Leith, Edinburgh's Seaport

Situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, Leith was a separate town until it merged with the city in 1920. After World War II and up until the 1980s, the declining seaport became known as an impoverished corner of Edinburgh, but in recent years it has been completely revitalized with the restoration of commercial buildings and the construction of new luxury housing, boutique hotels, hipster cafés, and upmarket restaurants. All the docks have been redeveloped, looked over variously by a shopping mall, a government building, and office and apartment blocks.

In earlier times Leith was the stage for many historic happenings. In 1560 Mary of Guise—mother of Mary, Queen of Scots—ruled Scotland from Leith; her daughter landed in Leith the following year to embark on her infamous reign. A century later Cromwell led his troops to Leith to root out Scottish royalists. And in 1744 Leith became the so-called "home of golf," as official rules to the game were devised on Leith Links, a lovely park that remains to this day.