I arrived a couple days early with friends to visit Glasgow before the tour group. What a lovely city! It is full of interesting buildings, magnificent flowers, beautiful views and some colourful and friendly people. You can engage in a conversation and know someone’s life history in 10 minutes! Of course that is assuming you understood a single word they say. The street has pink banners all over with the phrase “People Make Glasgow”. Lots of wonderful shops and lots of beautiful views.
The Hop On Hop Off bus gave us a great overview of the city. Starting at George Square we circled all of the major areas.
Some highlights from the days on our own - the mural walk, the tenement house and tea and tour at the MacIntosh Willow Tea House.
Throughout the city are numerous murals painted on buildings. Some are definitely not sanctioned but most are amazing pieces of art commissioned by the city to spruce it up. The samples below say it all.
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| A few of the us sanctioned murals |
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| Charles MacIntosh |
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| Billy Connelly |
Tenement houses were common living quarters for many people in Glasgow. There were generally 4 floors with 2 living areas on each floor. One was donated to the National Trust and has now been restore to how it looked in the early 1900’s. Times must have been very difficult for them.
Glasgow City Chambers are beautiful with marble staircases, dark wood and of course stained glass. It is still the working city offices but tourists are allowed in to see the main floor stair cases.
The Glasgow Cathedral is a huge Gothic style building. The building is much taller at the back as it is built into the hill. The lane from the church leads to the park filled with grand tombstones with the highest one a monument to John Knox. The views of the city are great.
The People’s Palace is a great tribute to the people of Eastend Glasgow located in another beautiful building. Outside is a fountain honouring different commonwealth countries including Canada. In the background is a huge park called Glasgow Greens. Also off in the distance is an interesting building which is a carpet factory.
Kelvingrove Art and Museum is huge with so many different displays that you could spend days there. We were so fortunate to hear a bit of an organ recital - the sound in the building was unbelievable.
Our first full tour day finished with a wonderful experience at the The National Piping Centre. Greeted on our arrival by a single piper, we learned more about the bagpipes, their history and their workings. Some had a chance to try and did really well before one of our group demonstrated her skills as a piper! The evening concluded with a fantastic dinner that included a chance to taste Haggis bon bons and yummy desserts like cranahan and sticky toffee. A walk back to the hotel would have been appropriate but it was pouring rain so taxis were there to take us back in comfort.
I am writing this post on Sept 9, the day after the news that Queen Elizabeth passed away last night. We are certainly travelling here in historic times and will likely have stories to tell by the time we return home. It is the only topic of conversation everywhere. We’ll be interested to see what develops in the next few days and watch as the country definitely mourns their much beloved Queen. Strolling through Glasgow in the evening we saw many digital images honouring the Queen. In Stirling we had the honour to sign one of the books of condolences.
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