Edinburgh is a city whose history is written on its face. "The old town, with its irregular houses, stage above stage, seen as we saw it, in the obscurity of a rainy day, hardly resembles the work of men, it is more like a piling up of rocks, and I cannot attempt to describe what we saw so imperfectly but must say the, high as my expectation had been raised, the city of Edinburgh far surpassed all expectations." Wrote Dorothy Wordsworth, the poet's sister.

The towering crags that surround the city dominate it today as they always have done. "Edinburgh could never be merely a city. Here there must be always present the idea of the comparative littleness of all human works," wrote Sir Walter Scott's biographer.

Pictorial view of Medieval Edinburgh

Visit this marvellous city, Edinburgh, in August, and experience the delights of the Festival of Arts.