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 Edinburgh.

Geography:
Situated in Scotland's Central Belt, Edinburgh lies on the Firth of Forth's southern shore. The
city centre is 2 1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) southwest of the shoreline of Leith and 26 miles (42 km)
inland, as the crow flies, from the east coast of Scotland and the North Sea at Dunbar. While
the early burgh grew up near the prominent Castle Rock, the modern city is often said to be
built on seven hills, namely Calton Hill, Corstorphine Hill, Craiglockhart Hill, Braid Hill, Blackford
Hill, Arthur's Seat and the Castle Rock, giving rise to allusions to the seven hills of Rome.

Occupying a narrow gap between the Firth of Forth to the north and the Pentland Hills and
their outrunners to the south, the city sprawls over a landscape which is the product of early
volcanic activity and later periods of intensive glaciation. Igneous activity between 350 and
400 million years ago, coupled with faulting, led to the creation of tough basalt volcanic plugs,
which predominate over much of the area.One such example is the Castle Rock which forced
the advancing icesheet to divide, sheltering the softer rock and forming a 1-mile-long (1.6 km)
tail of material to the east, thus creating a distinctive crag and tail formation.Glacial erosion on
the north side of the crag gouged a deep valley later filled by the now drained Nor Loch. These
features, along with another hollow on the rock's south side, formed an ideal natural
strongpoint upon which Edinburgh Castle was built.Similarly, Arthur's Seat is the remains of a
volcano dating from the Carboniferous period, which was eroded by a glacier moving west to
east during the ice age. Erosive action such as plucking and abrasion exposed the rocky crags
to the west before leaving a tail of deposited glacial material swept to the east. This process
formed the distinctive Salisbury Crags, a series of teschenite cliffs between Arthur's Seat and
the location of the early burgh.The residential areas of Marchmont and Bruntsfield are built
along a series of drumlin ridges south of the city centre, which were deposited as the glacier
receded.

Other prominent landforms such as Calton Hill and Corstorphine Hill are also products of
glacial erosion.The Braid Hills and Blackford Hill are a series of small summits to the city's south
west that command expansive views looking northwards over the urban area to the Forth.

Edinburgh is drained by the river named the Water of Leith, which rises at the Colzium Springs
in the Pentland Hills and runs for 29 kilometres (18 mi) through the south and west of the city,
emptying into the Firth of Forth at Leith. The nearest the river gets to the city centre is at Dean
Village on the north-western edge of the New Town, where a deep gorge is spanned by
Thomas Telford's Dean Bridge, built in 1832 for the road to Queensferry. The Water of Leith
Walkway is a mixed use trail that follows the course of the river for 19.6 kilometres (12.2 mi)
from Balerno to Leith.

Excepting the shoreline of the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh is encircled by a green belt, designated
in 1957, which stretches from Dalmeny in the west to Prestongrange in the east.[68] With an
average width of 3.2 kilometres (2 mi) the principal objectives of the green belt were to
contain the outward expansion of the city and to prevent the agglomeration of urban areas.
 Expansion affecting the green belt is strictly controlled but developments such as Edinburgh
Airport and the Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston lie within the zone. Similarly, suburbs
such as Juniper Green and Balerno are situated on green belt land. One feature of the
Edinburgh green belt is the inclusion of parcels of land within the city which are designated
green belt, even though they do not connect with the peripheral ring. Examples of these
independent wedges of green belt include Holyrood Park and Corstorphine Hill.
History:
 Early history:

The earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where
evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c. 8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze
Age and Iron Age settlements have been found on Castle Rock, Arthur's Seat, Craiglockhart
Hill and the Pentland Hills.

When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, they found a Celtic
Brittonic tribe whose name they recorded as the Votadini. At some point before the 7th
century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the
hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it seems likely
they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthur's Seat, or
Calton Hill.

In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of
Northumbria, and around this time control of Lothian passed to the Angles. Their influence
continued for the next three centuries until around 950, when, during the reign of Indulf,
son of Constantine II, the "burh" (fortress), named in the 10th century Pictish Chronicle as
oppidum Eden, was abandoned to the Scots. It thenceforth remained under their
jurisdiction.

