Edinburgh, the capital of the Scots, Auld Reekie, the Athens of the North, is a city like no other. A royal capital for centuries, until the Union of 1707, political power returned with the foundation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999
Although the area had been settled before hand, Edinburgh offically came into existence in 1018 when King Malcolm II secured the Lothian region from the English. Edinburgh is the cultural capital of Scotland, and many of the country´s finest minds have hailed from Edinburgh - David Hume and Adam Smith, fathers of the Scottish Enlightenment, the writers Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Walter Scott, Irvine Welsh and Ian Rankin all come from the city. Not only is the city a city of letters, it is city of invention, famous sons include Alexander Graham Bell. Other names, from various fields, are John Napier, Robet Louis Stevenson and Tony Blair.
The city has three main areas, the Old Town, the New Town and Leith. The Old Town has maintained its medieval layout and has many buildings dating from the time of the Reformation. The Royal Mile - the city´s main avenue - runs through the Old Town from the Castle, with many lanes running off the main street like the bones of a fish. The Old Town has many large squares, which either mark the site of a market or surround major buildings such at St Giles Cathedral.
The New Town was established in the 18th Century to relieve overcrowding in the Old Town, designed by the 22 year old James Craig, who in keeping with the strict rationalism of the Scottish Enlightenment imposed a grid structure to the New Town the centre of which was George Street, flanked by Princes Street - the city´s main shopping area. In the New Town is the finest example of Georgian town planning, Charlotte Square, designed by Robert Adam. On the sight of the Nor´Loch - once the city´s water supply and sewage dump and drained in the 1820s - were built the wonderful Princes Street Gardens.
Leith is Edinburgh´s port town and has maintained a separate identity from the city itself, and it is the permanent mooring of the Royal Yacht Brittania.
Edinburgh is a relatively small city, but one that is packed with the history of Scotland; royal palaces, defensive castles, beautiful gardens, magnificent avenues, and views to the Pentland Firth and Arthur´s Seat. Also home to the International Festival, the Fringe and the lavish
Hogmanay celebrations on December 31st, Edinburgh is a vibrant city with much to do, much to see and many reasons to return.
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