Built with a sandstone that varies from a deep reddish-brown through to pale grey (sometimes blackened by soot) – often several stories high and with a similar architectural style throughout – they endow the city with a very strong character.
Eglinton Crescent In Edinburgh The Dour Endure In Edinburgh
In fact, we have found people to be very positive, light, and friendly, on the whole. Not dour at all.
The word dour (pronounced doo-er or dower) that the Scottish use about themselves and their homeland comes from the Scottish Gaelic (and originally from the Latin) durus meaning hard, dull, obstinate.
And when the skies are grey or black and threatening, the city looks dour, hard, and unforgiving even in its grandness.
And that is how I picture Edinburgh now – friendly people set against a dark backdrop.
No Net Curtains To Mar The View
The houses in the center of the city are mainly built right onto the street, without a front garden, and there is a noticeable absence of curtains during the daylight hours at many of the downstairs windows.
Therefore one can see in to large rooms and high ceilings and the temptation to look in at every room adds a certain tension to a walk down the street.
No English house would be seen without its net curtains, so the lack of curtains here is noticeable. Perhaps being so far north and with the rooms being so big, they need all the light they can get to penetrate the gloom.
St. Colme Street In Edinburgh The Houses On Anne Street
In contrast, some of the smaller streets in the West End have that look that speaks from an earlier age. The elegance of the proportions of the buildings is very attractive and the absence of anywhere to park means that the streets are chock-full of ‘permit only’ cars.
Take away the cars and the scene could be from the late seventeen or early eighteen hundreds.
House On Anne Street In Edinburgh Rothesay Place Photographed With the iPhone
I have been taking more photographs with my iPhone. I have taken my big camera out with me and I photographed the street theatre performers at theEdinburgh Festival with it, but my ‘phone is always with me and the camera built into it is no slouch.
There are various camera apps besides Apple’s own version that is built into the iPhone, and the one that I am happy with is Camera+. If you have an iPhone, I recommend it.
Rothesay Place In Edinburgh For the rest of this entry and for more reading from this blog, click here.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
