Our Last Day: Above Edinburgh

For our last day in Edinburgh, we headed above the city to Calton Hill. This hill boasts a collection of some of Edinburgh’s most important monuments and offers fantastic panoramic views of the city. But first we stopped for coffee.

This was the first of these reminders I've seen since arriving. Thankfully, Steve's good at protecting me from the dangers of right-side drivers.
He's also good at finding wonderful breakfast spots. Coffee Saints is the newest Social Enterprise by the Grassmarket Community Project (GCP).
GCP is a community of over 500 people, working together to support positive changes in one another’s lives. Its mission is to create an inclusive person-centered environment where people feel empowered to develop skills, build positive relationships and enjoy an ongoing sense of belonging. That's worth supporting by buying a coffee and eggs on toast. It was delightful, too.
So about our final destination. In the 19th century, Edinburgh was envisioned as the ‘Athens of the North’ and Calton Hill was considered Edinburgh’s version of the Athenian Acropolis, complete with classical revival architecture.








Home to several neoclassical structures, it is the ideal place to conclude a trip to Scotland. It's surprising how many historical treasures are on this one hill. The incomplete National Monument, the City Observatory, the Dugald Stewart Monument, and the Nelson Monument all combine to make a stunning vista.
The most famous monument is the National Monument which was designed as a replica of the Parthenon in Athens. It was intended to commemorate the Scottish servicemen who died in the Napoleonic Wars, but was never completed, leaving just the twelve columns behind us.

What a historical find this plaque was. It tells of Irish painter, Robert Barker who coined the word ‘panorama’. The new word was derived from the Greek pan (all) horama (view) in 1792 to describe his ‘comprehensive survey’ paintings of Edinburgh from Calton Hill.  Until this time, no one had thought of a 360° view. Wild right!?
The Barker Panorama of Edinburgh from Calton Hill is considered to be the earliest panorama view and held within University of Edinburgh. This six piece set of engravings show a 360 degree view of the city of Edinburgh from a standing position on Calton Hill. In 1793, Barker moved his panoramas to London to the first purpose-built panorama building in the world, designed by Robert Mitchell and built in Leicester Square, and made a fortune. Viewers flocked to pay 3 shillings to stand on a central platform under a skylight, which offered an even lighting, and get an experience that was "panoramic" (an adjective that didn't appear in print until 1813). So dang interesting!
This unusual engraving is an advertisement for the second Edinburgh panorama show at the Rotunda, in 1804. The advertisement was engraved by Barker’s son Henry, who assisted with and then carried on his father's profession of painting and exhibiting panoramas. Wild.
Edinburgh is even more beautiful when looked upon from above. What a day!
History is everywhere in this town. Walking home I noticed this plaque, commemorating the invention of chloroform. As someone who has been put under for various reasons, I praise Sir James Young Simpson, too.

We head home tomorrow. Oh such stories! What an adventure.

"History is merely a list of surprises.
It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again."
— Kurt Vonnegut

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