The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to
the Crown, though the precise date is unknown. By the middle of the 14th century, the
French chronicler Jean Froissart was describing it as the capital of Scotland (c. 1365), and
James III (1451–88) referred to it in the 15th century as "the principal burgh of our
kingdom". Despite the destruction caused by an English assault in 1544, the town slowly
recovered, and was at the centre of events in the 16th century Scottish Reformation and
17th century Wars of the Covenant.
 17th century:
In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to the English throne, uniting the crowns
of Scotland and England in a personal union known as the Union of the Crowns,
though Scotland remained, in all other respects, a separate kingdom. In 1638, King
Charles I's attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff
Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three
Kingdoms. Subsequent Scottish support for Charles Stuart's restoration to the throne
of England resulted in Edinburgh's occupation by Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth of
England forces – the New Model Army – in 1650.
In the 17th century, Edinburgh's boundaries were still defined by the city's defensive
town walls. As a result, the city's growing population was accommodated by increasing
the height of the houses. Buildings of 11 storeys or more were common, and have
been described as forerunners of the modern-day skyscraper. Most of these old
structures were replaced by the predominantly Victorian buildings seen in today's Old
Town.
 18th century:
Following the Treaty of Union in 1706, the Parliaments of England and Scotland passed
Acts of Union in 1706 and 1707 respectively, uniting the two kingdoms in the Kingdom
of Great Britain effective from 1 May 1707. As a consequence, the Parliament of
Scotland merged with the Parliament of England to form the Parliament of Great
Britain, which sat at Westminster in London. The Union was opposed by many Scots,
resulting in riots in the city.

By the first half of the 18th century, despite rising prosperity evidenced by its growing
importance as a banking centre, Edinburgh was described as one of Europe's most
densely populated, overcrowded and unsanitary towns. Visitors were struck by the
fact that the various social classes shared the same urban space, even inhabiting the
same tenement buildings; although here a form of social segregation did prevail,
whereby shopkeepers and tradesmen tended to occupy the cheaper-to-rent cellars
and garrets, while the more well-to-do professional classes occupied the more
expensive middle storeys.

A painting showing Edinburgh characters (based on John Kay's caricatures) behind St

Giles' Cathedral in the late 18th century
During the Jacobite rising of 1745, Edinburgh was briefly occupied by the Jacobite
"Highland Army" before its march into England. After its eventual defeat at Culloden,
there followed a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the rebellious
clans. In Edinburgh, the Town Council, keen to emulate London by initiating city
improvements and expansion to the north of the castle, reaffirmed its belief in the
Union and loyalty to the Hanoverian monarch George III by its choice of names for the
streets of the New Town: for example, Rose Street and Thistle Street; and for the royal
family, George Street, Queen Street, Hanover Street, Frederick Street and Princes
Street (in honour of George's two sons).

In the second half of the century, the city was at the heart of the Scottish
Enlightenment, when thinkers like David Hume, Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph
Black were familiar figures in its streets. Edinburgh became a major intellectual centre,
earning it the nickname "Athens of the North" because of its many neo-classical
buildings and reputation for learning, recalling ancient Athens.In the 18th century
novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett one character describes
Edinburgh as a "hotbed of genius". Edinburgh was also a major centre for the Scottish
book trade. The highly successful London bookseller Andrew Millar was apprenticed
there to James McEuen.

