See all Things to do in Edinburgh
Calton Hill
About
Climb Calton Hill in the morning or early evening hours to experience a great sunrise/sunset over Edinburgh. However, try to avoid hours of complete darkness. The hill is home to various monuments including Edinburgh's Folly, an unfinished replica of Athens' Parthenon, built as a memorial to the Napoleonic Wars, and Nelson's Tower, built in the shape of an upturned telescope in honour of the naval hero. The latter features a Time Ball at the top, which drops at 1PM every day to enable ships at Leith docks to set their clocks. The time ball was originally operated by the City Observatory, which was located here until it was replaced by the larger Royal Observatory of Edinburgh in the south of the City, in the late 19th Century when light pollution in the City centre became too much of an obstacle to celestial viewing. The City observatory is open to the public on occasional Fridays, usually to conincide with important astronomical events.
