Backpacker Buzz

It's the wee Scottish city that is spelled with only nine letters but pronounced with about fourteen syllables, six of which are variations on the rrrrolled rrrrr. It's got more pubs than you can dream of crawling 'round (indeed many Scots do dream about exactly this), a pretty little castle perched atop a rock and a year's worth of events stuffed into one month. From the home of haggis and heilan' coos, I give you my take on Edinburgh.

For starters, I met my parents here AND all the YHAs in Edinburgh were booked for our stay so I had a bit of a re-introduction to life outside of the backpack. I ate like a starved backpacker, slept in my very own double bed, had lattes and mochas like they came from the tap and even used the phrase, "Yes, I think I will have dessert," on more than one occasion. I do like the backpacking life, but I also very much enjoy the company of mom and dad (and their wallets).

August in Edinburgh is festival time. THE Festival happens throughout the entire month and it's that big that it doesn't even need a real name. It's actually a collection of five different fesitvals. It used to be six but the Film Fest got a bit of a middle child complex and decided to move to June where it could get a bit of attention. The International Festival has all sorts of song, dance, theatre and literature from around the world. The Fringe Festival has some of that as well as enough live comedy to insult even the most vulgar among us (me, in this case). You've also got the Edinburgh Art Festival and the International Book Festival with what some may argue to be more sophisticated offerings. 

Alongside this, you've got the legendary Edinburgh Military Tattoo going down every night on the Edinburgh Castle promenade - a massive production playing to about 9,000 people every night. 

All this concentrated in one month sets up a scenario that proves tourism ain't dead. The Royal Mile, the road leading up to the castle, is jam-packed at the best of times. 

My parents and I hit up a Best of Scottish Comedy show since the massive comedy section of the Fringe Festival programme, bigger than some university course calendars, was too difficult to grapple in its entirety in the three days we had in the city. We each translated the Scottish accents to each other at different points, but sometimes the slang went right over our heads. Lesson #1 about interacting with Scots: laugh when they laugh.

I'm not a fan of bagpipes but after three days in Edinburgh, I started to warm up to them. On our final night, we went to see the military tattoo (pronounced "t'tuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" in Scottish). Despite there being 9,000 seats available every night for a month, we had to book our tickets eight months ago. 

Here, military bands from Scotland and around the world perform. Doesn't sound all that appealing, but it's set before the entrance of the castle, which makes for an impressive setting. In addition to bagpipes, you get singing and dancing and, again this year, some precision drumming [video link] from Switzerland. It's an incredible show, even more so when you consider 1,000 people make this show happen every night for a month. 

We also checked out a tour of Mary King's Close - a tourist trap for sure, but it offers some good history. Just try not to go at the same time as a Dutch school group. The tour leads you through a series of old streets (closes) that made up Edinburgh in the 17th century but have since been built on top of. 

We also paid a visit to Scotland's National Museum which is jam-packed with stuff but unfortunately miserably laid-out. The artifacts on display are interesting (and plentiful), but there doesn't seem to be a very logical flow to the information and it hops from century to century and back again throughout the displays. So swing by trusty Wikipedia for your crash-course in Scottish history before you head to the museum.

And then there's the Edinburgh Castle, which looms over the city atop Castle Rock. Home to the Crown Jewels of Scotland and the birthplace of James VI, the castle now primarily serves as a tourist attraction. 

I could go on forever. I haven't even mentioned a single pub yet. You could spend a week in Edinburgh and still not see it all, and if that week happens to fall in August, you'll barely skim the surface. 

The Scottish Youth Hostel Association has two hostels in Edinburgh - The five-star Edinburgh Central is just a few minutes from the Royal Mile. Meanwhile, Edinburgh Metro is a summer-only hostel in the residence halls of Edinburgh University in the city's Cowgate area. If you're going in August, boooook ahead.

Stay tuned on more of Scotland, as I head up through the Highlands, past Loch Ness and out to the Hebrides and Isle of Skye.