A view of
the skyline in Edinburgh , the Scottish Capital.
On the left is Edinburgh Castle, the spires to the
right, follow the line of the Royal Mile, the main street in the Old Town.
The Royal Mile....a road
leading from the Castle to Holyrood Palace. The white and stone building is reputed to be
where John Knox , the reformer spent some time. This building, and the stone one to the
left are the two oldest buildings from around 1500.
A view from further up the
Royal Mile. The crown shaped spire is St Giles- and is based on the Scottish crown.
Looking towards Calton Hill,
on the left the old observatory, on the right the tower is the Nelson's Monument, used to
signal the time to ships on the river Forth. The Parthenon-like structure behind is an
unfinished monument to the fallen of the Napoleonic Wars- and is one reason why Edinburgh
is sometimes called the Athens of the North.
A
view from close by in the opposite direction. The twin spires are the Assembly Halls where
the Scottish Parliament is meeting until the new building in Holyrood is complete. In the
distance , the castle and in the foreground, the classical building is an art gallery.
The Scott
Monument , a memorial to the writer Sir Walter Scott. When it was built in the mid 19th
Century it was considered extremely ugly.
You can climb the 287 steps to the top!
A closer
view of Edinburgh Castle.
A rather unusual shop in Victoria Street selling
every imaginable kind of brush.
This picture jumps right
across town to the New Town. In the mid 18th C the city fathers decided that the town
needed to be enlarged . It was decided to hold a competition to select a plan. The
result was a very geometric design - a grid with three main streets - Princes Street,
George Street and Queen Street. This is George Street , the central one , which has a
square at either end.
