Some photos of Edinburgh city centre as the sun was setting this afternoon. We were just wandering around the shops and detoured through Princes Street Gardens to appreciate the city we live in .

Melville Monument St Andrew Square

The Balmoral Clock and the rising moon

The Mound

Edinburgh Castle in shadow

Scott Monument

Sunset through the trees

Edinburgh Castle from St Cuthberts Churchyard

A short stroll around the churches of St John’s & St Cuthbert’s at the West End of Princes Street Gardens today – the November light was very atmospheric.

Here’s a small gallery of photos:

We’re glad Jenners have kept the tradition of their giant Christmas Tree alive – Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas in Edinburgh without it!

Jenners Christmas Tree

Although it’s probably more famous for being the final resting place of the faithful Bobby, Greyfriars Kirkyard is reputedly one of the most haunted places in Edinburgh.

Whether that’s true or not, what better day of the year to have a wander around the historic graveyard – on the lookout for some of the spookier and more macabre carvings on the tombstones and mausoleums…

Click on the thumbnails to view our photos – and Happy Halloween!

We like a good sunrise (and sunset) as you know, but this morning’s was particularly impressive…

We felt privileged watching it: from the first glowing hint that something special was about to happen; through the constantly-changing colours and patterns as the sun rose; to the last faint embers in the morning sky – better than any firework display!

Click on the thumbnails below to see the rest of the photos.

Dean Cemetery

With Halloween just around the corner, we thought it was the perfect time to take a stroll around one of our favourite graveyards in Edinburgh, Dean Cemetery.

The trees were in their autumn finery; and there was hardly another (living) soul around. It was very atmospheric – and the cemetery is a beautiful, historic and peaceful place to visit at any time of year.

Click on the thumbnails below to view the rest of our photos.

With guests in town, we took a stroll around the city centre today to show them some of the best views of Edinburgh. Blessed with perfect Autumn weather and a gorgeous blue sky, here’s some of what we snapped today.

Started off with a walk through Inverleith Park

Reflections in St Andrew Square and the tents for 'Occupy Edinburgh' protest

View from The Mound

View from the museum roof garden on Chambers Street

Greyfriar's Bobby

Classic shot of Edinburgh Castle from Johnston Terrace

Ramsay Gardens with the tattoo seating dismantled

St Mary's Cathedral from Edinburgh Castle

View from Edinburgh Castle looking north. The trees are the Botanical Gardens,

With the exception of the views taken from within Edinburgh Castle, all the photos and places mentioned are free. You can still take a stroll up to the esplanade and take pictures of outside the castle for free and it well wor-th doing for the panoramic views of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Castle, early morning

It was a beautiful Autumn morning yesterday and now that the Edinburgh Tattoo seating has been dismantled from the esplanade, there really is no better time to get a picture of Edinburgh Castle.

You just need to get there before 9.15am as that’s when they start allowing the tourists to queue to get in for the 9.30am opening.

Edinburgh Castle and the moon

Just for fun, guess where in Edinburgh. Answers below or in our twitter stream.

Guess where

The flats minutes before the demolition

Going, going, gone

The flats mid-demolition

A zoomed-in view of two of the flats

The last one to fall

Smoke and dust begins to spread

Quite an eerie sight over west Edinburgh

You can read our previous article about the Sighthill demolition.

As part of the excellent Doors Open Days in Edinburgh, Old Observatory House on Calton Hill was opened to the public.

Old Observatory Housethe is the oldest of the buildings on Calton Hill and was designed by James Craig, architect of the layout of the New Town and wascompleted in 1872.  It was intended to be used as the city observatory but due to lack of funds, no equipment could be bought.

Now run by Vivat Trust,  Old Observatory House has been lovingly restored to its former glory and is available to rent for a holiday and/or special events. You can check availability here and prices are reasonable for larger groups with every window offering panoramic views of Edinburgh, Fife and the Lothians.

Here’s some pictures from inside the beautiful property today. Since we were part of a tour, we snapped as many pictures as we could with 15 others present in our allotted time.

Old Observatory House, Calton Hill

One of the lounges

The main dining room

One of the master bedrooms

The view through the window of the bedroom

Another bedroom

Excellent view of Edinburgh from several of the rooms

One of the best things to do for free in Edinburgh is to take a stroll up Calton Hill and soak in 360 degree views. This evening we took a stroll up for some exercise, but were rewarded with a lovely sunset which we captured in pictures. As ever, the photos are unedited and the following were all taken with a Panasonic Lumix compact camera. Enjoy!

The classic Edinburgh shot from Calton Hill

Tourists galore on Calton Hill

The sun setting

The Edinburgh skyline at sunset

Looking over to Fife

View west

Heading back down to Waterloo Place

Princes Street from Waterloo Place

Today the 2012 Olympic Torch was on display in Castle Street.  Mark Cooper, an ultra-endurance runner from Edinburgh has been nominated to carry the torch prior to it arriving in London.

Edinburgh's Mark Cooper holds the 2012 flame

London 2012

The Fringe has well and truly started! With a brief space in between shows yesterday, we decided to snap as many faces on the Royal Mile as we could in 10 minutes, within a radius of 10 metres from the chosen starting point. Here’s our favourite 10 from selection we took.

Living statue

Royal Mile

Singer on the Royal Mile

Promoting his show

Royal Mile

Friendly smile

Royal Mile

Performer

No face

With the glorious weather in Edinburgh at the moment, we couldn’t resist taking a walk up Blackford Hill to admire Edinburgh from a different angle.

The view of Arthur's Seat

Edinburgh Castle

Looking towards Salisbury Crags

Looking down to East Lothian through the haze. Berwick Law and Bass Rock visible.

Gorgeous Edinburgh