Edinburgh at festival time

Edinburgh is an old and planned city situated on a hill with a castle at its peak. Its grey stone block buildings, all of a similar vintage cover the entire city, from the port to the centre. One of the few places in the city where parking is free, we stayed near the marina.

By chance, we visited during the Fringe Festival and the military tattoo was on at the same time, so the city was packed. The Royal Mile had been pedestrianised so artists could give previews to attract audiences to their shows. Every show had touts handing out pamphlets. The atmosphere was vibrant, chaotic and full of youthful energy.

We walked up the hills to a number of vantage points to get great views of the city and surrounding country.

The National Museum of Scotland is worth a visit. Their technology section is partway between a Science Works (hands on learning) and a traditional museum. It contained hot air balloons, Dolly the cloned sheep, formula one cars, robots and weaving looms, with a particular focus on the hundreds of Scottish technological inventions.

Of all the museums we’ve visited this one inspires its audiences more to want to further learn about the science, technology and engineering worlds.

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