This country is known worldwide for its whiskey and woolens, both invented in reaction to the cold. And it is often a chill, sometimes dour place, to which any golfer who has faced the fierce winds of its famous courses will attest.
But in July and August, those months of fleeting summer, the country, and particularly its capital city of Edinburgh, bloom in the sunshine.
This summer Edinburgh is going all out to attract a wide array of visitors during its time in the sun, beginning with an international Tall Ships race.
July will see a flotilla of more than 100 majestic sailing ships arrive for the beginning of 1995’s Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races. And August brings the Edinburgh Festival, an internationally renowned celebration of the arts.
Events surrounding the Tall Ships race will be based in Leith, Edinburgh’s port. The ships will gather from throughout the world in the Firth of Forth, the wide estuary formed by the Forth River between the coasts of Lothian and Fife.
They are scheduled to arrive on July 15 and can be seen at the docks in Leith and in the Forth until the race to Bremerhaven, Germany, begins on July 18. The parade of sail is to be led by Cunard’s QE2.
Tourism officials are predicting that more than a million visitors will crowd into the capital city and its environs to view the event.
The Edinburgh International Festival, known around the world for nearly half a century as a premier gathering spot for the arts, takes place during the last two weeks of August and the first week of September. It transforms the city and its environs into a joyous celebration of music, theater, film and the visual arts.
Edinburgh Castle, perched on its pedestal of black volcanic rock, has presided over the city and the Forth for a thousand years. Not only will it provide a majestic vantage point for visitors to see the Tall Ships in July, it also will be the site in August of the festival’s Military Tattoo–a popular pageant of skirling bagpipes, whirling kilts and stirring military marching bands along with displays of equestrian skills and theatrical portrayals of the country’s historic past.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors vie for tickets to the spectacle, which is presented every night for three weeks. Each evening’s moving finale features a lone piper playing atop the castle’s highest tower and is capped off by a grand fireworks display.
The city itself is ancient, dating back to Roman times. A great Roman fortification, the Antonine Wall, begins just north of Edinburgh and runs for miles west through the countryside toward Glasgow. Museums in both cities have splendid Roman exhibits.
It is believed that the ancient castle rock, the volcanic outcrop that soars hundreds of feet above the city and provides a panoramic view of the entire Forth River estuary, was the site of some sort of Roman encampment.
Running downhill from the castle is the Royal Mile, the town’s original main street. Scattered among the tartan shops and sweater stores are ancient buildings of great historical importance, including the house of religious reformer John Knox. Appropriately for the festival, but probably not pleasing to Knox’s spirit, the lower floor of the great Presbyterian’s former home–located halfway down High Street–has been renovated into a charming little theater.
At the end of the Mile is Holyrood Palace, the royal residence of Queen Elizabeth II when she visits Scotland and former home of the hapless Mary Queen of Scots, who lost her head to the present queen’s namesake.
Princes Street Gardens spreads in a great flowered swath below the castle rock. There are daily performances of Scottish dance and traditional music there, along with masses of sidewalk exhibits and crafts vendors during the festival.
The gardens are a popular spot for families who picnic on the grass and wander through the stunning horticultural displays. One of the most charming is the Floral Clock, at the East End of the gardens near the Waverly Train Station. The original works of Edinburgh’s Floral Clock can be seen in Orlando’s Harry P. Leu Gardens. Edinburgh’s thrifty city fathers sold it to Leu Gardens in the early ’70s when they replaced their own.
Another landmark in the Princes Street Gardens is the Sir Walter Scott Monument, an intricately carved and spired memorial to the great Scottish novelist. Visitors can climb its slightly claustrophobic spiral stair for a view of the gardens, the castle and Princes Street, the main shopping street of what is called the New Town. It is just to the north of the castle, running parallel to the Royal Mile.
Festival events include performances by the world’s leading symphonies; presentations by opera companies from around the globe, often debuting works; classical concerts; and exhibits of art and photography in venues throughout the city.
At the beginning of the festival there is also a huge parade along Princes Street that includes all the bands that are performing in the Tattoo and hundreds of floats representing everything from the country’s great brewing companies to individual performers appearing during the festival.
But the real fun of the festival is found in the Fringe, that spawning ground for new theater and art, often experimental, often outrageous and controversial. Artists of all media come from around the world to participate in this event, which uses performance spaces that range from every possible theatrical stage in the city and and those of surrounding towns to pubs, church halls, store fronts, street corners and even telephone booths. The city seethes with creative competition as groups vie for the attention of audiences.
Visitors on the capital city’s streets are accosted constantly by performers with tickets in hand, practically begging them to come in and see what they have to offer. Tickets are cheap and plentiful on the streets or at the Fringe office on the Royal Mile.
The Fringe’s name, like Off Broadway in American theater, means at the edge of, the fringe of, the festival. Initially it was a loosely formed coalition created for the groups and acts that just didn’t fit the more formal guidelines set for festival acts. Now it is an institution of its own, and groups or individuals have to apply months in advance and be able to support themselves during the run of the festival, as there is seldom enough audience to go around. But what they get, these musicians and actors and playwrights and comedians, is international exposure on a level found at few other places on earth.
The Fringe has grown so much (last year, there were several hundred groups from countries as widely flung as Malaysia and China) that there is a limit on the number of performers and groups that can be accommodated. The result has been another more informal layer, Beyond the Fringe, which offers even more outrageous performances, many of which are not suitable for children.
Going on at the same time as the festival and the Fringe are the Blues Festival, the Edinburgh Film Festival and the Edinburgh Book Fair, a gathering of authors from around the world that is set up in tents in a great Georgian square north of the castle and gardens in what is called New Town, although it was built before most of America was even imagined.
DETAILS ON EDINBURGH
Getting there: The most direct connections by air from Chicago are via London or Amsterdam to Edinburgh’s Turnhouse Airport. You can also take the train from London. The main train station in Edinburgh is the Waverly Station, in the center of the city at the foot of Castle Hill, below the east end of Princes Street. Trains to many of the small towns in the Edinburgh area arrive and depart from the Waverly every few minutes. Public transportation within the city and its environs is extensive, and there are always taxis available at the train station.
Staying there: Accommodations in Edinburgh are extensive, and run the gamut from expensive to cheap. But summers are a popular time for tourists to the city, so arrangements should be made early. Listings can be found in good tourist guides to Scotland.
Information: For information about the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Race, call 011-44-131-313-6081.
For a brochure listing the events, times and prices of the 1994 Edinburgh International Festival, contact: Edinburgh Festival Office, 21 Market St., Edinburgh EH1 1BW, Scotland, United Kingdom. Phone: 011-44-31-226-4001.
For information on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, contact: Festival Fringe Office, 180 High St., Edinburgh EH1 1Q5, Scotland, United Kingdom. Phone: 011-44-31-226-5257.
For information on Edinburgh, write: Tourist Information Centre, Waverley Market, 3 Princes St., Edinburgh EH2 2QP, UK.
For information on Scotland, contact: Scottish Tourist Board, 23 Ravelston Terrace, Edinburgh EH4 3EU, Scotland, UK. Phone: 011-44-31-332-2433.
For a range of information on Britian, contact: British Tourist Authority, 40 W. 57th St., New York, N.Y. 10019; 212-986-2266.
