If you only have a day in Edinburgh: Scotland's capital is delightfully walkable

Cruise Travel, May-June, 2003 by Theodore W. Scull

When finishing a visit to the castle, it is well worth descending to a most active section of Edinburgh beneath the castle via George IV Bridge and Victoria Street to Grassmarket and around the castle base to Lothian Road and the west end of Princes Street. To the South of the castle, both George IV Bridge and South Bridge lead to the nearby University District and the new Museum of Scotland, providing another major area of diversion.

Any account of how to spend a day in a city as rich in sights, museums, literary connections, architecture, street life, and splendid vistas as Edinburgh can only scratch the surface. The best month to visit is September, and with a soft maritime climate, expect a Scottish mist (drizzle or rain) at almost any time and consequently forever green parks.

Ships that call at Edinburgh's nearby ports of Leith, Rosyth, and South Queensferry include Abercrombie & Kent's Explorer, Crystal's Crystal Symphony, Cunard's Caronia and Queen Elizabeth 2, Hebridean Island Cruises' Hebridean Princess, Holland America's Rotterdam, Lindblad Expeditions' Lord of the Glens, P&O's Adonia, Radisson Seven Seas' Song of Flower, Seabourn's Seabourn Pride, and Swan Hellenic's Minerva II.

For more information contact your travel agent or the British Tourist Authority (Cruise Travel Magazine), 551 Fifth Ave., New York, NY, 10176; phone toll-free 800-462-2748; or log on to www.edinburgh.org.