Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities on the planet, not least because the sun came out just long enough for me to snap this shot back in 2015.

This photo was taken at the top of Outlook Tower – a centuries-old building not far from the famous Edinburgh Castle, and host to a quirky tourist trap called the World of Illusions. Imagine someone built a museum inside Escher’s head – think warped mirrors, a tunnel that tricks you into falling over, and those rooms that make you look taller than actually you are. It’s a bit of fun if you’ve run out actual things to do, otherwise you can probably give it a miss. Or at least, that’s what I’d say if it wasn’t for the final attraction located on the roof – a camera obscura.

For the uninitiated, a camera obscura is a dark room with a lens at the top which allows a magnified image of the surroundings to be projected onto a surface in the room. It’s essentially like being inside a camera – or an eyeball 👀

Edinburgh’s camera obscura was built in 1835 (and still works like a charm), and there are less than thirty camera obscuras in operation worldwide. The physics nerd in me was losing his mind at finally getting to see one.

The demonstrations of the camera obscura run on the hour, so naturally I had raced through the museum and arrived at the rooftop ten minutes early. Outlook Tower has one of the best views of the city, and I had it all to myself.

As I stepped out onto the terrace, the grey clouds briefly parted and a rainbow formed over Edinburgh. I took a quick photo, and then spent several minutes appreciating an incredible view of one of the world’s most beautiful cities.

As the first of the other tourists began to trickle onto the rooftop, the dreary day returned, and the rainbow disappeared as quickly as it had come.

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Rainbow over Edinburgh, Scotland