AveniAdventures
  • aveniadventure
  • Blog
  • Contact

Calton Hill

7/9/2015

1 Comment

 

  During previous walks around Edinburgh, we had noticed a hill in the new town area with some interesting looking structures on it. So we vowed to explore this at a later time. Well...this was that later time. Calton Hill is located on the eastern end of Princes street, rises to over three hundred feet above the city, and offers magnificent views of Edinburgh to the south and the port district of Leith (with the Firth of Forth harbor) to the north. In the late 1500's, this hill was part of the land owned by the Logan family of Restalrig. It was forfeited in 1609 when Robert Logan was accused of treason. Later, the burgh of Edinburgh acquired the land. A number of structures important to the history of the area, sit atop the hill; notably the National Monument, dedicated to the Scottish soldiers killed during the Napoleonic wars. Originally, this structure was to be a replica of the Parthenon, but was never completed because of a lack of sufficient funding; Nelson's Memorial Tower with its famous timeball for ships in the harbor to synchronize their chronometers, also sits at the apex of this hill; and the City Observatory with the Craig House(designed by architect James Craig, to emulate the Greek Temple of the Four Winds). In spite of a bit of rain when we first arrived, this was a glorious visit. We had a great time and met some wonderful people. If you come to Edinburgh, be sure not to miss climbing this hill as the panoramic views are spectacular.

Picture
Nelson's Memorial tower. Each day, a timeball is raised to the top of the structure and dropped at precisely at one o'clock pm so ships can synchronize their chronometers (at the same time a canon is fired from Edinburgh Castle for those that might not be able to see the timeball clearly).
Picture
The partially completed National Monument dedicated to Scottish soldiers killed during the Napoleonic Wars.
Picture
The Craig House on the grounds of the City Observatory was inspired by the Greek Temple of the Four Winds.
Picture
Edinburgh as seen through the Monument to Scottish philosopher Douald Stewart.
Picture
Holyrood Palace at the base of Calton Hill.
Picture
The port district of Leith looking towards the Firth of Forth harbor.
Picture
While exploring Calton Hill, we had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Sanne and Nathalie from the Netherlands.
1 Comment
Sanne & Nathalie
7/12/2015 06:51:50 am

Dear Karl and Lorraine,

How wonderfull to finally being able to see and read your blog for a bit and to see the photo of us four together on top of Calton Hill. Once again, it was great meeting and hearing your story. Take care and keep up the travelling!

Cheers, Sanne & Nathalie.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Carl and Lorraine  Aveni are two retirees planning on traveling through Europe for at least one year.

    Archives

    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.