From the 1770s onwards, the professional and business classes gradually deserted the
Old Town in favour of the more elegant "one-family" residences of the New Town, a
migration that changed the city's social character. According to the foremost historian
of this development, "Unity of social feeling was one of the most valuable heritages of
old Edinburgh, and its disappearance was widely and properly lamented."
 19th and 20th centuries:
Although Edinburgh's traditional industries of printing, brewing and distilling
continued to grow in the 19th century, and were joined by new rubber works and
engineering works, there was little industrialisation compared with other cities in
Britain. By 1821, Edinburgh had been overtaken by Glasgow as Scotland's largest city.[
The city centre between Princes Street and George Street became a major commercial
and shopping district, a development partly stimulated by the arrival of railways in the
1840s. The Old Town became an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high
mortality rates. Improvements carried out under Lord Provost William Chambers in the
1860s began the transformation of the area into the predominantly Victorian Old
Town seen today. More improvements followed in the early 20th century as a result of
the work of Patrick Geddes, but relative economic stagnation during the two world
wars and beyond saw the Old Town deteriorate further before major slum clearance in
the 1960s and 1970s began to reverse the process. University building developments
which transformed the George Square and Potterrow areas proved highly
controversial.

Standard Life Aberdeen headquarters building in the Edinburgh Financial District

Since the 1990s a new "financial district", including a new Edinburgh International
Conference Centre, has grown mainly on demolished railway property to the west of
the castle, stretching into Fountainbridge, a run-down 19th-century industrial suburb
which has undergone radical change since the 1980s with the demise of industrial and
brewery premises. This ongoing development has enabled Edinburgh to maintain its
place as the United Kingdom's second largest financial and administrative centre after
London. Financial services now account for a third of all commercial office space in the
city. The development of Edinburgh Park, a new business and technology park
covering 38 acres (15 ha), 4 mi (6 km) west of the city centre, has also contributed to
the District Council's strategy for the city's major economic regeneration.

In 1998, the Scotland Act, which came into force the following year, established a
devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive (renamed the Scottish
Government since September 2007). Both based in Edinburgh, they are responsible for
governing Scotland while reserved matters such as defence, taxation and foreign
affairs remain the responsibility of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London.
6 Top places in Edimburgh.

Artur´s Seat:
 History.
Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland which form
most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a
mountain in virtue of its bold design" It is situated just to the east of the city centre,
about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a
height of 250.5 m (822 ft), provides excellent panoramic views of the city and beyond,
is relatively easy to climb, and is popular for hillwalking. Though it can be climbed from
almost any direction, the easiest and simplest ascent is from the east, where a grassy
slope rises above Dunsapie Loch. At a spur of the hill, Salisbury Crags has historically
been a rock climbing venue with routes of various degrees of difficulty; however due
to hazards rock climbing is now restricted to the South Quarry and a free permit is
required.

It is sometimes said that its name is derived from legends pertaining to King Arthur,
such as the reference in Y Gododdin. Some support for this may be provided by several
other hilltop and mountaintop features in Britain which bear the same or similar
names, such as the peak of Ben Arthur (The Cobbler) in the western highlands,
sometimes known as Arthur's Seat, and Arthur's Chair on the ridge called Stone Arthur
in the Cumbrian lake district. There is no traditional Scottish Gaelic name for Arthur's
Seat in Edinburgh, but William Maitland proposed that the name was a corruption of
Àrd-na-Said, implying the "Height of Arrows", which over the years became Arthur's
Seat (perhaps via "Archer's Seat"). Alternatively, John Milne's proposed etymology of
Àrd-thir Suidhe meaning "place on high ground" uncomfortably requires the
transposition of the name elements.

A hill fort occupies the summit of Arthur's Seat and the subsidiary hill, Crow Hill
fort defences are visible round the main massif of Arthur's Seat at Dunsapie Hill and
above Samson's Ribs, in the latter cases certainly of prehistoric date. These forts are
likely to have been centres of power of the Votadini, who were the subject of the
poem Y Gododdin which is thought to have been written about 600 AD in their hillfort
on Edinburgh castle crag. Two stony banks on the east side of the hill represent the
remains of an Iron Age hill-fort and a series of cultivation terraces are obvious above
the road just beyond and best viewed from Duddingston.
A track rising along the top of the slope immediately under Salisbury Crags has long
been a popular walk, giving a view over the city. It became known as the Radical Road
after it was paved in the aftermath of the Radical War of 1820, using the labour of
unemployed weavers from the west of Scotland at the suggestion of Walter Scott as a
form of work relief.
In 1836 five boys hunting for rabbits found a set of 17 miniature coffins containing
small wooden figures in a cave on the crags of Arthur's Seat. The purpose has
remained a mystery ever since the discovery. A strong contemporary belief was that
they were made for witchcraft, though more recently it has been suggested that they
might be connected with the murders committed by Burke and Hare in 1828. There
were 16 known victims of the serial-killers plus the first person sold "to the doctors",
namely a man who had died of natural causes. However, the murder victims were
primarily female, while the eight surviving figures are male. Alternatively, the coffins
may have represented the 16 bodies sold to the doctors, plus that of the final victim
who remained unburied at the time of the duo's arrest, but was, as a destitute beggar,
very likely dissected in any case. The surviving coffins are now displayed in Edinburgh's
Royal Museum.

