Edinburgh - New bus tour serving up city's literary fare

Scotsman.com News - Scotland's holiday industry - New bus tour serving up city's literary fare
Here's yet another way to see the Scottish capital Edinburgh and discover - or rediscover, if you're an avid reader - something about some of the people who have contributed to the city's reputation as a centre of culture: "The Edinburgh Literary Bus Tour has been set up by the organisers of the city's successful pub tour, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary."

Edinburgh was designated a Unesco city of world literature in 2004, and this is a bus tour with a difference to highlight that: "Actors will perform a one-hour script on the bus as it moves between locations, with examples of the work of authors from past and present included in the script. "

Some of the famous names and places associated with them which are covered by the tour include David Hume, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, Muriel Spark ("The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie"), Alexander McCall Smith and Ian Rankin.

The tour, which will run twice daily, is expected to attract a more family-orientated audience than the pub crawl, er, pub tour (Freudian slip there).

According to Morris Paton, the managing director of the Scottish Literary Trust Ltd, the launch of the tour is a sign of the growing interest in Edinburgh writers.

"There's been such a renewed interest in Scottish literature generally, especially some of the contemporary writers, that it has taken off and there's huge demand for things like this. "

So, if you're thinking of a trip to Edinburgh, check it out!