从索尔兹伯里的峭壁上俯瞰爱丁堡，苏格兰荷里路德公园 Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park overlooking Edinburgh, Scotland (© Andrew Merry/Getty Images)

从索尔兹伯里的峭壁上俯瞰爱丁堡，苏格兰荷里路德公园 Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park overlooking Edinburgh, Scotland (© Andrew Merry/Getty Images)

Looking down upon 'The Athens of the North'

We're kicking off festival season in Edinburgh, Scotland, with this view of the capital city from Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park. Throughout the month of August, the city is hosting a staggering number of music, theater, opera, dance, and other types of performances as part of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which is the world's largest international arts festival.

Located less than a half-mile southeast from Edinburgh's main shopping street, Holyrood Park provides a welcome respite from the festival hubbub. Hike up here to take in views of Edinburgh and its famous landmarks, including Edinburgh Castle, the Scottish Parliament, Holyrood Palace, the City Centre, and the New Town, which stretches out toward the sea. Formed by glaciers and volcanic activity millions of years ago, these craggy outcroppings are among the best examples of a geological sill in Europe. We're lucky that they're still here for our hiking pleasure. For two centuries, the hard dolerite was mined, broken up and shipped off throughout the UK for use as cobblestoned streets. The locals put a stop to the mining and now we can stand here to take in the views—and during festival season if we listen closely, we may hear strains of music coming from somewhere down below.

俯瞰“北方的雅典”

我们将在苏格兰爱丁堡拉开节日的序幕，从Holyrood公园的索尔兹伯里峭壁上俯瞰首都。整个8月份，该市举办了数量惊人的音乐、戏剧、歌剧、舞蹈和其他类型的表演，作为爱丁堡国际艺术节和爱丁堡边缘艺术节的一部分，这是世界上最大的国际艺术节。

Holyrood公园位于爱丁堡主要购物街东南方向不到半英里的地方，为人们提供了一个从节日喧嚣中解脱出来的好去处。徒步来到这里，可以欣赏爱丁堡及其著名的地标性建筑，包括爱丁堡城堡、苏格兰议会、霍利罗德宫、市中心和伸向大海的新城。由数百万年前的冰川和火山活动形成，这些崎岖的露头是欧洲地质岩床的最好例子之一。我们很幸运，他们还在这里是为了我们的徒步旅行。两个世纪以来，硬辉绿岩被开采、破碎并运往英国各地，用作鹅卵石街道。当地人停止了采矿，现在我们可以站在这里欣赏风景。在节日期间，如果我们仔细聆听，我们可能会听到下面某处传来的音乐。