Old Town Takes Centre Stage

In a city famed for its August shenanigans a lesser known event takes centre stage today, 16 June. One of the star turns of this year's Old Town Festival will be the Westminster Presbyterian Gospel Choir. The North Carolinan choir will be performing at St Giles' Cathedral this lunchtime. The Festival showcases the Old Town's heritage through story telling, visual art, lectures and other activities at venues in the Old Town.

The Old Town Festival will run for a fortnight until 29 June. Edinburgh World Heritage and the Scottish Storytelling Centre. A collections of photographs showing Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile down the years will be one of the highlights. The photographic exhibition featuring images from Edinburgh City Library's Capital Collections finishes on July 19.

Another, far better known festival ,the Edinburgh International Film Festival starts on 18 June and ends on 29 June. The Film Festival has moved from its traditional August slot.

Independent travellers can discover the Old Town's rich and often bloody past with one of two Walk Talk Tours audio walking tours of Edinburgh. The Royal Mile & More audio walking tour begins outside Edinburgh Castle. Listeners will hear about the Castle's turbulent past - changing hands between the English and Scots - an infamous banquet that ended in murder and more. Visitors to the Scottish capital can make the most of their downloadable travel guide by checking our Where & When pages to find out the opening times of major attractions en route.

Further down the Royal Mile listeners to the Royal Mile & More mp3 guided tour will hear about St Giles' Cathedral's interesting past. The High Kirk of St Giles has been the parish church of Edinburgh since the twelfth century. Discover how the imposition of an English prayer book in the seventeenth century precipitated a riot. The first Protestant Minister of St Giles in 1560 was John Knox, a leading light in the Scottish Reformation. Knox was a fiery orator, who famously clashed with Mary Queen of Scots.

More than 200 famous Scots are commemorated in the Cathedral, including Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet, and Robert Louis Stevenson whose works included Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The latter book was said to have been inspired by an eighteenth century resident of Edinburgh, who led a double life. Find out more on the Royal Mile & More, Edinburgh travel guide.

The Scottish Storytelling Centre is housed in what is commonly regarded to have been Knox's house. However, there is no evidence to suggest he ever actually lived there, though he may well have done in the later years of his life.

The Royal Mile & More podcast guided tour concludes in front of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official residence in Scotland, where listeners to the Royal Mile & More iPod travel guide will learn of murder, intrigue and more. To hear an audio sample from the Royal Mile & More, Edinburgh city guide please click here.

Undercover tourists embarking on a Walk Talk Tour audio walking tour should not get lost. Our easy to follow instructions - which you are free to listen to as many times as you feel necessary - and a downloadable map should ensure that you won't miss a thing! With a Walk Talk Tour audio downloadable travel guide you're in charge. No need to feel conspicuous with a guidebook in your hands or struggle to follow - let alone hear - the man with the umbrella.

The two audio walking tours of Edinburgh represent excellent value at £5.95 each. Customers purchasing both tours simultaneously will receive a twenty per cent discount. Walk Talk Tours offer great value for people travelling in groups and parties.