Edinburgh the Brave

MOVIES are known to bring tourists in their wake — think the Dingle peninsula for Ryan’s Daughter, the west of Ireland for The Quiet Man, Greece’s Skopolos for Mamma Mia or Kefallonia for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, New Zealand for Lord of the Rings, or Florence for — well, just about anything ever put on celluloid.

Sat, 28 Jul, 2012 - 01:00

Tommy Barker

Now, Scottish tourism is bracing itself for a surge of visitors following a stunning depiction of its natural and scenic beauties in the Disney Pixar blockbuster movie Brave.

But will an animated movie pack the same scenic punch and draw live tourism as real, down-to-earth locations, with an actual physical locus? Answers on a postcard home from Edinburgh, or from the Highlands, please.

The country’s tourism industry, via its promotions body VisitScotland, is confident the answer will be in affirmative. It is sinking £7m into a worldwide tourism spend to encourage more visitors as the movie will be shown in nearly 75 countries, to 80m punters; they expect a gross tourism return of £140m for what’s one of their biggest industries.

The winsome, and typically witty, Disney Pixar movie Brave opens in Ireland and Scotland at the end of this month and shortly afterwards in England (aha, the old rivalries!). It’s a star turn, in animated form, with voices from the likes of Billy Connolly, Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson and Trainspotting’s Kelly Macdonald — the latter probably trying to make up for any drug-debauched damage done to Edinburgh’s reputation in that earlier most un-Disney movie.

Family-friendly Brave had its European premiere in full 3-D hoopla at the closing of the Edinburgh Film Festival — attended by Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond, many of the voice stars, this reporter and, oh, about 1,000 others. It had a US premiere a month earlier when it went down a visual and veritable feast, grossing over $66m in its first week, and looks set to head into hundreds of millions of dollars more.

So, turning those movie dollars into tourists and sterling is Scotland’s hope, with dollar signs looming from those keen to trace their heritage and roots — red-headed and otherwise.

Given that Scotland is just a hop and skip away, it is of course a place we Irish are already well familiar with. Culturally, we fit right in, we can take a fair stab at Scots gaelic and native signage, the bars feel homely and serve stout and whisky galore, we swamp the place during rugby internationals at Murrayfield Stadium, and, em, during sundry stag and hen parties.

Scotland does visits supremely well, most notably its capital city Edinburgh, which positively teems with attractions, architecture, calling cards, heritage and history, museums and parks, castles and dungeons: it also teems with other tourists. You’ll rarely feel alone, and you’ll even have to jostle your way along busier parts of the Royal Mile up by the landmark, absolutely must-see Edinburgh Castle.

At 170 feet above sea level and the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh Castle dominates the city from all corners on its craggy six acre perch, formed from volcanic lava 350m years ago, and with a fortification history going back to Roman times. If it didn’t already exist, Disney might have had to invent it.

Ironically, having withstood attacks for centuries, and with attractions including the Scotish Crown jewels known as the Honours hidden away in the 17th century out of the reach of Oliver Cromwell, it now is under constant siege with up to 8,000 visitors a day on busy days, and one million a year overall, but takes it all in its stony stride.

Hours can be spent here given its many facets — or longer, as it’s still a working military barracks, and for the month of August, the castle’s approach (esplanade) hosts the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, a nightly display of pomp, power and piping. That month of tattoo (usually sold out well in advance) coincides with Edinburgh’s International Festival, running from Aug 10 to Sept 2 (see www.eif.co.uk), and while the official festival may appear a bit high-brow, there’s a more diverse range of offers in the frantic festival adjunct that is ‘the fringe.’ It’s huge: with 2,000 shows and many for free, it’s the world’s biggest arts event.

In fact, Edinburgh’s offering is sort of a trumping amalgam of several Irish cities: it’s hilly in its core, like Cork City only with a bulge (the castle), not the hollow, in the middle, and has windy streets. The castle has the same iconic lure as Blarney Castle, but then Edinburgh’s range of festivals and party atmosphere also gives it a whiff of Galway.

Then, as befits a capital city, it’s got lots of Dublin’s magnet-appeal as it hosts national institutions such as the just-reopened National Museum (all the main museums are free admission) and the National Gallery. There are perfectly presented period homes of the rich and not so rich, the zoo, and the Botanic Gardens — the latter a perfect place to chill out for a half a day (Sunday morning’s good), and the main Victorian glasshouse is Europe’s tallest.

Another eye-catcher attraction is the 19th century Camera Obscura, up next to the castle, a sort of early CCTV eye-in-the-sky, using little more than a mirror and dark room to spy on the castle close, and the city beyond, while the lower parts of the tall old building are given over to a host of visual tricks and optical illusions. Worth the £10.95 adult charge, or kids at £8.95.

For shoppers, the city’s offerings are widely spread, it’s not too homogenised and bland, almost everywhere the well-preserved buildings are worth a second look, and Princes Street and George Street host most of the familiar brand and retail names, with a Harvey Nichols at the end of George Street, plus a John Lewis outlet in the St James Centre.

The top-end designer brands cluster at the ‘new’ street Multrees Walk, while Jenners department store is the local institution. The Grassmarket, burrowed under the looming bulk of Edinburgh Castle, has some bohemian shops and restaurants, but turns a bit Temple Bar-ish at night with roving stags and hens. The cobbled Royal Mile, meanwhile, is home to elegant knitwear and craft ranges, a clash of tartans, and an awful lot of tat you wouldn’t flash your kilt at.

Some of the city’s best and oldest secrets are underground: there’s a range of visits to the old narrow streets (the closes and wynds) and dungeon-like underground vaults, with tales of hauntings, ghosts and ghouls, plus a couple of notorious Irish grave-robbers.

Edinburgh’s historic core has kept more in touch with its medieval past and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The city has easy access to the greatest of great outdoors for water sports, golf, climbing and more, Glasgow’s an hour away by train and London is four hours travel.

There’s a serious range of good eateries and drinking establishments some of which have even the temerity to suggest that single malt Scotch Whisky beats the Irish whiskey offering.

Now, that’s Brave and spirited Scottish animation for you.

Flights

Edinburgh can be accessed by Ryanair, Aer Lingus and Flybe, from a variety of Irish airports. Flights from €32, but expect to pay around €150 on average. Aer Aran operates the Aer Lingus Cork-Edinburgh flight.

There’s also Aer Lingus Shannon-Edinburgh flights and Ryanair and Aer Lingus fly from Dublin to Edinburgh.

There’s an easy, frequent airport bus service to Waverley Station in the city centre, cost £6 return, 30-minute trip. Taxis are about £18 one-way.

Accommodation

There’s a huge range. B&Bs are still doing well, there are self-catering apartments, hostels, hotels, inns, for about the £75 a night mark.

Apex hotels have four Edinburgh hotels www.apexhotels.co.uk

www.jurysinns.com/edinburghhotels

For opulence: www.thebalmoralhotel.com, or www.thescotsmanhotel.co.uk

Food

Eat at www.grainstore-restaurant.co.uk or for seafood, try www.ondinerestaurant.co.uk

Useful addresses

www.edinburgh.org

www.eif.co.uk