Edinburgh
The Athens of the North
As the rocky and green cascading highlands slope southward, one can find Scotland's capital of Edinburgh nestled as their base. Situated on the inlet known as the Firth of Forth, frigid waters, cold wind, and rough terrain have sculpted the city and its people into a tough and hardy bunch. Edinburgh's legacy as a refined & intellectual northern hub still lives on, like the centuries-old black stone used to fashion many of Edinburgh's Greco-Roman & Georgian style buildings.
The west side of Edinburgh's Castle.
Groups of people enjoying themselves in the Old Town.
Two hotel employees, one with a glengarry bonet.
The Walter Scott monument from High Street.
A view of Morningside from Arthur's Seat.
Leith Walk
Edinburgh's Steps
Edinburgh is built on a large slope that gradually increases over a wide area, and Leith Walk illustrates this topography well. Being Edinburgh's longest street, the long walk one takes to Edinburgh's center from the port of Leith has become one of the city's most iconic landmarks. Lined with pubs and other properties that are centuries old, the walk up from Leith gives visitors a taste of what Edinburgh has in store for them.
Leith Walk heading north to the Firth of Forth.
The tower of Saint Paul's Church at the intersection of Leith & Pilrig.
The Theater Royal pub, famous for its live evening plays.
Leith Walk sloping southward.
The 160 year old façade of Lady Glenorchy's church at Picardy Place, now built into the Glasshouse Hotel. Architectural integration of older buildings into newer ones is a common sight in Edinburgh
Saint Paul's & Saint George's Church (known informally by Edinburgh residents as "Ps and Gs") at Picardy Place.
A picture framing store further south.
The Regent Bridge. Edinburgh is a very tiered city of many seen and unseen levels.
The Balmoral Hotel at the intersection of Leith Walk and Prince's Street.
Prince's
Street
The City's Heart
Prince's Street is a long and wide tram-laden road that crosses through Edinburgh's commercial center. On one side of Prince's Street lie the Gardens, a sprawling meadow that surrounds the base of Edinburgh's towering castle. On the other side of the street are some of Edinburgh's largest shopping centers and luxury stores. Landmarks adorn both sides of the street like jewels in a crown, and all who pilgrim to Prince's Street always leave with something special.
Prince's Street heading west with the Walter Scott monument and the Castle mount to its left.
The front of the Balmoral Hotel receiving guests.
The Balmoral's clocktower and upper floors.
A street musician with the Old Town behind him.
Prince's Street streching onwards.
The top corner of the Jenners building opposite the Scott monument.
The upper half of the Scott Monument.
A statue of Sir Walter Scott, the famous jurist, poet, and writer, in the center of his monument.
A vista of the Old Town from the parks on the leftmost side of Prince's Street.
A piper playing in front of the Scott Monument.
Edinburgh's Castle, high and lofty on its mount above the Prince's Street Gardens.
A woman sitting under a cherry blossum tree.
The Castle looking down on Prince's Street.
A statue of Wojtek, the bear who was enlisted in a Polish regiment during World War Two. After the war ended, Edinburgh's Zoo took him in at the request of his comrades.
The Ross Fountain in the Gardens.
Steps leading up from the Gardens to Prince's Street.
The north side of Saint John's Church at the intersection of Prince's Street and Lothian Road.
The convergence between the edge of Prince's Street and the beginning of the West End.
West End
& Dean
A Taste of the Past
The West End and Dean Village are two distinct areas that border each other West of Prince's Street. The West End is a highly affluent neighborhood of tall buildings and clean, wide streets that look nearly identical to the districts that host London's most luxurious flats. Dean Village is a sharp contrast to this, as it is a hidden and well-concealed piece of Edinburgh's Medieval past, fit with the bridges, rivers, and buildings of the time that conveys its age.
The top of a building's façade on the intersection of West End and Prince's Street. The West End is known for its regal, georgian architecture.
A tall building's upper end.
A cramped alleyway further into the West End.
A typical West End neighborhood.
Saint Mary's church at the tip of West End's Melville Street. This regal square is home to many foreign consulates, like the Russian, Japanese, and Danish to name a few.
