Calton Hill



On Easter Sunday we climbed to the top of Calton Hill to get some great views of Scotland's capital city as the sun was starting to set in the west.  It was a beautiful spring evening and there were plenty of people enjoying the warm sunshine and the views.

Calton Hill is a hill in central Edinburgh, just to the east of the New Town and is included in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site. It offers some of the best views of the city. 

The hill also houses several iconic monuments and buildings including the National Monument, the Dugald Stewart Monument, Nelson's Monument, the Old Royal High School, the Robert Burns Monument, the Political Martyrs' monument and the City Observatory.


Looking from the top of the Hill there is a great view straight down Princes' Street, the main shopping area of Edinburgh.  As it was a Sunday the traffic was pretty light but usually this area is choked with traffic and people.


The Dugald Stewart Monument, built as a memorial to the Scottish philosopher, greets visitors as they climb up the hill from Regent Road.   As the sun was setting the mountains to the west beyond the Firth of Forth were highlighted by the strong contrast, with the moored container ships in the foreground.



The National Monument of Scotland (above) is Scotland's national memorial to the Scottish soldiers and sailors who died fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. It was intended, according to the inscription, to be "A Memorial of the Past and Incentive to the Future Heroism of the Men of Scotland".  The monument sits on the highest point of Calton Hill and is a magnet for visitors to sit on the steps and take in the glorious views of Edinburgh.


The Nelson Monument is a commemorative tower in honour of Horatio Nelson and was built to commemorate Nelson's victory  at Trafalgar in 1805. In 1853 a time ball was added to coincide with the one o'clock gun at Edinburgh Castle, as a time signal to shipping in Leith Harbour harbour.   The Royal Navy's White Ensign and signal flags spelling out Nelson's famous message "England expects that every man will do his duty" are flown from the Monument on 21 October, the date of the famous battle, each year.



All images taken on a Fujifilm X-T1 and an 18mm f2, 35mm f1.4 or 55-200mm f3.5/4.8 lens


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