Lying where grandiose New Town townhouses give way to
malls and utilitarian housing, Broughton and Calton
have long been transitional neighborhoods with a mixed
identity. It’s here that Edinburgh’s gay village found
a home in the 1980s. But gay culture is anything but
overt along bustling epicenter Broughton Street; even
if polished pubs, hip bistros, smart delis and art
galleries all speak of affluent good taste. The top of
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Leith Walk is more ragged. This major thoroughfare
boasts a famously gritty gay club, as well as a strip
of good Indian restaurants. Regal Georgian and
Victorian townhouses preside over largely deserted
streets in Calton, where only the occasional
restaurant or hotel brings much life. Even so, a
steady trickle of idlers and picnickers pass by to
climb Calton Hill for its wide-open lawns, wonderful
city views, and curious monuments – an Athenian-style
temple among them.
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