Edinburgh

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It has been capital of Scotland since 1437. The city is one of Europe's major tourist destinations, attracting 1 million visitors a year, and is the second most visited tourist destination in the United Kingdom, after London=====

Amovie with historie of Edinburgh and some beautiful places. media type="youtube" key="swjtKUBV8ls" height="344" width="425"

Areas of the centre
The historic centre of Edinburgh is divided into two by the broad green swath of Princes Street Gardens. To the south the view is dominated by Edinburgh Castle, perched atop the extinct volcanic crag, and the long sweep of the Old Town trailing after it along the ridge. To the north lies Princes Street and the New Town. The gardens were begun in 1816 on bogland which had once been the Nor Loch.

The Old Town has preserved its medieval plan and many Reformation-era buildings. One end is closed by the castle and the main artery, the Royal Mile, leads away from it; minor streets (called //closes// or //wynds//) lead downhill on either side of the main spine in a herringbone pattern

The New Town was an 18th century solution to the problem of an increasingly crowded Old Town. The city had remained incredibly compact, confined to the ridge running down from the castle. In 1766 a competition to design the New Town was won by James Craig, a 22-year-old architect.

Climates

Like much of the rest of Scotland, Edinburgh has a temperate maritime climate, which is relatively mild despite its northerly latitude. Winters are especially mild, considering that Moscow, Labrador and Newfoundland lie on the same latitude, with daytime temperatures rarely falling below freezing. Summer temperatures are normally moderate, with daily upper maxima rarely exceeding 22 °C. The proximity of the city to the sea mitigates any large variations in temperature or extremes of climate. Given Edinburgh's position between the coast and hills, it is renowned as a windy city, with the prevailing wind direction coming from the south-west which is associated with warm, unstable air from the Gulf Stream that can give rise to rainfall - although considerably less than cities to the west, such as Glasgow. Indeed, Edinburgh receives a lower annual precipitation total than most UK cities outside the south-east of England. Winds from an easterly direction are usually drier but colder. Rainfall is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. Vigorous Atlantic depressions - sometimes called European windstorms can affect the city between October and March.

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