The Charm of Edinburgh

Image: Edinburgh Castle, Scotland, Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 mm at 48 mm, f/14, 1/200 sec, ISO 400, hand-held

I had heard of the beauty and charm of Edinburgh, but it was beyond what I had imagined! From the moment we stepped off the plane Sunday night, we were treated with kindness and graciousness.  After getting settled into our hotel, Anita and I went next door to The Torfin pub and relaxed while waiting for some chips (fries). Anita started chatting with a couple guys and soon we joined them.  One was a Scottish man, Gary, who worked on oil rigs whom I couldn’t understand to save my life, and the other was an English man, James, whom I could understand quite well, except for some of the humor and slang.  😉 We hit it off since he is a firefighter here in Edinburgh and I could relate, having a brother who is a firefighter in Arizona.  He told me about Arthur’s Seat, a dormant volcano in Edinburgh, so of course, we headed there early the next morning to climb it.

Image: Arthur’s Seat (dormant volcano), Scotland, Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 mm at 56 mm, f/16, 1/160 sec, ISO 400, hand-held

The views from up top (the left peak in the above photo) were amazing and I could get a 360 degree view of the city.  There were many trails on the volcano that allowed for hiking or running, as shown below.

Image: View of Edinburgh and half of the volcano from the peak of Arthur’s Seat (dormant volcano), Scotland, Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 mm at 29 mm, f/14, 1/200 sec, ISO 400, hand-held

We were lucky to have a sunny day that added color to what appears to be a grey town with all the various shades of grey stone buildings.

Image: Edinburgh, Scotland, Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 mm at 55 mm, f/16, 1/160 sec, ISO 400, hand-held

Later in the afternoon, I wandered about the historic and royal districts of Edinburgh on my own among thousands of tourists.  The Royal Mile was beautiful with cobblestone streets and buildings centuries old.  To avoid having photos filled with random people, I took some images of these buildings from Princes Street Gardens.

Image: Building along the Royal Mile near Edinburgh Castle, Scotland, Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 mm at 66 mm, f/16, 1/200 sec, ISO 400, hand-held

I also climbed Calton Hill that afternoon for more views of the town and to capture the various churches and clock towers.

Image: Edinburgh churches and clock towers from Calton Hill, Scotland, Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 mm at 70 mm, f/16, 1/160 sec, ISO 400, hand-held

Because of the number of people admiring this amazing town, I had to get a little creative to capture the beauty of some of the buildings up close, such as this church.

Image: Edinburgh church, Scotland, Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 mm at 26 mm, f/14, 1/160 sec, ISO 400, hand-held

Today we woke to the typical grey cloudy skies with a light fog and I decided to head out early for a run into town.  As I suspected, most tourists and residents were still sleeping and I was able to capture more of the quiet charm of the town with my iPhone.

Image: Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland, iPhone 7 Plus, hand-held

As the fog burned off, the sun peaked out for a bit while we walked over the Forth Bridge, admiring the village of Queensferry.  It was a great way to end these two days in Edinburgh.

Image: Forth bridge, Edinburgh , Scotland, Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-70 mm at 24 mm, f/16, 1/400 sec, ISO 400, hand-held

The next two weeks will be a whirlwind as we begin Artie’s IPT (Instructional Photo Tour) with 11 participants.  We are heading out early to drive south along the east coast of Scotland and England to return to photographing birds.  I’ll update when I can with our journey.

For a quick update on Artie, I have him walking a lot now and he just beat his previous walking record of 6 miles in a day (spread out) by making it over 7 miles today!  His longest walk so far in one bout is 4 miles without knee issues.  He is also going up and down stairs like a champ and we are progressing daily.  🙂