Our Moscow tour guide Dasha traveled to the UK on New Year holidays, and here are her impressions blended with 20 Fun Facts about Edinburgh.
I fell in love with Edinburgh – the place where castles and gardens compete with whisky and beer – and actually it impressed me even more than London.
Nothing can be compared to this atmosphere of medieval times, amazing grey buildings, peaceful local life and true Scottish spirit.
This is where peace and history go to relax, and you should too. Or write a sequel to Harry Potter. Joanne Rowling won’t mind as long as you’re happy.
Set the tone for this historical adventure by plunging into the history of Edinburgh and exploring its gems. Let the story begin with… 20 fun facts about Edinburgh.
Here are 10 things to do in London, if London is in your bucket list.
- Edinburghers have called this area home since 7th century AD. See if you like what they’ve done to the city that is sometimes called the Athens of the North” and decide for yourself if you agree with Robert Louis Stevenson that “Edinburgh is what Paris ought to be”.
- The massive and gorgeous Edinburgh castle is built on an extinct volcano. The last time the volcano erupted was 350 million years ago.
- The volcano`s crater got the name “Arthur`s Throne”.
- From the ancient times the Edinburgh castle has an unofficial name – The Key from the Country.
- The first people on Castle Rock appeared there about 1000 years BC.
- Edinburgh was the first city in the world to have its own fire service in 1703. But it was a volunteer fire brigade, that`s why it took a lot of time to gather people and come to the burning place before it`s too late.
- Edinburgh is the greenest city in the UK, since there are 112 parks in the city.
- The first king of Great Britain James I (a Scottish king James VI) was born in the Edinburgh castle.
- The city has a nickname – Auld Reekie (Old Smoky) which was given to the city in connection with an era when a lot of coal and wood were burnt for heating and the air was full of smoke.
- The Stone of Destiny which is kept in the Edinburgh castle is still used for the crowning of English Monarchs.
- J.K.Rowling used to go to the Nicolson`s café during a hard period of her life and she started to write the first book about Harry Potter exactly there. Now there is a restaurant on that place called «Spoon».
- One more literature fact – Ebenezer Scrooge from the famous novel by Charles Dickens «A Christmas Carol» was also born in Edinburgh when the author misread the tombstone of a real person with the same name. He read «Meanman» instead of «Mealman», which means «corn trader».
- Actually people started producing whisky not in Scotland, but in Ireland in 5th century. However, there are over 100 whisky distillers in Scotland. Well played!
- The unicorn is a national animal of Scotland, while thistle and heather are floral emblems.
- The number of heritage buildings in Edinburgh is bigger than anywhere. There are about 16 thousands historical buildings of different epochs.
- Edinburgh is also standing on seven hills like Rome and Moscow.
- About 13 million tourists visit Edinburgh every year.
- Edinburgh is an art city. Every year in August the world best concert and theater troupes come here for the Summer Art Festival. Edinburgh is the world’s number one festival destination.
- The Princess Street Gardens is a sneaky way to move from Old Times to New Era, as the gardens break the city into two parts.
- Royal Mile is the most famous street in the city, it was the favorite street for walk for Scottish and English monarchs.
