Greyfriars’ Bobby and Bum the Dog!

Greyfriars’ Bobby and Bum the Dog!

Edinburgh became the sister city of San Diego, USA in 1977. Sister cities were the result of an initiative by President Dwight D. Eisenhower who believed that twinning cities and connecting people at the community level would forge strong international relations and build trust which would result in a more peaceful world. These two cities shared […]

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The Naming of Edinburgh’s New Town…

The Naming of Edinburgh’s New Town…

The New Town in Edinburgh is a beautiful area right smack bang in the centre of the city, contrasting greatly with it’s counterpart the Old Town. One straight and neat, in fact considered to be a masterpiece of city planning, the other jumbled and confused but layered in history. Let’s take a look at a very […]

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The Luckenbooth Brooch!

The Luckenbooth Brooch!

The Royal Mile, one of the most famous streets in Edinburgh, runs from the castle all the way down to Holyrood Palace. When Edinburgh castle was first established this was the only accessible route, a natural ramp formed thousands of years ago gave access to a castle otherwise impregnable from the east. With the establishment […]

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The Gallow Lee; The Monsters in the Mortar!

The Gallow Lee; The Monsters in the Mortar!

A few years ago I read James Robertson’s excellent book; ‘The Fanatic’. The book tells the story of an Edinburgh tour guide and how he becomes obsessed with the gruesome character he portrays. In one passage of the book the character mentions a place called the ‘Gallow Lee’ an area just beside Leith Walk in […]

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The Scott Monument

The Scott Monument

The Scott Monument, sometimes referred to as the ‘gothic rocket’, is a Victorian Gothic monument to the author Sir Walter Scott. It stands towards the east end of Princes Street in Edinburgh, and happens to be the largest monument to a writer in the world, and was completed on August 1st 1846. Scott was a […]

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Edinburgh Zoo!

Edinburgh Zoo!

On Wednesday 22nd July Edinburgh Zoo celebrated the 102nd anniversary of the day it first opened to the public. Going from strength to strength through the years the zoo has become Scotland’s second largest paid for tourist attraction, only being beaten by Edinburgh castle, and attracting over 600,000 visitors every year. This week we will […]

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Scotland’s World Heritage Sites!

Scotland’s World Heritage Sites!

With the Forth Bridge having recently joined five other areas of Scotland as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, we thought this week we would take a look at what makes these sites so special and worth preserving for future generations. If you were not aware UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and […]

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World Heritage Status Given to Forth Bridge

World Heritage Status Given to Forth Bridge

After more than a year of consideration by the UN cultural committee, the Forth Bridge has finally been awarded the coveted Unesco World Heritage status. The Forth Bridge shares this status with only five other sites around the country, New Lanark, St Kilda, the Old and New Towns in Edinburgh, Neolithic Orkney and the Antonine […]

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Islands of the Forth!

Islands of the Forth!

Having grown up just a few miles east of Edinburgh and lived within the city my entire adult life, I’ve always had great views of the Islands of the Forth travelling around. This week whilst gazing out at the great view of Inchkeith Island from the sands of Portobello I wondered what the island had […]

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Symbols of Edinburgh

Symbols of Edinburgh

Our wee series of articles on Edinburgh continue today with a look at some of the symbols that have become synonymous with the city, their origins and what they represent and we’ll start off with what must be the most famous of them all, the Luckenbooth…. The story of the Luckenbooth begins on the Royal […]

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