An Autumn weekend in Edinburgh. This is a beautiful time of the year to enjoy the capital of Scotland. Here’s what an autumn weekend in the city looks like.
Today I’m sharing with you some pictures and highlights of an autumn weekend in Edinburgh.
Last weekend precisely, when Lynne and I were able to get away for a short break.
I came home with well over 100 pictures. The weather was pretty decent (as you’ll see) and we had a fab time
Hopefully I managed to choose the best pictures to intice you to maybe visit yourself one day?
So Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland is steeped in history.
It began as a hill fort in the 7th century.
You’ll see why as you scroll down to the Edinburgh Castle images which show the ideal and prominent rock situated right in the heart of the city.
I mean who wouldn’t build a castle on that?
Of the two images above, the first one shows the view looking up Victoria streeet from the bottom of the Grassmarket area in Edinburgh.
The second one is looking down Victoria Street.
Both of these views highlighting the typical old town cobbled streets and attractive Victorian architecture, typical of many of the older streets.
The world famous Edinburgh Royal Mile is pictured above.
Looking up towards the castle.
The buildings here are a mix of Georgian and Victorian.
The street was built on the tail of the old volcano that the castle sits on and slopes down towards the right to Holyrood Palace, the Queen’s official residence in Scotland.
Lynne and I took a walk up to Edinburgh Castle.
As you can see the area still absolutely thronged with tourists, despite the Edinburgh festival fringe having finished at the end of August.
We left visiting the inside of the castle to the tourists though.
Something for a future rainy day perhaps?
The view above is looking over Edinburgh south, from the castle esplanade.
It shows a more modern part of the city as well as Arthurs Seat, another dormant volcano in the area.
The name Arthurs seat is thought to have come from the legend of Kind Arthur.
Lynne selected this photograph of herself.
Seeing as she had the unenviable task of putting up with me photographing all day, who was I to refuse?
The large stand just behind Lynne is the remnants of the seating area, still being taken down.
It’s here that the Military Tattoo is also performed during the weeks of the festival.
The view above is of the entrance to Edinburgh Castle.
The entrance to the castle here really did have a drawbridge and ditch around the front of it once.
But Edinburgh Castle didn’t actually fill the ditch with water though, so it wasn’t a moat.
A dry ditch was much more effective. As the main entrance to the castle it was heavily guarded.
A view North of the city.
From Mound Place, showing the Scottish National Gallery.
The Mound, on which the gallery is situated, is an artificial hill built to fill in a loch once situated at the food of castle rock, which we are descending here.
Ha ha, I couldn’t resist taking this photograph. 🙂
Edinburgh, once famous for so many breweries, now unfortunately has only one brewery left.
When in our teens and living in Dundee, my friends and I would visit Edinburgh and make a beeline for every pub that sold this stuff.
It was brewed in Edinburgh then (as opposed to England now) and the whole city smelt of it!
Over the recently cleaned glass roof top of Edinburgh’s Waverley Station, here you can see the stunning luxury Balmoral Hotel.
In this hotel in 2007 author J. K. Rowling finished the Harry Potter series.
Harry Potter fans can stay in the same room for a mere £1000 per night.
Edinburgh is covered in alleyways and staircases like this one above.
This ancient one is known as Fleshmarket Close, where meat was sold from a market here.
There was also a Fishmarket close, with fruit and vegetables being available to purchase from stalls in the street.
Lynne and I spent most of Saturday just wandering about the streets of Edinburgh, taking in the sights.
We went for a glass of wine in The Malt Shovel in the afternoon and when we came out the weather had changed and got a little cooler too.
Contrast the sky in the next few pictures with that of those at the start and you’ll see what I mean.
The above two images looking up at Edinburgh castle are both taken from Princes Street Gardens.
I thought that the leaves and the colours of the foliage changing into their autumn suits was particularly striking
That was the reason for the naming of this post, an “Autumn Weekend in Edinburgh”!
The Usher Hall, above.
Built in 1914 from funds gifted by Andrew Usher who was a whisky distiller and blender.
This is a concert hall, owned and managed by Edinburgh City Council and is in constant use. You can check out what’s currently on here.
Looking back on Edinburgh Castle from our hotel.
This view above is probably the best photograph to show the remains of the volcano that the castle’s built on.
And no, it’s not possible to scale the rock, it’s illegal and you’ll get yourself arrested if you do try it!
Lynne and I enjoyed a really excellent Saturday dinner here, quite near our hotel, at the Il Castello Italian Restaurant.
Having had the camera with me all day, you’ll forgive me for putting it away and not photographing our food.
It was time for Lynne and I could relax. Otherwise I would have been trying to place everything around the food table to create the perfect food shot. 😮
Needless to say, the food was excellent. A well established family owned restaurant who made fantastic pizza’s and a delicious tiramisu!
