| | The city is also a centre of banking, commerce, education, and food processing. Its nickname is 'Auld Reekie' for its former smoky atmosphere. | | The city is also a centre of banking, commerce, education, and food processing. Its nickname is 'Auld Reekie' for its former smoky atmosphere. |
| − | The city centre of Edinburgh is divided into an 'Old Town' and a 'New Town'. The Old Town is, in effect, the medieval city, laid out either side of the 'Royal Mile' which runs west-east from the castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The New Town contrasts starkly with the narrow alleys and 'wynds' of the Old; it was a planned settlement, laid out in the late 18th century, with broad, straight streets and tree-lines squares, and a calm neoclassical architecture contrasting with the higgledy-piggledy gothic of the medieval town. Princes Street, the main shopping artery of the city, forms the southern boundary of the New Town. Between the old and new Edinburghs lay a loch (lake) and marshy ground. This was drained to form ornamental gardens, which partly remain but were partly usurped in the mid 19th century to make room for Waverly Station and the city's main railway line. | + | The city centre of Edinburgh is divided into an 'Old Town' and a 'New Town'. The Old Town is, in effect, the medieval city, laid out either side of the 'Royal Mile' which runs west-east from the castle to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The New Town contrasts starkly with the narrow alleys and 'wynds' of the Old; it was a planned settlement, laid out in the late 18th century, with broad, straight streets and tree-lines squares, and a calm neoclassical architecture contrasting with the higgledy-piggledy gothic of the medieval town. Princes Street, the main shopping artery of the city, forms the southern boundary of the New Town. Between the old and new Edinburghs lay a loch (lake) and marshy ground. This was drained to form ornamental gardens, which partly remain but were partly usurped in the mid 19th century to make room for Waverley Station and the city's main railway line. |