The dome of the West Register House - currently a records office and formerly a church.
A small street leading to Dean Village.
Denser, older apartment buildings and more late-medieval architecture are trademarks of the area encompasing Dean.
The central village square. Dean's significantly untouched land is a rare sight in Edinburgh's highly-developed core.
A small bridge in the village with the waters of Leith flowing below it.
An old flat in the center of the village.
The Royal
Mile
Scotland's Legacy
While not as long as Leith Walk, the Royal Mile (also knwon as High Street), connects Holyrood Palace - the winter retreat of the British Royal Family - to the jagged, rocky mount where Edinburgh's Castle sits. Medieval, Georgian, & Victorian-era buildings built from blackened stone grow in height and detail as one nears the Mile's peak, as does one's sense of awe and wonder produced by this trip through time.
A shot of some the buildings that surround the Royal Mile taken from Waverley Bridge (which connects Prince's Street to the Old Town).
The dome and eastern side of the Bank of Scotland, which is connected to the upper end of the High Street.
Neoclassical and Georgian buildings. The Royal Mile prominently features these styles of architecture.
The curving crescent of Cockburn Street weaving up and into the Royal Mile.
The Malt Shovel, a pub on Cockburn street.
A view of Cockburn Street's buildings and festive flags.
A closer view of the façades of the buildings that preside over Cockburn street.
The Scotsman's Lounge welcoming guests on Cockburn.
The upper end of Cockburn.
The tower of the Tron Kirk Church.
High Street going up.
A street performer playing with fire.
The equestrian & Romanized statue of Charles II between Saint Giles' Cathedral and the Parliament House, in which resides the Supreme Civil Court of Scotland.
The top of Saint Giles' Cathedral, the 700 year old church recognized as the mother church of Christianity's Presbyterian denomination.
An aged statue of 5th Duke of Buccleuch outside Saint Giles.
The Duke's statue tells a storey of the his life in several intricately detailed panels at the statue's base.
The Bank of Scotland's upper right side.
A tower looming over the central courtyard of Edinburgh's School of Divinity.
A signpost of the Withcery, a famous hotel, built next to the Church of Saint Columba.
The rooftop of a building close to Saint Columba's Church.
Saint Columba's imposing and gothic tower admist the Mile's rooftops.
Red roofs at the top of High Street.
A vista of Arthur's Seat from the Royal Mile's peak.
The Grass
Market
Stones and Spirits
Nestled in a wide, stony plaza between High Street and Bruntsfield Park lies the Grass Market. Once used as an open area for livestock trading, the Grass Market is now a massive social area surrounded by pubs and resteraunts. Drinking together is a normal part of daily life for the Scots, and people gather in this cobblestone enclave to partake in this social rite at all times of day.
A road descending to the Grass Market.
The large clocktower of the Old Edinburgh Infirmary, now the Futures Institute of the Edinburgh University.
Saint Columba's tower amidst the rooftops.
The George IV bridge leading to High Street.
The eastern entry to the Grass Market.
Scots enjoying an afternoon drink with friends and family.
The Last Drop, a famous pub in the Grass Market.
The White Heart Inn, a restaurant, pub, and hotel over 500 years old.
A view of Victoria Street connecting to the Grass Market from an upper balcony.
The tops of the Grass Market's old and aging buildings.
The sun hitting Victoria Street.
Victoria from the shade.
Colorful flowers crawling up the side of a building.
Edinburgh's castle standing vigilantly over the Grass Market.
Bruntsfield
Park
Edinburgh's Eden
The Bruntisfield Links (Old Scot for "park") is a sprawling 35 acres of verdant, mostly flat, verdant parkland. At all times of the year, one can find golfers teeing up on the public course that streches the length of the green meadows. And in the spring and summer especially, flocks of students congregate to socialize, finish schoolwork, and play football in groups across the park and under the shade of its many cherry blossum trees.
Bruntsfield's grass rolling west.
The Barclay Viewforth Church standing tall over the links.
Barclay Viewforth up close.
Barclay at a distance.
Rows of cherry blossums lining the pathways of the links with Arthur's Seat in the distance.
People strolling in the shade of the trees.