Just how many pictures of Edinburgh Castle can you possibly take?
Well, I took a lot more than what I’ve posted here, but even for the ones I haven’t, you can see it looks completely different from every angle.
And I think that’s probably way enough to give you the general idea of what the prominent feature that dominates the landscape of Edinburgh is!
Good photos son, very interesting day, some of the dates about the place I did not know. Take care x
Thanks Dad! I think Lynne and I only just scratched the historic surface of Edinburgh here. 🙂
Still, there’s plenty of time for more visits, history and definitely more photos in the future though. 😉
NEIL! Can I steal your photos to send to family back home? LOL Just kidding, but seriously, I will refer them to your blog if they want to see what Scotland is all “aboot”. I am so terrible at taking photos (as I’ve stated many times)! Great post and how much more amazing does Edinburgh looks when it’s sunny out? I’ve never been there on a day when it didn’t rain! It’s just gorgeous and thanks for the historical info. You should start a virtual tour blog!! Are you ready for next weekend??? Luke sprained his foot at the Aberdeen game on the 12th (dope lol), but he’s back at training now! I’ll have to get in touch to see if we can meet up during the Scottish Run!! Hope to see you and Lynne soon! 🙂
I feel privileged that we had such excellent weather on the Saturday, Erin, and I hope that your next trip to Edinburgh is less wet than before!
Thanks for your amazing comments about my photographs. I’ll need to show you what my photographs once looked like! Even now after having had lessons and lots of practice, I get unsure about my efforts so it still feels pretty amazing to get comments like these. 😀
Feel free to send the links of anything here to anyone, it’s all about the sharing!
Was Luke actually playing for Aberdeen then, that he sprained his foot? 😉 Still it’s good he’s back in training and it would be grand if we could meet up after the run. We’ll be waiting on Liam finishing his half marathon anyway (he’s starting in the pink wave) so would be good to catch up!
ERMIGERD. You totally didn’t disappoint. I was supposed to go to Edinburgh on a trip my 3rd year of undergraduate but I got really really sick and had to cancel the trip 2 days before I left. And this is what I missed. UGGGGHHHHH
You did such a fantastic job of capturing the city at its best–the color, the texture, the light, and even, dare I say, the sound–there is so much rhythm and history but also the here and now within it. Goodness, I could go on forever. Thank you thank you for sharing this!
Hey Suz, I knew you would love your architecture and pocket history! Thanks so much for your kind comments! 🙂
I’m sure I recall you saying something before about nearly being in Edinburgh once, but I didn’t realise just how close you got! That’s really awful having to cancel the trip just 2 days before leaving! 🙁
We pretty much only just covered some of the North of the city and some of the main attractions so maybe we’ll head back there in due course and I’ll get you some more architecture and history in time. 🙂
Finding ways to make a recap both interesting and informative can be so difficult, but I think you’ve managed to do a great job, Neil! Edinburgh looks beautiful and I love how you know so much about it!
Thanks Amanda! 🙂
In truth I probably spent just as long researching my dates and facts, checking they were correct, as I took actually photographing on Saturday!
Paranoid I think you call that. 😉
Neil – I am not sure if I like your travel posts or your recipe posts more – you do such a phenomenal job on both! I simply LOVE the pictures of Edinburgh you have posted! I feel I want more! It is so beautiful – love all the architecture, the cobbled stones – even that mass of a volcano the castle is built on! I thought that Military Tattoo would be similar to the Changing of the Guards in Britain, but, according to Google – it’s so much more than that! I thoroughly enjoyed this post, my friend!
Thank you Shashi. So many nice comments from so many blogger friends today, I’m truly humbled.
I’m glad that folks can find either the travel pics or the recipe posts, or both, interesting enough to comment and to keep coming back for more. 🙂
Yeah, the Military Tattoo has pipe bands and military bands from all over the world and culminates in a huge firework display at the end, it really is a wonderful spectacle.
Have a great weekend Shashi! I might see if I can get some decent pics from climbing Ben Cruachan on Saturday for a future blog post. The weather looks ok at the moment. 😀
I had a friend in high school who’s family was from Edinburgh! I never really thought twice about it back then, I only thought about how ANNOYING it was when she would return from visiting with an ACCENT. Um, no. Ha! ha ha ha! But……. I now want to go – because the travel bug BIT ME early this year….. And I don’t care if I wind up coming back to the states with an accent LOL!
Ha ha, now that would be funny you doing one of your videos having just returned from Scotland with an accent!
But, like you we have the travel bug, and so understand the need to travel. Especially so as you know if you came over here the salmon would be on us! 😀