Edinburgh is a city built on hills you climb one close at a time
Edinburgh only makes sense on foot. The Old Town runs down a volcanic ridge from the castle, the New Town lies in neat Georgian grids across the valley, and the views change every time a narrow close opens between two buildings.
- The Royal Mile is lined with closes, steep alleys where people once lived ten or more floors high. In the 1600s this was one of the most crowded towns in Europe, and Mary King's Close still survives under the City Chambers.
- In 1767 the city ran a competition to plan a new town, and a young architect, James Craig, won it. The marshy Nor Loch below the castle was drained, and Princes Street Gardens now fill the hollow where it lay.
- Some habits are fixed in time. A gun fires from the castle at one o'clock every day except Sunday, a tradition from 1861. Every August, since 1947, the Festival Fringe fills the streets with performers.
What to eat
Haggis, neeps and tatties — A thrifty dish of sheep's offal, oats and spices, made famous by Robert Burns and still served every January on Burns Night.
Cullen skink — A thick soup of smoked haddock, potato and onion from the fishing coast of the northeast, a warm answer to the cold sea wind.
Cranachan — Whipped cream, raspberries, toasted oats, honey and whisky, a harvest dessert built from what Scottish farms produced in summer.
Shortbread — Butter, sugar and flour baked into a rich biscuit, once a treat for Christmas and Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year.