The Scott Monument is a victorian gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott (not to be confused with the National Monument). It stands in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, opposite the Jenners department store on Princes Street and near to Waverley Station. The tower is 200.5 feet or 61.1 metres tall, and has a series of viewing decks reached by a series of narrow spiral staircases giving panoramic views of central Edinburgh and its surroundings. The highest viewing deck is reached by a total of 287 steps. It is built from Binnie shale quarried in nearby Livingston; the oil which continues to leech from its matrix has helped to glue the notoriously filthy atmosphere of Victorian Edinburgh (then nicknamed “Auld Reekie” — old smokey) to the tower, leaving it an unintended sooty-black colour. It is often noted for looking like a “gothic rocket ship”. Edinburgh is one of top travel destinations.
GPS vacation destination: 55° 57′ 8.7″ N, 3° 11′ 35.8″ W
May 172008
