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Did You Know?

Every August, Edinburgh, Scotland welcomes Festival Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival. 2015’s festival spanned 25 days and featured 50,459 performances of 3,314 shows in 313 venues

St. Margaret’s Chapel, located within the walls of Edinburgh Castle, is the oldest building. It was built in memory of Queen Margaret.

“You’ll have had your tea?” was once a common Edinburgh greeting and is still used today as a way to avoid putting on a kettle; its believed the phrase originated in the 18th century with a nobleman named Mackintosh of Borlum who didn’t like the sound of tea-slurping at social gatherings.

Much of J K Rowling’s inspiration for the Harry Potter books derived from Edinburgh. In fact, she wrote the majority of Harry Potter books while living in the city and you can visit some of the coffee shops and hotels such as Elephant House and Balmoral Hotel where she spent time writing the novels. 

The “Stone of Destiny” is the traditional coronation stone of Scottish and English royalty and is kept at Edinburgh Castle with the crown jewels of Scotland; according to legend, the real stone was secretly swapped for a fake one at some point in its history.

Edinburgh Castle’s Great Hall has a small window high above the fireplace known as “laird’s lug” which translates into “the Lord’s ear.” The window allowed castle residents to eavesdrop on conversations taking place in the Great Hall.

“You’ll have had your tea?” was once a common Edinburgh greeting and is still used today as a way to avoid putting on a kettle; its believed the phrase originated in the 18th century with a nobleman named Mackintosh of Borlum who didn’t like the sound of tea-slurping at social gatherings.

His name is Sir Nils Olav. The King penguin’s role includes inspecting the Norwegian Guard on their visits to the Scottish capital and since his knighthood in 2008, he’s since been promoted in the ranks to Brigadier. Only in Edinburgh!

There will be over 3000 shows will be staged with a total of 50,000 performances across 300 venues. The population of the city doubles in size during Fringe with people travelling from far and wide just to experience it. This festival should be on everyone’s bucket list, this year it kicks off on 3 August.

The Castle sits on Castle Rock, a 700 million year old extinct volcano. Make sure you're here at 1pm to see the 'One O'Clock Gun' fires be shot from the castle. This takes place every day in the capital (except Sundays) where spectators gather in the park to watch.

Edinburgh Castle sits on Castle Rock, a 700 million year old extinct volcano. Make sure you're here at 1pm to see the 'One O'Clock Gun' fires be shot from the castle. This takes place every day in the capital where spectators gather in the park to watch.