesting objects, artefacts and models from all around the world, including Dolly the Cloned Sheep, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Egyptian coffins, the Lewis Chessman and my personal favourite, the mysterious Arthur's Seat miniature coffins. In 2016 the museum marked its 150th anniversary of the opening of the original Victorian building in 1866. To celebrate the museum opened 10 new galleries to showcase over 3,000 objects and artefacts from a wide variety of collections. One of the best things to do when you're visiting is to visit the roof terrace, which offers amazing views of Edinburgh Castle, Greyfriars Kirk and the rest of the city. So that's me finished visiting the fantastic Museum of Scotland and I'm now on my way to another amazing museum, which is the Museum of Edinburgh, which specialises on everything Edinburgh. So I hope you'll enjoy that too. It only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk from the National Museum of Scotland to the Edinburgh Museum, so it's not far. So here we are at an absolute gem, the Museum of Edinburgh in Huntley House. Visitors often pass by this wonderful museum without realising, which is such a shame, please don't be one of them. If you really want to learn about Edinburgh it's an absolute must. It's located next to the Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile and again completely free to enter, although I always recommend leaving a donation if you can. The museum covers Edinburgh's early origins, its people, politics, architecture and history and is truly worth a visit. Some of my items in the museum include Greyfriar Bobby's collar, the 1638 National Covenant and James Craig's original plans for the New Town. It really is an absolute treasure trove. The keen eyed of you may recognise Huntley House, which along with next door Bakehouse Close, appeared in season three of Outlander. Our last museum of the day is definitely not for the faint-hearted or the squeamish. Surgeons Hall Museums are owned by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, which was founded in 1505. They contain one of the largest collections of surgical pathology in the world and comprise the Wall Pathology Museum, the History of Surgery Museum and the Dental Collection. Unlike the previous two museums, there is a small charge to enter, but I think it's really worth it. The museum started life as a teaching museum for medical students but has been open to the public since 1832. During the Edinburgh Enlightenment, Edinburgh was leading the way in medical education and research and at one point nearly half of Edinburgh University students were medical students. The university encouraged medical dissection which improved students' anatomy knowledge and made Scottish doctors and surgeons in great demand across the world. The museum itself contains literally hundreds of many of which may seem a little gruesome. If you're interested in medicine and biology, which is very much part of Edinburgh's history, you'll really find this place utterly fascinating. It's also free and it's about a 10-minute walk from the National Museum, so it's also really easy to get to. Just now I'm just using the Scotsman Steps from the Old Town to get to Market Street and it's just a great little shortcut when you're in the city between the two. Located centrally in Market Street, opposite Waverley Train Station, the City Arts Centre specialises in historic and contemporary Scottish art. Like the previous two museums, it's completely free to enter. We're incredibly lucky in Edinburgh to have so much to do that's completely free. If you're peckish, there's Mimi's Bakehouse attached to the Arts Centre, which does the best cupcakes in the city. Scottish art of national importance are displayed in the centre on a rotating basis and there are always new and changing exhibitions to explore, ranging from Scottish painting and photography to contemporary arts and crafts. The City Arts Centre is always worth a visit and being so close to the train station, it's a great place to while away half an hour. So those of you who know me well know that I really love my coffee and cake and one of the best things about City Arts Centre is that it has a Mimi's Bakehouse which does fantastic coffees and cakes and also lunch. So if you've come from a national museum and you haven't had a bite to eat or you just want to sit down and relax before exploring the City Arts Centre, Mimi's is a great place just to sit and have a coffee and enjoy some quiet time. Some of the artwork here is really just absolutely beautiful with gorgeous tones and colours and the way the masters have used light to represent highlights and shadows is just incredible. I really hope you've enjoyed this tour of my favourite must-see Edinburgh museums. I produce all these videos by myself and they're completely free to watch, so please give it a thumbs up and subscribe which helps me to keep the channel going. Thanks so much everybody for watching!