Step this way

The Scotsman steps have had a refurb since this image was shot in 2009.

Back then, the iconic stairway (if stairways can be iconic?) was a dark and dank route linking the North Bridge with Market Street near Edinburgh's Waverley railway station. It was also an overnight hangout for the homeless. In the absence of regularly functional electric lighting, the daylight from the dungeon-like 'windows' played on the glazed tile walls and highlighted the steps worn crooked by decades of footfall.

These days, after it's restoration and reinvention as an art installation (aka "Work No. 1059" by Martin Creed) with each step made from a different type of marble, the stairway is brighter, smarter and more accessible, but maybe a little less... er, atmospheric?

090022 The Scotsman Steps