While we were staying in Ayr, there was a day trip out to Edinburgh, and we decided to have a view at the capital city of Scotland. Edinburgh became Scotland’s capital city following the of James I, king of Scotland, at Perth (the former capital). The city is twinned with eight other cities including: Dunedin, Florence, Kiev, and Nice.
The north of the district is known as ‘the new town’. The new town brags the largest Georgian architecture in Europe and possibly the world. Prince’s street gardens separate the new and old town. The gardens themselves occupy, a site that was once a loch, which got drained in the early 19th century!
Edinburgh is the second most populous in Scotland-following Glasgow. Edinburgh id basically built on a group of hills, so not very wheelchair friendly in that sense – but a city well worth a visit. The city and its surrounds cover an area of around 260 sq km. The climate is commonly cloudy with moderate rainfall (as we all know). The population of Edinburgh is around 450, 000, which in turn represents about 8-9% of Scotland total population. Edinburgh is the home to the new Scottish parliament.
So what does this wonderful city have to offer for the tourist? Of course the main and most obvious attraction is the prominent castle. Sitting above the city, you can imagine how the former occupants used to view their people in the streets below. The castle gets around 1 million visitors a year, which makes it the city’s most popular attraction. Located in the castle is the 11th-century chapel of St Margaret, Edinburgh’s oldest building?
The city also has other attractions such as Royal botanical gardens and Edinburgh zoo. The latter was founded in 1913 and has the largest collection of animals in Scotland, including the largest colony of penguins in Europe.
The royal observatory is also in Edinburgh, which is a research centre for astronomy and planetary science.
Of course Edinburgh is steeped in history, from all the be-heading to its Scottish parliaments, and old tales.
Meadow bank is the city’s largest sports centre, and was built in 1970 for the commonwealth games, and still regularly hosts international sporting events. Murray-field is Scotland’s international rugby ground, and also in Edinburgh.
If like us you only have a short time in the city, you can use one of the many bus tours around the city-there is no shortage of them, and they allow you to hop on and off at various points of attraction all day. Costs of these trips are around £7.50 per person, and do offer quite good value.
Walking around the city centre, you can view some magnificent buildings, which overshadow the streets. The city has several shopping malls, and streets full of shops – a shopoholics dream come true.
Personally I loved Edinburgh, but it is not wheelchair friendly and traffic is quite horrendous (while we were there), so much so that they are planning to charge people for driving through the city (so we were told).
Edinburgh – well worth a visit.