The prominence of Arthur's Seat over Edinburgh has attracted various groups and has
a particular significance to the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, because this is where the nation of Scotland was dedicated in 1840 "for the
preaching of the gospel". The apostle, Orson Pratt, arrived in Scotland in early 1850
and climbed the hill to pray to God for more converts.

In 1884, alpine mountain guide Emile Rey visited Edinburgh where he climbed Arthur's
Seat, local tradition stating that before doing so he estimated it would take much of
the day to reach the top.
 Mythology.
Arthur's Seat is often mentioned as one of the possible locations for Camelot, the
legendary castle and court of the Romano-British warrior-chief, King Arthur.

Tradition has it that it was at the foot of Arthur's Seat, covered by the forest of
Drumselch, that Scotland's 12th-century king David I encountered a stag while out
hunting. Having fallen from his horse and about to be gored, he had a vision of a cross
appearing between the animal's antlers, before it inexplicably turned away, leaving
him unharmed. David, believing his life had been spared through divine intervention,
founded Holyrood Abbey on the spot. The burgh arms of the Canongate display the
head of the stag with the cross framed by its antlers.

The slopes of the hill facing Holyrood are where young girls in Edinburgh traditionally
bathe their faces in the dew on May Day to make themselves more beautiful. The
poem 'Auld Reekie', written by Robert Fergusson in 1773, contains the lines:

On May-day, in a fairy ring,

We've seen them round St Anthon's spring,
Frae grass the cauler dew draps wring
To weet their een,
And water clear as crystal spring
To synd them clean.
Edinburgh castle:
 History.
Edinburgh Castle is a historic fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh,
Scotland, from its position on the Castle Rock. Archaeologists have established human
occupation of the rock since at least the Iron Age (2nd century AD), although the nature of the
early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of
David I in the 12th century, and the site continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the
15th century the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally
used as military barracks with a large garrison. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national
heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards, and various
restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half. As one of the
most important strongholds in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle was involved in
many historical conflicts from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century to the
Jacobite rising of 1745. Research undertaken in 2014 identified 26 sieges in its 1100-year-old
history, giving it a claim to having been "the most besieged place in Great Britain and one of
the most attacked in the world".

Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century, when the medieval
defences were largely destroyed by artillery bombardment. The most notable exceptions are
St Margaret's Chapel from the early 12th century, which is regarded as the oldest building in
Edinburgh, the Royal Palace and the early-16th-century Great Hall, although the interiors have
been much altered from the mid-Victorian period onwards. The castle also houses the Scottish
regalia, known as the Honours of Scotland and is the site of the Scottish National War
Memorial and the National War Museum of Scotland. The British Army is still responsible for
some parts of the castle, although its presence is now largely ceremonial and administrative.
Some of the castle buildings house regimental museums which contribute to its presentation
as a tourist attraction.

The castle, in the care of Historic Scotland, is Scotland's most-visited paid tourist attraction,
with over 1.4 million visitors in 2013, and over 70% of leisure visitors to Edinburgh visiting the
castle. As the backdrop to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo during the annual Edinburgh
International Festival the castle has become a recognisable symbol of Edinburgh and of
Scotland.

