So why do I love Scotland so? Surely a large part of the reason is the wonderful people with whom I've traveled here (like MDK & Family, so long ago) and the friends I've visited here (CRJ and JMM). A significant part of the reason is Scotland's history: defiant, proud, independent. These people probably had a hand in the "Don't Tread on Me" flag. I even am keen on the symbols: prickly thistle, the simple saltire and the readied lion rampant.
Oh, and the accents.
But primarily it's the scenery – God-given and man-made alike. Even with just a few patches of sunlight, it's absolutely breathtaking, the mountains, rolling fields and the sea. Every time I come into Edinburgh and see that looming castle and jutting spires, I tingle with excitement. Yes, it's absolutely a shortbread Disneyland**, filled with tourist tat and all kinds of romantic and/or bloodcurdling tales that may or may not be true. But it's been enough to inspire some amazing works of literature and schools of thought.
As if you couldn't love it just for that, Edinburgh is the first UNESCO City of Literature, don't you know. Actually, I didn't know until I Googled "literary" and "Edinburgh" a couple weeks ago. There are connections to literature on just about every block, with pub tours and guided walks and all kinds of available offerings. I decided to buy the tour guide's book, skip the organized organised event and stumble along myself. (Then I picked up a second literary guide, just for good measure and an alternate perspective. There were a lot of mentions of some writer named Muriel Spark – I'll need to look into that.)
The guides were an unusual way to get into the history of Edinburgh; my interests on this trip centered in the New Town. You have to love a city where the part built in the 1830s is considered new. The New Town was willful urban sprawl — a necessary step after centuries of life on the bluff made the cheek-to-jowl conditions unbearable. Apparently all the classes lived together and residences were built upward. The nickname "Auld Reekie" means Old Smoky, but it probably fit into the smelly definition as well.
It's amazing to walk three or four blocks and consider what happened there 20 years ago, 200 years ago, 500 years ago. I realize I'm seeing a very commercialised and romanticised side of Edinburgh — bring it on.
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** The description of Old Town Edinburgh by Irvine Welsh, who wrote "Trainspotting." Great writer, but for this trip I think I'll stay out of that neck of the woods.
Georgia Confidential 