Catriona Thomson: A visit to the Camera Obscura is an eye-opening experience for children and adults alike

It has been a long time since my Saturday morning involved spinning bright lights and being unable to walk in a straight line. My recent experience was not some shameful night of excess, but the most memorable part of a family day out to the Camera Obscura and World of Illusion attraction in Edinburgh.

I am sure that I went to the Obscura on a school trip many years ago, however, all details have been lost in the mists of time, a reminder of how little teenagers' brains absorb.

We time our scamper up the Royal Mile perfectly, with only 20 minutes to wait before our turn inside the attraction. We find plenty to amuse ourselves with in the meantime. Hope giggles with delight at the voice-activated plasma ball, while Eve's favourite exhibit captures your poses on a light-sensitive backdrop with flashes of light. This allows you to walk away and take a look at your own quirky shadow. Each level is packed full of illusion and optical trickery, from distorting lenses to mirrors and holograms, which confuse your brain. I loved the head on a plate display, and the Alice in Wonderland room, where adults look small and the children look gigantic. All too soon we rush up for the main event and enter the darkened camera chamber. Hats off to the enterprising Maria Short who, in 1853, installed the Camera Obscura, and opened Short's Observatory to the fee-paying public. Who would have believed it would still amuse people to this day?

The illusion works as light is bounced from a small mirror and is then channelled through a series of lenses before being projected on to a concave circular table. It allows a select audience an opportunity to explore all around Edinburgh's skyline without moving.

The girls enjoyed seeing the guide seemingly picking up one of the tiny ant people on the Esplanade on a piece of card. We emerged blinking into the daylight, then headed straight to the rooftop and made use of all the telescopes and binoculars to scope out the city from this great vantage point.

We then couldn't resist going back downstairs and playing some more with the exhibits on every level. The newest attraction for 2011 is the revolving tunnel of light, which is a bit like being in a disco washing machine and just as dizzy-making as that sounds.

We had a small disaster in the hall of mirrors. Hope got a bit disorientated and dashed headlong into one of the walls, bumping her head. As it was mainly her pride that was dented, we went to the shop to cheer her up. Eve very cruelly chose a bouncy trick egg to match the one appearing on Hope's forehead.

It's safe to say I don't think the girls will forget this quirky place in a hurry.

Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, Castlehill, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, 0131-226 3709, www.camera-obscura.co.uk

Adults 9.95, children (five-15) 6.95, under fives go free.

Open daily from 10am – 5pm.

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 26 February, 2011