The castle has become a recognisable symbol of Edinburgh, and of Scotland.It appears, in
stylised form, on the coats of arms of the City of Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh. It
also features on the badge of No. 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron which was based at RAF
Turnhouse (now Edinburgh Airport) during Second World War. Images of the castle are used as
a logo by organisations including Edinburgh Rugby, the Edinburgh Evening News, Hibernian
F.C. and the Edinburgh Marathon. It also appears on the "Castle series" of Royal Mail postage
stamps, and has been represented on various issues of banknotes issued by Scottish clearing
banks. In the 1960s the castle was illustrated on £5 notes issued by the National Commercial
Bank of Scotland,[ and since 1987 it has featured on the reverse of £1 notes issued by the
Royal Bank of Scotland.Since 2009 the castle, as part of Edinburgh's World Heritage Site, has
appeared on £10 notes issued by the Clydesdale Bank.
 The castle is a focal point for annual fireworks displays which mark Edinburgh's Hogmanay
(new year) celebrations, and the end of the Edinburgh Festival in the summer.
Scottish National Gallery:
The Scottish National Gallery is the national art gallery. It is located on The Mound in central
Edinburgh, in a neoclassical building designed by William Henry Playfair, and first opened to
the public in 1859.

The gallery houses the national collection of fine art, spanning Scottish and international art
from the beginning of the Renaissance up to the start of the 20th century.

 History.
The origins of Scotland's national collection lie with the Royal Institution for the
Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland, founded in 1819. It began to acquire
paintings, and in 1828 the Royal Institution building opened on The Mound. In 1826,
the Scottish Academy was founded by a group of artists as an offshoot of the Royal
Institution, and in 1838 it became the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA). A key aim of the
RSA was the founding of a national collection. It began to build up a collection and
from 1835 rented exhibition space within the Royal Institution building.

In the 1840s, plans were put in place for a new building to house the RSA. William
Henry Playfair was commissioned to prepare designs, and on 30 August 1850, Prince
Albert laid the foundation stone. The building was originally divided along the middle,
with the east half housing the exhibition galleries of the RSA, and the western half
containing the new National Gallery, formed from the collection of the Royal
Institution. In 1912 the RSA moved into the Royal Institution building, which remains
known as the Royal Scottish Academy Building. At this time, internal remodelling was
carried out by William Thomas Oldrieve. When it re-opened, the gallery concentrated
on building its permanent collection of Scottish and European art for the nation of
Scotland

Additional basement galleries were constructed in 1970. In the early 21st century, the
Playfair Project saw the renovation of the Royal Scottish Academy Building and the
construction of an underground connecting space between the Gallery and the
Academy Building. Construction took five years and cost £32 million. The new
underground space was opened as the Weston Link in August 2004. Designed by John
Miller and Partners, the link, now known as the Gardens Entrance, provides a new
access from Princes Street Gardens and contains a lecture theatre, education area,
shop, restaurant and an interactive gallery.
Royal Yatch Britannia:
Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia, also known as the Royal Yacht Britannia, is the former royal
yacht of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, in service from 1954 until 1997. She was the
83rd such vessel since King Charles II acceded to the throne in 1660, and is the second royal
yacht to bear the name, the first being the racing cutter built for the Prince of Wales in 1893.
During her 43-year career, the yacht travelled more than a million nautical miles around the
globe. Now retired from royal service, Britannia is open to visitors and is permanently berthed
at Ocean Terminal, Leith, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Over 300,000 tourists visit the yacht each
year.

 History:
Britannia sailed on her maiden voyage from Portsmouth to Grand Harbour, Malta,
departing on 14 April and arriving on 22 April 1954. She carried Princess Anne and
Prince Charles to Malta in order for them to meet the Queen and Prince Philip in
Tobruk at the end of the royal couple's Commonwealth Tour. The Queen and Prince
Philip embarked on Britannia for the first time in Tobruk on 1 May 1954.

On 20 July 1959, Britannia sailed the newly opened Saint Lawrence Seaway en route to
Chicago, where she docked, making the Queen the first Canadian monarch to visit the
city. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower was aboard Britannia for part of this cruise;
Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were welcomed aboard in later
years. Charles and Diana, the Prince and Princess of Wales, took their honeymoon
cruise on Britannia in 1981. The ship evacuated over 1,000 refugees from the civil war
in Aden in 1986.[6] The vessel sailed to Canada in 1991 and made a port of call in
Toronto and Kingston, Ontario.

