The Cat Prince’s Guide to Edinburgh

Now I’m all for dog friendly and baby friendly spots – let’s welcome in all the droolers and dribblers – but I think a little more feline energy needs to be unfurled upon Scotland’s capital this August.

I spent a good chunk of my youth in Edinburgh convinced I was a cat, The Cat Prince to be precise. I had a propensity for stripping star-bollock naked on playdates, declaring myself The Cat Prince and then proceeding to pound around these stranger’s households trying to recruit their children into joining my naked cat gang. This did not make for too many sequel play-dates, but years on The Cat Prince vibe has come back strong. It's about time Edinburgh Festival upped its catty chutzpah.

This August, I call upon thee to courier the cat in you – the furry feline trapped within that gawky human frame – around some of the city’s superlative loafing spots and witness your moggy moxie return (or simply ramp-up a notch). So where to you ask, well here be the scripture.

Maison de Moggy is first-up, natch – Scotland’s first and original cat café. These cats are show biz extraordinaries, just sit back and swoon all over them – perhaps slurp on a chocolate paw-print marked cappuccino as you’re doing so. Sure there’s a decent view of an old castle en route, but that takes a second place to the best view of the day (the kitty carnival).

Cats and indie bookshops are natural bedfellows, and Edinburgh is a mecca for indie bookshops. There’s The Portobello Bookshop, down by the seaside, where you can snap-up a prize tome and then saunter along the promenade until your feet get sandy. Nobles Arcade is close to hand if you fancy a whirl on the 2p machines, and Shrimp Wreck seafood shack is a champion stop-off. If you spill fish juice on the pages of your new book, good, you’re doing it right. 

More central, there’s lovely Lighthouse Books – a queer-owned and woman-led bookshop. It’s a pure stunner and sometimes there’s summer events out in their back garden. You might have to hide your cat scent from their darling shop dog, Artie… but don’t tell her I said that, or she’ll get aw sassy with me.

Och, there’s also Argonaut Books, Toppings, Golden Hare, The Edinburgh Bookshop and more, so why not make a bookshop crawl of it? Bring a strong tote, fill it, and become a member of the Literati. Remember each book bought is an investment in the YOU of the future – even sexier, savvier, and more enlightened.

Edinburgh has abundant spooky architecture and heaps of kooky closes/alleyways, so remember to look up and down and breath it all in (especially the closes on a Sunday morning after a big Saturday night – pish and chippy sauce galore).

Greenspaces are not to be missed – The Meadows for hippy daundering, and then Holyrood Park for gawking agog at that ancient volcanic giant brooding over the city like a bull seal ready to brawl.

For refuelling, caffeine wise, stop by Summerhall’s MF Coffee, and for scran it’s The Black Grape on the Royal Mile – small plates and scrumptious wines. There’s no finer place to quaff cocktails than Paradise Palms, and no better beer gardens than Summerhall, Bellfield Brewery and The Sheep’s Heid Inn.

But for frickles sake please keep all this to yourself, or else it’ll be pure mobbed! Fringe is, after all, Edinburgh’s best kept secret.

Now quest forth – get those whiskers wet and give the seagulls hell! Paw-print sigils mark the glass.

 

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Michael Pedersen appears at the Book Festival:

The Big Friendship Fandango

EFI Spiegeltent
9pm, 23 Aug

Words from the Wards: Michael Pedersen

EFI Venue C
6.15pm, 25 Aug