Edinburgh, Scotland

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland. It is a city full of history, rich culture and beautiful landscapes! 

It's our 3rd destination of our Europe backpacking trip and we were greeted by rainbow (and rain) on our first day in Edinburgh. 

Besides exploring the city, walking along the Royal Mile and joining the Walking Ghost Tour at night we also went to Calton Hill and hiked up Arthur's Seat.

Calton Hill

Here is the history of Calton Hill. 

Walking up towards the monuments in the area. 

Nelson Monument. You can actually go up to the top at £5 to enjoy city view. 

The National Monument was dedicated to whose who died fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. It was modelled after the Temple of Minerva but it was incomplete due to insufficient funds.

Dugald Stewart Monument is a memorial to Dugald Stewart of course! He was a Scottish philosopher. The monument is also modelled after another monument (Choragic Monument of Lysicrates) in Athens. 

A lonely tree out of no where. 

View of Arthur's Seat from Calton Hill.

Arthur's Seat

Arthur's seat is the highest point of an extinct volcano that erupted millions of years ago. There was quite a few paths to hike up Arthur's seat. We saw a number of people climbing up from other side of the volcano when we were at the peak. 

Entrance to the hike to Arthur's Seat. There were a lot of people doing the hike due to the good weather. However, do wear good footwear as it could be quite slippery and I saw quite a few people slipped. 

We got side tracked by the beautiful terrain at the other side.

It's stone steps all the way with people ascending from top so you know you are on the right track. 

You thought you had reached the top but no! Arthur's Seat is further up there! 

And finally! 

It is very windy up here and you can get a good city view from here. Took a time lapse video as well!

Edinburgh Castle

Took this photo of Edinburgh Castle during the free walking ghost tour. It was raining heavily in the afternoon hence was not able to take a day view of the castle. 

The free walking ghost tour is really an interesting way to know about the history of Edinburgh. It is not those scary tour that will make your heart drop. So I highly recommended you to sign up for one!