A weekend in Edinburgh (During Fringe Festival!)

´The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the single biggest celebration of arts and culture on the planet.´

Sounds incredibly cool! I did not know anything about the Fringe Festival before I went to Edinburgh, but now I love it!

A friend of mine (Annet) is living in Edinburgh for a while now and I had to meet her there. Besides that I had been there around 7 years ago, just for a day, and I absolutely loved Edinburgh. So I knew I had to go back there. First I wanted to go there in February, with another friend (Josnie), but Annet, the friend in Edinburgh told me that I should come in August, because of the Festival. Okay, why not 🙂

Plan was made, tickets were booked, presents for Annet and her boyfriend were bought, so there we went to the UK!
Annet is such a good host with a nice house and she makes the most yummy breakfasts, if she ever wants to become a host on Airbnb, I will definitely recommend her haha.

Day 1

Anyway, the first day was all about exploring Edinburgh with our great guide Annet. She told us all about the tartans, the different families (behind the traditional kilts that you see in Scotland).

We went to all the Harry Potter shops (HP fan here!) where I bought Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans! There were even dirt and vomit flavours which really did not taste that great haha.

Castle
Then we went to the castle of course (which also really has a Harry Potter vibe) to have stunning views over the city and to learn more about the history of the Royals in Scotland.

Victoria Street

Due to the festival there were multiple street performers performing their show, especially at beautiful Victoria Street, so after every few meters we stopped and looked at their show. One of my favorites was a funny Japanese guy that was doing lots of difficult tricks with help of people from the audience.

Later we had our lunch at Deacon´s House Cafe, where I ordered a bit too much, because I wanted all the food. It just looked too good.
Luckily it all tasted good. Oh that scone!! The best I have had so far. Please try it there if you want to try amazing scones.

Fringe show 1

We ended the evening with one of the shows of the Fringe that we paid for, Havana After Dark. We all agreed (we, Annet, her boyfriend and their friends) that that show was incredible.
It is a Cuban dance show with mixed dance genres, amazing singers, the biggest hits and even a political thought behind all. I really wished I could have recorded some of it, just to experience it all again. For sure a recommendation!

Day 2

The second and last day in Edinburgh we started with an amazing breakfast from Annet, so we had enough fuel to explore Edinburgh all day!

National Gallery of Scotland

National Gallery of Scotland
First stop: Nationally Gallery of Scotland, which was free to visit. Josnie, my friend, is a big history fan, so she was very happy to visit this gallery. I think it was funny there are lots of Dutch paintings hanging in that gallery.

Fringe show 2

Around 1PM we went to another Fringe show, called Crime Scene Improvisation.
This was an improvisation show where somebody gets killed, but nobody know who the killer is, not even the cast. It´s impressive how the cast can improvise and make it funny at the same time. I don´t think everyone will like it, but it was entertaining!

Calton Hill

After that we went up Calton Hill, a hill where you of course have a nice view over Edinburgh. We first wanted to go up Arthur´s Seat, but we did not have enough time for that, and that one is way harder to climb as Calton Hill,

So if you have more time I think you have to try to go up there, I mean just look at pictures on the internet.

To end our day, we ate at Cosmo, this is a restaurant with a large buffet and food from all over the world. Yumm again!

Recommendation

I strongly recommend everyone to visit Edinburgh, not just during the festival. Edinburgh is also amazing without the festival.

But if you can and choose when you want to go there, go during this festival in August! Edinburgh is so cosy during that period of time. Everyone is out on the streets, there are lots of street performers, food markets/stands and the most coolest and funny shows.

It also did not rain much when we went there in August, while it normally rains a lot in Scotland.
You won´t get bored in Edinburgh, there are so many things to do. I wish I had more time to also visit more shows and places.
Next to that that I recommend you to go to colorful Victoria Street and visit the castle (who has been to Edinburgh if you haven´t visited this castle!).

Harry Potter fans be happy! There are lots of Harry Potter shops, the café where JK Rowling apparently wrote her first book (the castle and the university that you can see from there were her inspiration for Hogwarts). The castle itself also has strong HP vibes!