The Royal Mile is the name given since the 16th-century to a succession of streets which form the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland.
As the name suggests, the Royal Mile is approximately one Scots mile long, and runs between two foci of history in Scotland, from Edinburgh Castle at the top of the Castle Rock, down to Holyrood Palace. The streets which make up the Royal Mile are (west to east) Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Canongate and Abbey Strand. The Royal Mile is Edinburgh Old Town's busiest tourist street, rivalled only by Princes Street in the New Town.
Read more about Royal Mile: Geography, Castle Esplanade and Castlehill, Lawnmarket, High Street, Canongate, Abbey Strand, Royal Mile Today
Famous quotes containing the words royal and/or mile:
“Because humans are not alone in exhibiting such behavior—bees stockpile royal jelly, birds feather their nests, mice shred paper—it’s possible that a pregnant woman who scrubs her house from floor to ceiling [just before her baby is born] is responding to a biological imperative . . . . Of course there are those who believe that . . . the burst of energy that propels a pregnant woman to clean her house is a perfectly natural response to their mother’s impending visit.”
—Mary Arrigo (20th century)
“There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile:
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.”
—Mother Goose (fl. 17th–18th century. There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile (l. 1–4)