VICTORIA STREET, OFF THE ROYAL MILE,
HAS DIFFERENT LEVELS TO EXPLORE.
Of
all the cities throughout the British Isles, Edinburgh surely is the
most distinctive. It is the only city with a cliff-top castle overlooking
its main street. Where other city branches of the High Street multiples
look across at their competitors, in Edinburgh they gaze across manicured
gardens that nestle below the sheer rock crag on whose summit rests
Edinburgh Castle, home and custodian of the capital’s history.
The Princes Street Gardens form a natural division between the
Old Town (the Castle side) and the New Town, to the rear (north) of
Princes Street.
Princes Street & New Town
Princes Street is Edinburgh’s main shopping thoroughfare
and here are anchors of local stores mixed amongst the national High
Street shops. In particular, House of Frazer and Jenners, both department
stores, the former at the West End junction of Princes Street and the
latter placed in the middle. Jenners is the oldest independent
department store in the world and proudly holds with tradition in this
famous location. Further east along Princes Street, past the Castle,
the view across the Gardens is taken up with imposing 10 and 12 storey
buildings stepping down in a cascade of dark greys — a fascinating
mixture of architecture embodied in a similar style and all backing
down from the Royal Mile.
