Edinburgh has been Scotland’s capital city since the 15th century. The city centre comprises the Old Town (which dates from medieval times) and the neighbouring 18th century New Town, which makes for a fascinating mix of architectural styles. Edinburgh is not short of impressive modern architecture too, with the controversial new Scottish Parliament building one of the latest to grace the city skyline. Dominated by the hills of Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat, and surrounded to the east by the waters of the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh is surely one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Famous for its festivals, Edinburgh plays host to the biggest arts festival in the world every August, along with the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo. And Edinburgh is also the centre of Scotland’s Hogmanay or New Year celebrations, with a week long festival of events culminating in a huge street party on Princes Street and fireworks over the castle.
Edinburgh is home to many great visitor attractions including Dymamic Earth, the Museum of Scotland, the Royal Yacht Britannia and Edinburgh Zoo, whose latest addition are two pandas! There is great nightlife with plenty of pubs, bars and restaurants – the food scene is buzzing, from the seafood bars of the Port of Leith area to the Michelin starred dining experiences of Kitchin and Wisharts, to name but two.
Edinburgh makes a great place to start or end your Scottish tour and in our opinion no visit to Scotland is complete without a trip to our capital city!
Hope everyone has been enjoying the antics of the Tartan Army over in Boston for the World Cup! Glad to see the Glasgow tradition of putting cones on statues is alive and well across the pond 😂⚽️🏴The Scottish fans didn't just bring bagpipes and beer to Boston.
They brought traffic cones for the statues too.
3 CommentsComment on Facebook
If trees could talk, this one would have some tales to tell!
This is the Birnam Oak, 600 years old and the last remaining tree of the Birnam Wood mentioned by Shakespeare in Macbeth.
In the play Macbeth is warned by the witches that he will not be overthrown until Birnam Wood moves to Dunsinane. Macbeth decides to ignore the witches with their crazy talk of trees moving around and commits several murders in pursuit of the Scottish throne. However Malcolm’s army take branches from the trees in the wood, use them to disguise themselves, and ultimately Macbeth meets a sticky end (it is a tragedy after all!)
Shakespeare is rumoured to have visited Perthshire with a group of travelling players in 1589, so perhaps he visited here and took inspiration from the forest ✍️
The oak in folklore is the king of the forest, and a hollow in an oak tree is said to be a fairy door, or a gateway to supernatural realms. The word ‘druid’ may come from a Celtic word meaning “knower of the oak tree” 🌳 🌳🌳
#bluebadgeguides #scottishtouristguidesassociation #britishguildoftouristguides #scotland #scotlandlover #scotlandexplore #scotlandshots #scotlandisnow #scotlandtravel #scotlandtrip #birnamwood #birnam #birnamoak #shakespeare
0 CommentsComment on Facebook
