Urban Images: Edinburgh in August

Edinburgh Castle from the Rooftop Terrace, National Museum of Scotland

August is Festival time in Edinburgh and the only time of the year when I spend much time in a city. During the Festivals (I've lost count of how many different ones there are) Edinburgh is bustling, confusing, entertaining, overwhelming, exciting, inspiring, exhausting.

The Bluebells and Barbed Wire logo of the 2014 Edinburgh International Festival

This year was a more serious festival time than usual as we went to several shows and talks relating to World War 1 and war in general, which were the themes of the International Festival. Of these events a talk by historian Margaret MacMillan on the complex causes of WWI was illuminating while Ganesh Versus The Third Reich was a disturbing, thought-provoking and challenging play.

The James Plays by Rona Munro were the highlights though. The writing, acting and production of these three plays about the Scottish kings James I, II and III were all stunning. This is a major work. The plays are on in London in September. I recommend them to anyone who likes theatre.

There were some shows with outdoor themes at the Festival Fringe and I went to ones on John Muir, the Three Peaks of Yorkshire and George Mallory and enjoyed them all. You can read my thoughts in the October issue of The Great Outdoors.

Away from the shows I did spend some time wandering round the city looking at the variety of people and places and taking photographs. Here are some of my pictures.

A Diverse Skyline

Reptilian monsters? Not worth a glance.

You can buy anything

Or anywhere really

Venues everywhere

Posters everywhere

Cranes or monsters?

An odd corner

Philosopher David Hume wonders what has happened to his city, to the left Jehovah's Witness cause a miracle - an empty space on the Royal Mile

Crowds