The Views from Calton Hill, Edinburgh

We weren't sure what to do on our first afternoon in Edinburgh. I hadn't done my usual travel reconnaissance because this trip was about my friends Nic and Sarah, who had travelled from South Africa. It turns out that my rudimentary tour guiding skills were very much in demand. "I'm sure you'll think of something", Sarah remarked, reminding me that I'd been to Edinburgh before.

Not wanting to disappoint, I frantically looked at a map of the area surrounding our hotel and was relieved to spot an enticing-looking green space to the east. That would do nicely.

The moment we passed Greenside Parish Church and joined the Greenside Path up to Calton Hill, we felt that we could breathe more deeply. We were in a green space and surrounded by an abundance of flora.

We followed the signs for the North Viewpoint and were greeted with the incredible views above. The large body of water to the north is Firth of Forth, an estuary made up of the River Forth and other rivers. In the mid ground lies New Town, which was built in three phases in the 18th and 19th century.

There was just something about the view that made people stop and quietly drink in the sights. It was lovely to find a moment of calm in this busy city.

We finally decided it was time to explore further. Behind us stood the National Monument of Scotland, its unfinished columns rising like a skeletal Parthenon against the cloudy sky. Construction on the neoclassical structure, a tribute to the fallen Scottish soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars, began in 1826 but was ultimately abandoned in 1829.

Next to the National Monument stands the Nelson Monument which looks like a tiny leaning tower of Pisa.

To the west, we looked past the Dugald Stewart Monument to see Edinburgh Castle in the distance. The clock tower in the mid-distance is the Balmoral.

Our final stop on Calton Hill was the dome of the City Observatory. The official observatory moved to Blackford in 1896 due to light pollution and these days the observatory buildings house the Collective art gallery.

We began to make our way down the hill, this time passing round the back of the Greenside Parish Church.

We headed towards an eating area we'd seen from the hill and found ourselves at Edinburgh Street Food in Leith Street. It was a serendipitous find because ESF was the one place Sarah had wanted to see in Edinburgh.

After eating our body weight in street food, it was time to check into our hotel and get ready for the evening's festivities.

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A Little Life Update

I have indeed been missing for six weeks, again. I travelled to both Edinburgh and Italy in June, which was marvellous, and had been planning a quiet July. Well, you know what happens when you make plans. Stephen had laser eye surgery (and really suffered with it), followed by a severe allergic reaction to insect bites, and then he caught Covid. It was his third time and while it wasn't life-threatening, he was still very sick. After three weeks of valiant nurse duty, I caught Covid too. Added to our burden, Stephen had a major audit at work and I was working weekends to try make up for lost time. I really need a holiday!

I'm slowly catching up on blogs and comments. I have also made a plan to blog about all my adventures in Scotland and Italy over the next months, as well as catching up on posts from South Africa, Germany and other trips. Hopefully it won't be too confusing as I jump around - the thought of catching up chronologically on trips from the last year is just too daunting to bear!

How are you all doing?