HMY Britannia, when on royal duties, was escorted by a Royal Navy warship. The yacht
was a regular sight at Cowes Week in early August and, usually, for the remainder of
the month, was home to the Queen and her family for an annual cruise around the
islands off the west coast of Scotland (known as the "Western Isles Tour").

During her career as Royal Yacht, Britannia conveyed the Queen, other members of
the Royal Family and various dignitaries on 696 foreign visits and 272 visits in British
waters. In this time, Britannia steamed 1,087,623 nautical miles (2,014,278 km).

 Decommissioning.

In 1997, the Conservative government committed itself to replacing the Royal

Yacht if re-elected, while the Labour Party refused to disclose its plans for the
vessel. After Labour won the general election in May 1997, it announced the vessel
was to be retired and no replacement would be built. The previous government
had argued that the cost was justified by its role in foreign policy and promoting
British interests abroad, particularly through conferences held by British Invisibles,
formerly the Committee on Invisible Exports.
 It was estimated by the Overseas Trade Board that events held on board the yacht
helped raise £3 billion for the treasury between 1991 and 1995 alone.[8] The new
government said the expenditure could not be justified given other pressures on
the defence budget, from which a replacement vessel would have been funded
and maintained. Proposals for the construction of a new royal yacht, perhaps
financed through a loan or by the Queen's own funds, have made little headway.

The Royal Yacht's last foreign mission was to convey the last governor of Hong
Kong, Chris Patten, and the Prince of Wales back from Hong Kong after its
handover to the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997. Britannia was
decommissioned on 11 December 1997. The Queen is reported to have shed a tear
at the decommissioning ceremony that was attended by most of the senior
members of the Royal Family.

 Retirement.

Listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, Britannia is a visitor attraction moored in
the historic Port of Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is cared for by the Royal Yacht
Britannia Trust, a registered charity.[10] There was some controversy over the siting of
the ship, with some arguing that she would be better moored on the River Clyde,
where she was built, than in Edinburgh, with which the yacht had few links. Her
positioning in Leith coincided with a redevelopment of the harbour area, and the
advent of Scottish devolution.

Entrance to the yacht is via the Ocean Terminal development, and over 300,000
people visit the Royal Yacht Britannia every year. She is also one of the UK's top
evening events venues. On 18 May 2006, the Swiss-born Hollywood actress and first
Bond girl, Ursula Andress, celebrated her 70th birthday on board the former royal
yacht. On 29 July 2011, a drinks reception was held on board Britannia for Queen
Elizabeth's granddaughter Zara Phillips and her husband Mike Tindall to celebrate their
upcoming wedding.[11]

A retired Rolls-Royce Phantom V state car, owned by the royal family in the 1960s, is
on display in the purpose-built garage aboard Britannia. The tour of the five decks
open to the public includes the Queen's Bedroom, which can be viewed behind a glass
wall, and the State Dining and Drawing Rooms, which hosted grand receptions for
kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers throughout the world. The Royal
Deck Tea Room was added in 2009.

The 1936 racing yacht Bloodhound, once owned by the Queen and Prince Philip, is
now berthed alongside Britannia. Bloodhound was one of the most successful ocean-
racing yachts ever built and was also the yacht on which both the Prince of Wales and
Princess Royal learned to sail.
The Royal Yacht Britannia Trust bought Bloodhound in early 2010 and she is the
centrepiece of an exhibition focusing on the Royal Family's passion for sailing. Visitors
can view Bloodhound from a specially built pontoon when the racing yacht is in port.
During July and August, she is berthed in Oban Marina and is available for private
charter, as she sails around the islands, once visited by the royal family during their
annual two-week holiday in the Western Isles of Scotland. During this period, Royal
Yachtsmen (Yotties) from Britannia's original crew sail the yacht for the Britannia Trust.
Gladstone's Land:
 History.
Gladstone's Land is a surviving 17th-century high-tenement house situated in the
Old Town of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has been restored and furnished by
the National Trust for Scotland, and is operated as a popular tourist attraction.

