The capital of Scotland earns 2 billion pounds annually from tourists
Edinburgh is the most beautiful city not only in Scotland but also in the whole of the UK. No wonder it ranks second after London in terms of tourist attendance.
Every year, 2 billion pounds are earned from tourists in Edinburgh. For comparison, in London, which was visited by 16 million tourists last year, making the UK capital the first city in the world in terms of the number of tourists, this income is more than 10 billion pounds.
Most tourists travel to Edinburgh to visit the Edinburgh Fortress, located on the Castle Rock. It has been used by various military forces since 900 BC.
Edinburgh is also famous for its museums. The Museum of Writers is dedicated to Walter Scott, Robert Burns, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Their visitors are mostly creative people. The Museum of Edinburgh is more interesting to history buffs. And the Museum of Childhood, which is famous for its large number of children’s toys, is more popular with parents with children.
Another attraction of Edinburgh and Scotland is a dog of the Sky Terrier breed, which went down in history as Bobby the Greyfriars. Bobby belonged to John Gray, who worked for the Edinburgh City Police as a night watchman. They lived together for about two years until John Gray died of tuberculosis and was buried in Greyfriars Cemetery. Bobby, who outlived his master by fourteen years, spent the rest of his life at his grave, only occasionally going to a restaurant near the cemetery where he was fed by his owner, or to wait out the cold in nearby houses.
The national consciousness of the Scots was aroused by an Australian of Irish descent
Throughout 1996, Scotland was in a tizzy. National passions were running high. The number of people wishing to join nationalist parties increased many times over. The reason for this rise in national feelings was the Oscar-winning film “Braveheart” by Australian Mel Gibson. In a matter of days, Gibson himself became a national hero in Scotland, despite the fact that he is an Australian of Irish descent and works in the United States.
The story of the love, struggle and death of the Scottish rebel William Wallace, embodied by Gibson on the screen in a three-hour movie epic, stirred millions of hearts as if the events of seven hundred years ago had happened only yesterday.
The Scottish Parliament building is one of the ugliest buildings in Europe
The Scottish Parliament building is one of the most controversial construction projects in the UK at the beginning of the 21st century. Not only is it located in the Old Town of Edinburgh, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it also cost taxpayers an amount that far exceeded the original budget.
It was planned that the ultra-modern parliamentary complex opposite the Royal Palace of Holyrood could be built in two years at a cost of 195 million pounds. In fact, it took five years and 414 million pounds. This cost overrun and the difficult to perceive postmodern architecture of the Catalan author Enric Mirallas affected the public reputation of the building – it is included in various lists of the ugliest buildings in Britain.
The most photogenic railway bridge was built in Scotland
The Glenfinnan Viaduct is known far beyond the borders of the UK. Fans of Harry Potter books and movies associate this viaduct primarily with the Hogwarts Express. After all, it was the famous train that ran through it in the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.