Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival & Military Tattoo

We stayed on a 15 acre site set in 200 acres of parkland at the centre of a traditionally managed private country estate and a short bus journey to the city of Edinburgh.  A sharp contrast to the little 3½ acre open site perched on a grassy cliff top at Whitley Bay.  

On reflection I'm not sure what my expectations were - but nothing prepared me for the colossal scale of this festival - the largest arts festival in the world I discovered. We found ourselves plunged into another world amidst throngs of festival goers with an overwhelming choice of performances of every possible genre - 2,500 taking place in more than 250 venues across the city and these didn't include all the many street entertainers.  

Sample of events lining a staircase in one of the venues

A room with a view....

Whatever grabs you!!

unicylcist flame thrower

So how on earth (unless you're an avid follower of the arts) to decide what to see?  For us we took a pot-luck attitude making our selection from the myriad of flyers we'd gather by the hour whilst ambling through the streets enjoying the street entertainers.  This worked brilliantly for us - during our 6 days of total immersion in this festival we'd experienced an amazingly eclectic mix of dramatic, powerful, wonderfully funny, heartbreaking performances as well as some very impressive music. There were others we'd love to have seen but time ran out and after 6 pretty intensive days were were pretty much 'fringed' out!

Most of the performances were in tiny venues: a backroom in a pub; a tiny room tucked downstairs somewhere.  Some were marginally larger but all conducive to a very friendly and informal atmosphere allowing an intimacy, in particular with the comedians and musicians. A sample of the performances we enjoyed:

• A compilation of 3 dance works interwoven with film and sound exploring richard Drew's iconic photos of a man falling from the World Trade Centre during the 9/11 attack -  electrifying and heartbreaking.
• Sharon Sexton single handedly delivered a compelling portrayal of Liza Minnelli which included some of her greatest hits.  So brilliantly and convincingly delivered you could have been watching and listening to Liza Minnelli in person.
• Then there was 'Departure lounge'.  We'd come across 3 guys lying down in the street dressed only in shorts and plastered in flyers advertising their performance.  I stopped to take a photo, was handed a flyer and what I initially took to be (as one would in association with air travel perhaps?) a wet wipe in its small white packet and told "this will get you a half price ticket" - it wasn't until I looked at it I realised it was a condom!  I leave it to your imagination the nature of that particular show - suffice to say it was a late-late show! 
• By far the most  powerful and spine-chillingly convincing performance was the portrayal of Minnie Dean (accused of killing babies in the late 1800s) and Victor Spencer (supposedly having betrayed his country during WWI by deserting) who were both sentenced to death.  The actress portraying Minnie Dean took on the role so well it was quite believable that she was the real Minnie Dean such was the reality of her performance - terror and tears of desperation shed at the prospect of the hangman's noose, grief at the thought of leaving her husband and children behind - let alone her insistence that she was in fact innocent.  I managed to speak to her afterwards and she said it certainly took her some time to 'come back down to earth' and out of role after such a performance.

Our initial reason for going to Edinburgh was for the Military Tattoo - the torrential rain during the first half of the performance didn't mar our enjoyment one bit.  Set against the backdrop of Edinburgh Castle staged on the Esplanade at the top of Castle Hill seated in two of the best seats in 'the house' this military pageant couldn't fail to impress!  Our tickets included the Whisky Experience which included drinks and canapes with some of the tattoo cast so all in all a very memorable evening.  

Any offers?  £8,000 a bottle

  We also had entry tickets for the Castle which we spent most of one day exploring:

The 1 o'c gun

This gun was traditionally fired at 1o'c each day so the captains could set their chronometers to the correct time. We were assured they fire blanks!  And why 1 o'c and not midday?  Scots are notoriously mean so why waste 12 bullets when 1 will do??

Views across the city to Forth of Firth

mmmm...... best chocolate cake ever!!

Sample pics of the city, mostly shot from the top of the bus!

Contrasting style 

'Reflections'

In 1858 John Gray the Edinburgh policeman died aged 45 of TB.  John Gray would never be remembered today if it were not for his dog Bobby (later known as Greyfriars Bobby) who kept watch over the grave for 14 years until his own death in 1872. 





As for plans of exploring Edinburgh itself, we got the occasional glimpse of this amazing city and we did do the open top city bus tour but we were so distracted by  the frenetic activities of the festival we will have to return one day to explore this impressive granite city and give it the attention it deserves. 

We did however discover some amazing little places to eat which I can highly recommend if ever you visit Edinburgh:

Passepartout - a little Bohemian restaurant we discovered in a tiny back street off the Royal Mile.  Apparently the name of a little eating place in the heart of Paris, created by 2 world travelling chefs.  By chance the current owners discovered their diary in a flea market in Montematre and they aim to be true to the essence of the original menu. Certainly delicious food and we sat on cushions on the floor and were encouraged to eat with our fingers in the belief  that one enjoys the full essence of the flavour of food in this way. 

An excellent French restaurant: Maison Bleue in Victoria Street and Eccovino, a small intimate Italian restaurant in Cockburn Street where I enjoyed a very tasty Italian sausage stew.

And make what you will of this one: