Scotland 2: Glasgow

Today, we're flying across the Irish Sea from Scotland to Northern Ireland for the final two stops of our trip in Belfast and Dublin!  We spent the last two days in the cosmopolitan and industrial city of Glasgow, which is probably most know for being in the Abba song "Super Trooper."  Although our guide books for Scotland seriously downplayed Glasgow in comparison to Edinburgh, we very much enjoyed our time in the Scottish arts capital. The residents were always friendly and willing to give us tips on places to see and things to experience. 

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon on a short hour-long train ride across the country from Edinburgh in the east to Glasgow in the west. Upon our arrival into central Glasgow, we made our way to the River Clyde where our hotel was located to drop off our bags and begin planning our visit of the city.  We decided to take the subway, which only has one line that runs in a loop around the city, to the posh, student-oriented West End. Home to the University of Glasgow, the fourth oldest university in the UK, the West End is full of bars, shops, and restaurants catered to a generally young and hip crowd. We began with dinner at Oran Mor, a bar inside of a former church.  We had our taste of traditional Scottish fare: fish and chips and bangers and mash. Although I do enjoy the meat and potato diet of Scotland and Ireland, there is a reason British cuisine has not left its mark on the international food scene.  After dinner, we wandered past the university grounds and down the main bar drag, Byres Street, stopping at 3-4 pubs along the way. Per chance, we ended our night at the Lismore Pub where there was a group of 10 musicians playing traditional Scottish music with fiddles, drums, guitars, and bagpipes. It was awesome to see Scots young and old playing music on a random Tuesday night in Glasgow. 

After a night of rest, we began our first and only full day in Glasgow with a walking tour of the city.  Glasgow is very walkable, and the city center is a compact area with all the main sights and streets together. Glasgow has a distinctly more "new world" feeling versus Edinburgh with its medieval walls and castle hills. The streets are lined with modern buildings (i.e. 1800s and later) and Glaswiegans going about their days. There are many different periods of Glasgow's architecture, stemming from the industrial period from the richer merchant class homes and working class tenements. There are signs across the city that read "People Make Glasgow," which reminds people not to take themselves and their city too seriously. For example, the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art has a bright colored glass mosaic on top of a Romanesque building with a traffic cone on the head of the bronze statue out front. 

Near the end of our walking tour, we stopped at the world famous Glasgow School of Art for a tour. This school has educated and trained many of the UK's best artists, with specialties like painting, ceramics, printmaking, and jewelry design. The most famous part of the school, where our tour explored, is the Charles Rennie Mackintosh building. Designed by a former student at the beginning of the Art Deco period, the Mackintosh building is a tribute to this architect's unique style and the modern era of architecture followed suit by buildings like the Chrystler Building in New York City. Mackintosh created a building that was designed for art students to create their works in and for standing as art itself. Mackintosh's designed his own furniture for the building, which can also be seen at his famous Willow Tea Rooms in the city.  Our tour guide was a ceramics student herself, who provided insights into life of students and professors at the School of Art. 

After walking across the city, we made a final stop at the Glasgow Catherdal of St. Mungo. It is a stark example of a high gothic cathedral in a country that dismantled many gothic churches during the Reformation in favor of simpler Presbyterian churches. Next door, the Necropolis is a large cemetery on a hill in the style of Pere Lechaise in Paris. We wandered back to the city center after a long day of sightseeing before grabbing dinner in the oldest pub in Glasgow. Sloan's has been operating since the 1790s, and there is even traditional Scottish dancing (ceilidh) on Friday nights. 

We had an early morning Thursday on our 7am flight for Glasgow to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland and our final stop in the UK.  Glasgow was an energetic and highly underrated city with the modern heartbeat of Scotland. English is certainly the language of Scotland, but we did have some trouble understanding many of the residents with their heavy Scottish accents and colloquial words like "aye" for "yes" and "cheers" for any greeting or thanks.  Although the winding streets and medieval history of Edinburgh are not to be missed, Glasgow has a hip and funky flare that are the total opposite of its Scottish rival city.  Of particular note, Glasgow will be host to the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and it's clearly excited to show itself off during the event.  Next update will be from Ireland after our journey in Great Britain comes to a close!  Cheers!