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Edinburgh Students Cafe - Flat for rent, Flatmate, used book, used stuff, sell online, accomodation: About Edinburgh
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A description of events stage by stage.
The festival performance begins on the Acropolis at 9.30pm, where the May Queen, symbolic of the Earth, reveals herself from within her winter retreat.
She and the White Women warriors greet the four points of the compass to begin the ritual.
The Green Man, her consort for the year and symbolic of summer growth, presents himself and the procession starts off around the hill, guided by the druidic Blue Men and driven by pounding drum rhythms. The procession passes first through a fire arch. It then visits sites representing the four elements : Air, Earth, Water and Fire - inhabited by sylphs, goblins, nymphs and sprites respectively.
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Posted by poster on Friday, April 29 @ 18:22:20 CDT (1421 reads)
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With its heady brew of drums, fire, theatre and pagan ritual on the top of Calton Hill, the Beltane festival, celebrating the arrival of Summer, is one of the most exuberant events in Edinburgh's calendar. But what's it all about? A member of The Beltane Fire Society explains. (Interview)
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The highlight of Scotland's calendar is the Edinburgh International Festival, held every August. Since its inception in 1947, it has grown into one of the world's largest and most important arts festivals. The Fringe Festival began unofficially at the same time and grew in tandem to become the largest such event in the world. Over 500 amateur and professional groups present every possible kind of avant-garde performance in venues all around the city. Also held in the same period is the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, which takes place on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle. The show is an extravaganza of daredevil displays, regimental posturing and swirling bagpipes and ends with a single piper playing a lament on the battlefields. Hogmanay, the Scottish celebration of the New Year, is another major fixture in Edinburgh's festival calendar with concerts, street parties and a massive bonfire on Calton Hill.
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Port o'Leith (tel 554 3568, 58 Constitution St). A good, old-fashioned, friendly local boozer, the Port is swathed with flags and cap bands left behind by visiting sailors - the harbour is just down the road. Pop in for a pint and you'll probably stay till closing time.
Carriers Quarters (tel 554 4122, 42 Bernard St). With a low, wooden ceiling, stone walls and a fine old fireplace, the Carriers has all the historic atmosphere that its 18th-century origins would imply. It serves real ales and malt whiskies, and has folk sessions on Thursday nights.
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The city: Pubs & Bars - Grassmarket & Around
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Grassmarket pubs have outdoor tables on sunny summer afternoons, but in the evenings they are favoured by boozed-up lads on the pull. Cowgate - Grassmarket's extension to the east - is Edinburgh's clubland.
Fiddlers Arms (tel 229 2665, 9-11 Grassmarket). In contrast to the mostly studenty and touristy bars that characterise Grassmarket, the Fiddlers is an unpretentious, traditional pub with old fiddles lining the walls and a well-used pool table in the back room. It's famous for its wild, Monday-night folk-music sessions.
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Directly south of the city centre on Blackford Hill, the observatory was moved here from Calton Hill in 1896. In the visitor centre there's a multimedia gallery with computers and CD ROMs on astronomy, and there are terrific views of Edinburgh from the rooftop.
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Calton Hill, at the east end of Princes St, is another distinctive component of Edinburgh's skyline, 100m (333ft) high and scattered with grandiose memorials mostly dating from the first half of the 19th century. Here you get one of the best views of Edinburgh, taking in the entire panorama - the castle, Holyrood, Arthur's Seat, the Firth of Forth, the New Town and Princes St.
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The city: Pubs & Bars - Tollcross, Bruntsfield & Morningside
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Cloisters (tel 221 9997, 26 Brougham St). Housed in a converted manse, Cloisters now ministers to a mixed congregation of students, locals and real-ale connoisseurs. It has decent grub and a nice, warm fireplace in winter.
The Auld Toll (tel 229 1010, 39 Leven St). This is an old and pleasantly unpretentious local boozer, with the public bar to the left and a narrow lounge to the right as you go in.
The Golf Tavern (tel 229 5040, 30 Wright's Houses). Overlooking the pitch-and-putt course on Bruntsfield Links, the Golf is housed in a 19th-century building, though there have been licensed premises on this spot since the 15th century. Its an attractive place, with luxurious leather sofas, that pulls in a young, studenty crowd at the weekends.
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The city: Must see - Greyfriars Kirk & Kirkyard
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At the bottom of a stone canyon made up of tenements, churches, volcanic cliffs and the castle, Greyfriars Kirkyard is one of Edinburgh's most evocative spots - a peaceful oasis dotted with memorials and surrounded by Edinburgh's dramatic skyline. The kirk (church) was built on the site of a Franciscan friary and opened for worship on Christmas Day 1620. In 1638, the National Covenant was signed inside near the pulpit. The covenant rejected Charles I's attempts to reintroduce episcopacy and a new English prayer book, and affirmed the independence of the Scottish church. Many who signed were later executed in Grassmarket and, in 1679, 1200 Covenanters were held prisoner in terrible conditions in an enclosure in the yard. There's a small exhibition inside.
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The Antiquary (tel 225 2858, 72-78 St Stephen St). The long-established Antiquary has lively folk-music sessions on Thursday night, when all comers are welcome to perform.
Bert's Bar (tel 332 6345, 2 Raeburn Place). Under the same management as its namesake in the West End, Bert's is the place to enjoy a pint of real ale and a decent pie.
The Bailie (tel 225 4673, 2 St Stephen St). Down in a basement, the Bailie is an old Stockbridge stalwart, a dark, warm and welcoming nook where you can enjoy good coffee as well as real ales and malts.
Hector's (tel 332 5328, 47 Deanhaugh St). A trendy cafe-bar with good food and an excellent range of wines, Hector's is a popular meeting place, whether for breakfast, afternoon coffee or an evening meal and a drink.
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