A warm August day in East Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Princes Street Gardens at the heart of Edinburgh’s City Centre were once a lake called Nor’ Loch. The Loch, which had been the trash dump of Edinburgh for centuries was drained in order to improve access from the New Town to the Old Town. Later, the Nor’ Loch was transformed into the beautiful Princes Street Gardens we see today.

On the left, you can see some of the buildings on Princes street.

In the middle of the shot you can see the Scott Monument. This monument to Sir Walter Scott is located on Princes Street.

A little further to the right you can see the Balmoral hotel. The hotel is located in the very heart of the city at 1 Princes Street, the main shopping area overlooking Edinburgh Castle. The Balmoral is a landmark in its own right, its clock tower can be seen from all around. Given that the hotel is adjacent to the station, the clock is always set two minutes fast to ensure that people don’t miss their trains.

Far right, you can just see the start of North Bridge. Lying at the East end of Princes Street, North Bridge was the catalyst which finally brought about a northwards expansion of the city with the New Town. It provided a link from the Old Town to the south. The original bridge was replaced by another built of steel girders by Sir William Arrol in 1895. This is now subject to the highest levels of protection as a structure of historical and architectural interest.

Three bracketed JPGs converted to HDR in Photomatix.

Camera: Canon EOS 450D

BEST VIEWED LARGER

Related shots can be found at: Edinburgh and Lowland Scotland or you can look at all my HDR shots.

Sold a card on 4th Sep 08