The Dog Harbour.

'Portobello', Photograph taken at Portobello Beach, Edinburgh 2012

Whenever I take a walk to Portobello, a suburb with a beach in Edinburgh, it seems that this must be the best place for dogs in the world. They seem just purely happy and joyfull running along the beach, catching a ball and playing into the water. I guess Portobello can be literally translated as beautiful port or harbour. In german 'Bello' is also a very infantile word for 'Dog', so for me it has always been the 'Dog Harbour'. 

Portobello used to be a place of Joy not only for dogs. It has been a beach resort and a popular amusement promenade from the late 19th century and in the 60's it evolved an area of amusement arcades and some permanent funfair attractions, which gradually disappeared from the 80's onwards. Now it has almost no attractions anymore, except from two simple amusement arcades, a fish & chips snack bar which never seems to be open (when I'm there) and one or two restaurants. For me it's one of the most charming places in Edinburgh and a slightly bit of what it was before seems to lie still in the air.

                                                                                                                                                    

 Portobello Beach  in the 1900's and the Portobello Bathing Pool, opened 1936 and demolished in 1980. The pictures are from the 1960's and from 1985.