Calton Hill

A shot from halfway up Arthur's Seat (a dormant volcano in the centre of the city). Calton Hill is full of monuments.

The monuments in view are the Nelson Memorial, built in memory of Admiral Horatio Nelson. It Is designed to look like a telescope and the ball at the top is raised just before 1pm and lowered at exactly 1pm to allow ships in port to calibrate timepieces.

The other monument is Edinburgh's disgrace (although some people would re-designate that title to our Tram route). Officially it is the National Monument of Scotland, built to commemorate the soldiers and sailors who died in the Napoleonic wars. It was to be accurately modeled on the Parthenon in Greece, however after it was less than a third complete the funds ran out and it has remained incomplete ever since.