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EDINBURGH
(Reuters Life!) - August is the month to criss-cross Scotland’s
capital on foot to see the best of the wacky, weird and
chaotic Edinburgh Festival Fringe, so bring a good pair
of walking shoes.
The world’s biggest open access arts festival offers more
than 30,000 performances at more than 200 venues around
the city and that’s in addition to the international book,
art and jazz festivals as well as the military tattoo,
which are all part of the cultural cornucopia that is
Edinburgh in August.
Reuters correspondents with local knowledge provide some
helpful hints for enjoying 48 hours of crowds, comedy,
theater, dance and art on the hilly, cobblestoned streets.
Friday
6 p.m. Book into your hotel and then hit the streets,
probably after arriving at Edinburgh Waverley train station,
which lies at the center of the city under the brooding
shadow of Edinburgh Castle. Top tip: You can order a Fringe
program before you go, online at www.edfringe.com.
Wander over to the Royal Mile and fight your way through
the hordes of tourists and buskers to the Fringe box office
so you can book a few shows to see.
8 p.m. Head for some food and drink. Try the Royal McGregor
pub at the heart of the Royal Mile and a few doors down
from the Fringe box office (www.royalmcgregor.co.uk).
The pub is run by the McGregor family and boasts of its
links to the MacGregor clan. Have a pint of local ale
to slake your thirst and order from the traditional and
modern food menu.
10 p.m Head to bed because Saturday will be a long slog
running from show to show and seeing the sights,
Or if you’re feeling like making it more of a night out
head off the Royal Mile. One Edinburgh treat is The Royal
Oak pub at 1 Infirmary Street (www.royal-oak-folk.com),
a focal point for traditional folk musicians.
Saturday
10:00 a.m. You could hit a show straight away alongside
breakfast at the B’est Restaurant on Drummond Street...
11:30
a.m. Go see the buskers along the Royal Mile and walk
straight along the road to Edinburgh Castle.
Small troupes promoting themselves will lie on the pedestrian
zed Mile begging for you to come to their shows, people
in pajamas, funny hats, colored hair, dressed as poppies
or in giant lizard suits may roar for your attention and
there is an army of young women all toting placards, handing
out flyers and even Chinese fortune cookies. Drink it
in.
When you get to the castle (www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk),
you’ll discover it’s perched on an extinct volcano and
is classed as a World Heritage Site. A fortress of some
kind has stood here since 600 A.D.
1
p.m. If you hear a booming noise then that’s the one o’clock
gun fired from the castle almost every day since 1861.
Head to any sandwich shop nearby for lunch, or make your
way down the Mound past the National Gallery and the Royal
Scottish Academy, over Princes Street to the parallel
Rose Street, which is filled with pubs, restaurants and
bars.
Alternatively, book a posh lunch at The Witchery (www.thewitchery.com)
located in an historic 16th-century building by the gates
of Edinburgh Castle. The oak-paneled walls are hung with
tapestries, mirrors and carvings. But make sure you’ve
made a reservation...
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4
p.m. Take in another show, cruise the Royal Mile and watch
the buskers or take a spooky walking tour with Auld Reekie
tours (www.auldreekietours.com), who advertise on the
Royal Mile or the nearby Mary King’s Close (www.realmarykingsclose.com).
Both take visitors on tours of the forgotten bits of the
city that lie beneath the Edinburgh of today. See the
old haunts of body snatchers, criminals and witches.
6 p.m. You’re tired and hungry, so you’d best head for
food and drink before a busy evening of shows and fun.
It’s time for traditional Scottish food: Haggis neeps
and tatties or Sheep’s offal boiled in a sheep’s stomach
and served with mashed parsnips, potatoes and covered
with a whisky jus.
There are a number of places that serve traditional Scottish
food and one close by the festival at 15/16 Market Street
is the Doric Bar and Restaurant (www.the-doric.com), which
bills itself as Edinburgh’s oldest gastro pub.
The Doric was built in the 17th century and serves locally
sourced homemade food in its ground floor bar and traditional
fare like haggis in the wooden-floored restaurant upstairs
with an extensive wine and whiskey list.
8 p.m. Head out to some shows you’ve booked or chase the
nightlife in Edinburgh. With more than 2,000 theater,
comedy, dance, art or other shows you’re spoiled for choice.
Or you can soak up the festival atmosphere down at the
Pleasance Courtyard at 60 Pleasance street, where six
bars, three cafes and 16 venues play host to festival-goers,
actors, comedians and locals out for the night. The venues
are packed with evening shows and there is a box office
on site.
11 p.m. Go home, hit one of the many night shows...or
lose yourself in the Pleasance Courtyard atmosphere before
walking the streets of Edinburgh on a pub crawl from the
Pleasance to your hotel.
Sunday
10 a.m. Grab the newspapers over breakfast and coffee
at your hotel or a nearby restaurant before setting off
on another rollicking day at the Fringe.
11 a.m. Take a stroll around Edinburgh’s Princes Street,
Nicholson Street and George Street to take in the shops
because you just need to have those knick knacks for those
back home. Edinburgh is filled with shops selling kilts,
tartan scarves, rugs, hats, clan badges and joke Scottish
memorabilia...
2:30 p.m. Get lunch at B’est restaurant for some good
old fashioned British hospitality brought to you by “Faulty
Towers,” a comedy based on the John Cleese TV classic
“Fawlty Towers.” Basil, Sybil and the bumbling Manuel
serve up a lunch time classic. Three-course meal included.
There is a dinner show too.
3:30 p.m. Get in one last show or have a last wander along
the Royal Mile to see the buskers, who change spots every
day...
6 p.m. It’s time to start winding down, so find a good
place to settle in and recount your trip to Edinburgh
in a comfortable spot with whiskey and a spot for dinner
afterwards.
The 180-year-old Cafe Royal on West Register Street, just
off Princes Street in the center of Edinburgh, has a bar
and a restaurant. Take a seat at one of the booths surrounding
the carved wooden bar and order some of its famous oysters,
local beer and of course a whiskey or two.
The Edinburgh institution is surrounded by original stained-glass
windows, Victorian plasterwork, irreplaceable Doulton
ceramic murals and is said to be haunted.
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