The "Land" (sited at 481 and 483 Lawnmarket) was originally built in 1550,but was
bought and redeveloped in 1617 by a prosperous Edinburgh merchant and
burgess, Thomas Gledstanes. The work was completed in 1620. Its prominent
siting (on the Royal Mile between Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyrood)
and the extent of its accommodation mark out the affluence of its mercantile
owner. However, not only did Gledstanes reside there, he let out parts of the
building to an assortment of tenants of different social classes (another merchant,
a minister, a knight, and a guild officer). Thus the restored building allows an
insight into varieties of Edinburgh life of the period. The cramped conditions of the
Old Town, and the physical size of the lot, meant that the house could only be
extended in depth or in height. As a result, the house is six storeys tall.

In 1934, the building was condemned and scheduled for demolition, until it was
rescued by the National Trust for Scotland. Under the auspices of the Trust,
restoration of the building was carried out by the architect, Sir Frank Mears, in
consultation with the Ancient Monuments Department of the Ministry of Works in
Edinburgh. Original renaissance painted ceilings were uncovered in the process.
Today the restored premises offer a glimpse of 17th-century life, with open fires,
lack of running water, and period decoration and furniture. At ground level, there
is a French-style arcade frontage and reconstructed shop booth, complete with
replicas of 17th-century wares. This would originally have provided shelter for the
merchant's customers. On the left of the building, a curved stone forestair with
iron railings leads from the street to a door at 1st floor level.
The sign above the entrance to the building displays the date 1617 and a gilt-
copper hawk with outstretched wings. Although not an original feature, the
significance of this is that the name "Gledstanes" is derived from the Scots word
"gled" meaning a hawk.

By the late-18th century, Edinburgh's Old Town was no longer a fashionable

address. Increasing pressures from population growth encouraged the flight of the
affluent from cramped conditions to the developing New Town. Today, visitors to
the city can contrast Gladstone's Land to the Trust's restored example of a New
Town residence, The Georgian House, at No.7 Charlotte Square.
- Gladstone´s Gallery.
The second floor of Gladstone's Land now hosts the National Trust's Gladstone
Gallery, which is accessed by an internal turnpike stair lit by small single
windows. The space is rented out to artists through the year, and serves as a
venue for events during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Mary King's Close:
 History.
Mary King's Close is a historic close located under buildings on the Royal Mile, in
the historic Old Town area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It took its name from one Mary
King, a merchant burgess who resided on the Close in the 17th century. The close
was partially demolished and buried due to the building of the Royal Exchange in
the 18th century, and later closed to the public for many years. The area became
shrouded in myths and urban legends; tales of hauntings and murders abounded.

However, new research and archaeological evidence has revealed that Mary King's
Close actually consists of a number of closes which were originally narrow streets
with tenement houses on either side, stretching up to eight stories high. Mary
King's Close is now operated as a visitor attraction where guests can take guided
tours and learn about Edinburgh's hidden history.

Mary King's Close has had a reputation for hauntings since at least the 17th
century, with several paranormal investigations taking place. It has been pointed
out that this particular Close ran the nearest of any to the old Nor Loch, a stagnant
and highly polluted marsh; biogas escaping into the close and creating eerie lights
may have been the cause for these rumours of spirit hauntings. It is also said that
the gas escaping into the closes was known to cause hallucinations.

 Today.
For years, Mary King's Close was shrouded in myths and legends however research
and archaeological evidence have revealed a truer story rooted in fact.

In 2003 Mary King's Close was fully opened to the public as historic visitor
attraction known as 'The Real Mary King's Close'. Whilst at the attraction, guests
embark on a journey through time as they uncover streets and houses hidden
beneath one of the city’s most famous thoroughfares. The Real Mary King’s Close
is operated by Continuum Attractions.
AND THAT´S ALL.