Aug 27

Edinburgh, A Love Story

The Castle shot from the Grassmarket/

Edinburgh is a city that dreams can be built on, well I think so.  I have lived in Edinburgh for 9 years now and every day I find something that makes me love the city more.  I arrived as a fresh faced 18 year old student ready to enter University life but what actually took place is a love affair with what I consider to be the most amazing city in the world.  Now don’t get me wrong Paris j’adore, Cape Town Ek het jou liefe and New York New York too but there’s something about the Scottish capital that has me in a permanent set of rose tinted glasses!

As someone who has a history teacher/buff as a father I have been brought up to be fascinated by Castles, architecture and what went before and this has a major part to play in my love for Edinburgh.  Walking to work each day I pass the Castle and think how lucky I am to live somewhere with such remarkable piece of history right in the middle of every day life here. The Castle stands majestic and foreboding on Castle Rock, you can see it from pretty much everywhere in the city, looking down over everyone, silently watching how life progresses for Edinburgh’s inhabitants.  For me my life here can be traced around the Castle, whether it be one of the many fireworks displays that launch from inside its belly (I am a massive fan of fireworks!) to all my favourite memories of my time here.

As Alexander McCall Smith says “This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.”  He’s right.  In rain Edinburgh is grey, misty and mysterious.  In sun Edinburgh is sparkling, shiny and colourful.  Known as the windy city you sometimes feel like the wind is propelling you places you didn’t know existed like an invisible tour guide, it takes you to nooks and crannies to fix you hair quickly, under bridges to escape the rain, down cobbled lanes to avoid the hustle and bustle and up the many monroes (scottish word for hills) to catch one of those indescribable vistas.

It’s easy to see why so many authors, poets and artists have made this city their muse, it’s difficult to not see the beauty that is around every corner.  In the bowls of the city the windy streets take you back in time to Burke and Hare, witches and superstition.  This lives on through the many “ghost tours” that take you into these bowls under the Royal Mile to explore what once housed the majority of the city’s inhabitants.  Meanwhile up above life goes on and tourists and citizens enjoy the more recent additions to Edinburgh and the pubs, bars and restaurants.  I have yet to even break the surface of all the pubs in Edinburgh despite trying for 9 years!

Within the city there are many parks and green spaces such as Arthurs Seat, The Meadows, Calton Hill, Blackford Hill and Inverleith Park.  Residents gather here for fireworks at least twice a year, enjoy festivals, feed the swans and catch rays when the sun comes out.  For me these are a huge part of life here, despite the renowned bad weather and Scottish chill you find yourself at the top of Blackford Hill in the rain just appreciative of the fact there’s such beautiful landscape five minutes from your flat.  I don’t know anywhere else in the world where you feel like you are transported to another world so quickly and in the middle of a capital city.   Yes New York has Central Park but its manicured and precocious compared to the wilds of Arthurs Seat.  There’s no view, no summit, no feeling of accomplishment as you climb to the top for hundredth time.

August in Edinburgh has to be my favourite month.  The Festivals come to the city for a month of madness, entertainment.  The International Festival, The Book Festival, The Fringe Festival, The Jazz Festival the list goes on and I guarantee there’s something for everyone.  The population more than doubles for the month and many residents enjoy complaining about the mass of tourists and noise that envelopes the city but deep down they’re secretly proud of the worlds biggest arts festival, I think.  I certainly am.  Walk around the city and witness street performers, mucisians, dancers and sometimes people where you can’t really be sure what their “talent” is.  Catch one of the thousands of free events (yes free!) that run for the month, it’s like having the worlds best entertainers performing in your living room with something that is sure to entertain even the most fussy members of the family.  Then there’s the extended licensing hours where pubs are open until 5am and people descend from worldwide to experience this unique and marvelous display of Scottish hospitality.  (Warning don’t make any plans for September, you’ll need the rest!)

Nowhere on earth can provide such a constantly changing and moving pace of life that at the same time seems calm, serene and perfect.  I often think Edinburgh is the quirky and kooky sister of London, it’s not focused on being a perfect, arty and high brow haven of worldwide envy (clearly if the trams are anything to go by!) but just gets on with it and in doing so becomes somewhere that draws people from all over the world to live because it feels like home.

Edinburgh is a city that draws you in quickly and loathes to spit you out again.  Once you’ve fallen in love this will be a relationship that lasts for the rest of your life, one that cannot be replaced, one that does not let you down and one that you will never regret.  The only regret you’ll have is that you cannot spend more time enjoying it when things like work and life get in the way.