It’s an easy thing to be in Ireland—lost somewhere in its sweeping, green hillsides and hidden coves, or standing on its defiant cliffs and its northernmost shores, tucked away at edge of the world, to believe that it was somehow formed by magic. Harder by far to believe, is that it was not.

The old adage goes: “The only constant is change.” And while many parts of Edinburgh may appear to have resisted that truth, much of what can be experienced of this stunning city is in the way changes of seasons, faces, festivals, cultures, and foods inhabit the ancient buildings and gentle hills of this spectacular place tucked away in the southeast part of Scotland near the borders.