Nerissa and Sarah were both right, under the North Bridge and directly behind the imposing Balmoral Hotel, we have the city's main train station, Waverley. As a tourist, it's a nice way to arrive in the city because as soon as you come out of the main entrance, you're greeted with a glorious view of the Castle, the Old Town buildings, the Scott Monument and Princes Street Gradens. The only other cities I've been to which match the immediacy of such a fantastic view from the train station are Cologne with the 'Dom' right outside the front door, and Venice.
13 comments:
True- the station is on prime real estate! Why is it called Waverley instead of Edinburgh station- possible confusing and disconcerting for tourists, not sure when to get off the train.
Pretty much all the trains terminate at Waverley, and the station signs say 'Edinburgh Waverley' so tourists don't get too confused. The other main station in Edinburgh is Haymarket just to the west of the city centre - trains going north and west of Edinburgh pass through that station.
About the name, I had a theory that it must be to do with Sir Walter Scott's famous Waverley novels, and having done a bit of research, that turns out to be true. The station was an amalgamation of different stations on separate lines and was completed around the time the Scott Monument was built. In Victorian Edinburgh, the city fathers were real Scott fans and so named the station after his finest works. Sounds better than 'Edinburgh Ivanhoe'!
I actually love to travel by train - so it's nice to see a gorgeous train station!
Nice shot. I always get the feeling there should be a river down there rather than a railway. Good post.
Great shot. I agree that Edinburgh Ivanhoe doesn't sound as nice.
When we visited Edinburgh in 1985 we came by train (Intercity 125) from London. I don't remember which station we arrived at but there was a bag pipe band and all sorts of festivities. We asked if they greeted each train like that. LOL! I guess there was someone important (besides us lol!) on the train.
Good post with interesting information. I have good memories from all of the train stations I used when in Europe. However my best memories were the stations in the small villages of Switzerland.
woohoo! I got it right? What do I win? ;-)
I'm glad I looked in the comments since I immediately wondered how old it was.
PS: Is this station (and part of town) near Canongate?
Nice photo - and thanks for the history - I'm learning so much from everyone's blogs!
yeah, nerissa if you went out the back entrance, you'd be on the canongate within 2 or 3 minutes
carol - the area around the station is never short of pipers - that's for sure!!
bob - it's the one thing edinburgh could really do with - I've always thought it might be fun to flood the train tracks and reinstate the Nor'Loch down there!
thanks for comments folks - as ever, always appreciated!
I absolutely loved the Edinburgh-Waverly (that's how it was identified on our BritRail map) station. Edinburgh is built on two mountains of rock and the train tracks run in the gorge between them, making you feel like you have arrived at a giant's home. One of the memories we keep coming back to from our trip in 2001 is the arrival at this station, and the incredibly climb up a set of stairs that seemed to extend right into the heavens. As we emerged onto the main street, right next to the TI office, it was like a fantasy story, having reached the fortified city after braving the dangerous underground tunnels.
Grant, any chance you could snap a pic of those stairs? I never took one and I've always regretted it.
Daniel - consider it done!
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