Twenty Minutes

Observant readers may recognize the photo below from one of my earlier blog posts. If you do, please, step away from the computer and go outside. 

I snapped this shot during my first real walk around the city even though I didn't know what it was at the time and it looked so far away standing on North Bridge that I wasn't sure I'd ever get to it. Anyway, I found out it's called Calton Hill when I quite literally stumbled onto it on one of my "just walk and see where you end up" tours of Edinburgh (there are a lot of raised and unassuming cobblestones on sidewalks here). 

I first found the Old Calton Cemetery, the resting place of philosopher David Hume and some other notable Scottish people I had never heard of. I didn't realize it was a graveyard at first because I had to walk up a large flight of stairs to get to the grounds and I was just trying to find the giant obelisk I had been following (which turned out to be the Political Martyrs Monument). It was pretty nice as far as graveyards go and very peaceful with a clear blue sky above (*ominous pause signaling something looming on the horizon*), but there are were also plenty of discarded beer bottles and the like, because nothing says a fun Friday night like drinking with the deceased. Kids these days.

Political Martyrs Monument.

Hume tomb.

Scots and especially those from Edinburgh (his hometown) seem to be very proud of David Hume. There's actually quite a hilarious statue of him clad in a toga on the Royal Mile. It's funny because he was born in the 1700s' and I think the toga craze was over. I still need to get a picture of that.

More tombs.

Artsy fartsy.

Then I set off for the top to take in what I hoped would be spectacular views, and I wasn't disappointed in the least. Not only could you see almost every notable monument/building in the city, but you could take them all in by turning your head 20 degrees in either direction. There are also plenty of monuments and buildings on the hill itself, all pictured below. As of now it's my favourite place to go in Edinburgh, just not after dark when it becomes the place to go for outdoor sex and male prostitution. Pobody's nerfect.

New Town from Calton Hill.

Leith and the Firth of Forth.

New Town again with mountains beyond the Forth.

Forth Bridge connecting Edinburgh with Fife. It was the longest cantilever bridge in the world until the Quebec Bridge was completed in 1917. Canada!

Clouds.

National Monument to commemorate those lost in the Napoleonic Wars. Back in the day Edinburgh was known as the "Athens of the North", so I guess they really wanted to secure that title by basing the design on the Parthenon. If it looks incomplete it's because it is—they ran out of funds before it could be finished. I still think it looks pretty good.

Nelson Monument.

Royal Observatory.

Arthur's Seat, which I will climb before I leave.

View of the Old Town and Castle. Dugald Stewart Monument in the foreground.

Calton Cemetery from Calton Hill. North Bridge in the background.

The Crags, which I will also climb before I leave.

Panorama from Calton Hill (Arthur's Seat to New Town). The wind was worse than it sounds.

Now, as for the "looming on the horizon" I alluded to earlier, coming to Scotland I had been warned that the weather is sometimes less than, shall we say, "cooperative", and you'll probably end up running into these adages should you ever travel here:

"There is no such thing as bad weather, only inadequate clothing."

"If you don't like the weather in Scotland, wait twenty minutes."

Basically, the weather comes hard and fast. Up until now I had only had to deal with some light drizzle, but I finally understood what all the fuss was about when I hit the top of Calton Hill and felt like I was about the get blown off even though it was absolutely beautiful not 5 minutes before. I'm not going to lie, it felt pretty epic to be standing on top of the hill overlooking the city with the wind howling and rain pelting my face (that the Besnard Lakes happened to be my soundtrack when I was up there made the event feel all the more colossal). It was damn near triumphant.

If you look back at the photos note how the sky goes from light to really dark then back to light at the end. They were all taken over a period of 20 minutes.