Calton Hill


Our adventures in Scotland were punctuated by times of bad weather. Thick clouds and heavy rain did not deter us from visiting one of the historic icons in Edinburgh, Scotland, and we set foot on the Calton Hill.

During the time when I started planning our trip to Scotland, I was amazed by the picture taken on top of Calton Hill, with the Dugald Stewart Monument in the foreground and the old buildings of Edinburgh in the background. When I finally had the chance to visit this beautiful city, it is a sight that I must see with my own eyes and capture with my camera.

From the above picture, in the distance far across the strip of sea is the Kingdom of Fife. Why it is called a Kingdom, we only have to refer to the rich and stormy events that happened through the Scottish history. Fife was once one of the major Pictish Kingdoms, and the Picts were believed to be the ancestors of the Scotspeople today. The stretch of water in front of this land is the Firth of Forth, which separates it from the port of Leith. I remember the joke our tour guide told us, that once a tourist asked the guide – what is that land across the sea, is it America? to which the tour guide coldly replied, no you cannot see America from the coast of Scotland, and you cannot even see France.

It was amazing to see the setting sun from the top of the hill.

These pictures were taken with the great Voigtlander 15mm Super-Wide-Heliar lens, which is small and sharp. But when coupled to my Sony NEX-3, unfortunately it had color problems in the corners of the picture. Still, I love what this little lens produces.

The City Observatory was shown in the above picture, taken at 7pm. Many of the visitors were leaving the Calton Hill to search for places to dine. Some stayed longer to watch the sunset.

The above picture showed another angle of the city. Interestingly, you can identify most of the icons in Edinburgh from here. From a distance, sitting on top of an extinct volcano is where the Edinburgh Castle is located. You can also see the gothic spires of the St. Giles Cathedral. The North bridge lies on the bottom left of the picture.

Another wide angle view of the city, which shows the Old Town on the left and the New Town on the right.

 

I hope you enjoyed these pictures! Due to the heavy workload these days, I could not upload as frequently as before. See you soon!

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Category : Photography, Scotland, Travel
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