The city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland

 “This was a townscape raised in the teeth of cold winds from the east; a city of winding cobbled streets and haughty pillars; a city of dark nights and candlelight, and intellect. This is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.” ― Alexander McCall Smith

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(in Scotland's capital city) The center of Edinburgh, in the southeast of Scotland, is located near the southern shore of the Firth of Forth, an arm of the North Sea that juts westward into the Scottish Lowlands. The city has served as a a military stronghold, the capital of an independent country, and a center of intellectual activity. Physically, It is also a city of somber theatricality, with much of this quality deriving from its setting among crags and hills and from its tall buildings and spires of dark stone. One of Europe’s most beautiful cities, Edinburgh is intimately entwined with its landscape, with buildings and monuments overshadowed by cliffs. From the Old Town’s jumble of medieval tenements piled high along the Royal Mile, its turreted skyline strung between the Castle Rock and the russet palisade of Salisbury Crags, to the New Town’s neat grid of neoclassical respectability, the city offers a constantly changing perspective.