Cherry blossums in the sunlight.
A pink canopy above a crowd of people.
People spread across the sprawling links.
Morningside
A Quiet Reprieve
Originally a small village before gradually becomming a residential suberb in the mid 1800s, Morningside has always been one of Edinburgh's most scenic, idyllic, and peaceful neighborhoods. From its early days as a young suberb on the edge of town, Morningside has always attracted affluent Scots who built their mansions and founded their estates on the neighborhood's lush hillsides. Though this once-spacious territory is now covered by homes, remnant's of the neighborhood's past still can be seen in its many vine-covered villas and luxurious homes.
Bruntsfield Place Road winding south into Morningside.
Morningside's north enterance.
A man waiting for his order in a fish & chip shop on Morningside Road.
Lovers having an afternoon lunch.
Morningside Road heading south into Holy Corner.
A young man painting Holy Corner.
A shot of the painter's perspective.
The façades of some buildings around Morningside.
A road heading away from Morningside's center. Many old mansions covered with colorful flowers are dotted throughout Morningside.
The side of a house brightened by flowers.
A verdant road at a quiet hour.
The tower of the Edinburgh Elim Church on Holy Corner.
Morningside Road heading south as evening draws near.
The top of the Chalmers' Church with the moon visible.
The white spire of the Morningside Parish church.
The Parish Church's stained glass behind some cherry blossums.
Morningside at sunset.
The sun hitting the side of an apartment building.
Calton Hill
An Eternal Watchman
Standing guard over the midst of Edinburgh's center is Calton Hill - a steep and wide mound flush with green grass, several notable monuments, and an impressive view over much of Edinburgh's cityscape. Likely used as a fort in ancient days, it is only when one summits Calton that can one gain a true apprecation for the densely packed and layered architecture of Edinburgh's Old Town, as well as the city's highly symetrical and thuroughly British asthetic.
The upper end of Leith and parts of the West End from Calton Hill.
A view of the southern part of Leith.
Two friends relaxing with Firth of Firth behind them.
The Old Town and Prince's Street from atop Calton.
The National Monument of Scotland, affectionately known as "the Disgrace" by locals, is an unfinished project dating back to the mid 1800s.
People climbing the Disgrace's steps.
The rear of the Disgrace.
The Nelson Monument, named after legendary British Admiral Nelson, with Arthur's Seat and the Crags in the distance.
The Nelson Monument peeking out from behind some flowers.
The now derelict Royal Edinburgh Academy at the eastern edge of Calton Hill.
Arthur's Seat and the Crags visible from a road descending Calton.
Holyrood
Park
A Wonderous Adventure
Towering over Edinburgh lies Arthur's Seat and the Crags. These two geographical features are undoubtedly Edinburgh's most unique, with the former being an extinct volcano, and the ladder being the largest basalt cliff in the city's limits. Both situated within Holyrood Park's extensive 650 acres, these two landmarks bear witness to Edinburgh's beauty alongside the many other lochs, glens, basalt cliffs, and ancient ruins that can be found within the park.
The edges of the Crags, a large basalt cliff, from the base of Holyrood.
A tree on the lush slope up the Crags.
A vista of the Edinburgh's Old Town from the top of the Crags.
A distant Calton Hil catching a man's gaze.
A fellow in a green hoodie relaxing in the nooks of the Crags.
The grassy slopes that blissfully roll over the Crags.
A couple enjoying themselves by the remains of Saint Anthony's Chapel further up the hill.
A man admiring the chapel in the sun.
A path through yellow gorse flowers to a beckoning Arthur's Seat.
People ascending the Seat through the Gorse. Gorse flowers are prickly, thistle-like plants that grow in localized groves.
The path from Saint Anthony's upwards.
An ancient path leading to the top.
The top of Arthur's Seat. Being an inactive volcano, the top of the mount is mainly composed of jagged rock.
A raven observing people atop the Seat.
A couple looking across to Calton Hill.
Edinbrugh's core and the Crag's fields being admired by a couple.
A man observing the lanwebps/DSCape from the monument at the zenith of Arthur's Seat.
Onlookers watching a sunset over Edinburgh.