The Edinburgh Festivals

So London held the Olympics this year but Edinburgh in Scotland hosts the largest arts ‘Olympics’ every year in the month of August. The Edinburgh Festivals, the collective term for the all the arts festivals running side by side hosting theatre, opera, jugglers, acrobats, comics, baroque quartets and jazz and much more; with the Fringe, Book, Military Tatoo, Art and the International Festival there is so much to feast your senses on.

I took the Emirates flight from Dubai to Glasgow on their business flight which enabled me to use their limo service with a drive to Edinburgh in less than an hour. With the medieval backdrop of the city I took in the sights with the Royal Mile leading up to the Castle which looms over the city and fireworks every night, to shopping on Princes St and trying the eclectic mix of restaurants and of course seeing a range of arts and cultural events. This year also saw the first Edinburgh International Culture Summit with key speakers from across the world.

Tune in Sun, Mon and Tues from 10am and hear how I got on the things I saw and the people I met.

Some info on the festivals:

Edinburgh hosts more than a dozen festivals through the year, from a vast open air Hogmanay street party every New Year's eve, an international film festival staged in June, a science festival in March.

Dates for 2012:

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: 3rd – 27th August 2012
Edinburgh International Festival: 9th Aug – 2nd Sept 2012
Edinburgh International Book Festival: 11th – 27th Aug 2012
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo: 3rd – 25th Aug 2012
Edinburgh Mela Festival: 31st Aug – 2nd Sept 2012
Edinburgh Art Festival: 2nd Aug – 2nd Sept 2012

Festivals in the Autumn/ Winter:

Scottish International Storytelling Festival: 19 – 28 October 2012
Edinburgh's Hogmanay: 30 Dec 2012- 1 January 2013

For more information on all the festivals in Edinburgh throughout the year and in 2013 go to www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk. Visit www.visitscotland.com/creative for information on how to book travel and accommodation.

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Edinburgh: Did you know...?

- George Orwell wrote his classic novel 1984 at Barnhill Cottage on the Scottish Island of Jura between 1946-48
 
- The poetry of Scotland's national bard, Robert Burns has influenced creative talent from John Steinbeck to Bob Dylan.
 
- Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world's largest arts festival, selling in excess of a million tickets over three weeks in August.
 
- Edinburgh hosts more bookshops per capita than any other UK city, and hosts the world's largest public celebration of books with the International Book Festival held every August.
 
- Each year as many as 280 different festivals take place across Scotland from small, local niche events to spectacles such as The Royal Edinburgh Military Tatoo and the Edinburgh International Festival
 
- Scotland hosts the world's oldest film festival - The Edinburgh International Film Festival in June.
 
- 2012 is the year of Creative Scotland, a celebration of Scotland's culture and creativity with events taking place across the country.

- This year Edinburgh held the first Edinburgh International Culture summit welcoming ministers and speakers from around the world to encourage dialogue and open exchange.

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