Sunday 20 April 2008

Glasgow

The time I had the opportunity to spend in Glasgow was very little comparing to the size of the city, so the first impression I got remained the conclusive. Until maybe next time...

I traveled from London by train. The trip was not short, roughly 5-6 hours. My first contact with anything Scottish was when the train crew changed as we headed North and suddenly I started to understand almost none of the announcements! Hail the Scottish accent!

Arriving at Glasgow the firth thing I saw was the Central Rail Station (dah!).

The Central Station

Glasgow is the largest city of Scotland, but not its capital, that is Edinburgh.The central pedestrian commercial street, Buchanan street, is full of shops, malls and as you can see, people! Without doubt, one of the busiest parts of the city!

Buchanan street

Buchanan street

The church of St George at Buchanan street.

St George Church

In the end of Buchanan street we see the Royal Concert Hall.

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Nearby there is the central square of Glasgow, George square, with the City Chambers.

City Chambers at George square

... and the Gallery of Modern Art, which I visited but just briefly.

Gallery of modern art

A bit far away is Glasgow's Cathedral, also called St Mungo's Cathedral, of the Church of Scotland. In the square in front of it we see a statue of David Livingstone, a Scottish explorer.

St Mungo's Cathedral

Before leaving, I tried a tea at the famous Willow Tearooms, which are designed from the well known Scottish architect and designer Mackintosh, at Buchanan street. They are in business since 1903 (not that particular tearoom though). The variety of teas is stunning.

Willow tearooms

Pay attention in the chairs. They are also designed by Mackintosh himself.

Inside willow tearooms

By the way, Bank of Scotland has its own banknotes, in different multiple designs. They have the same trading value as the English ones.

Scottish banknotes

I hope I will have in the future the chance to visit Glasgow again and explore it more thoroughly.

5 comments:

Laplace said...

με πωρωσες γκρινιαρη..

Γκρινιάρης said...

Thanks for the first comment! Glad you liked it!

Natassa said...

ιιιιιιιιιιι!!!!!!!!!!! μίλα και συ ! δλδ πρέπει να ψαχνουμε τα λινκ να δουμε αν καποιος ανοιξε και κανενα ταξιδιωτικό?....μπράβο!!!! πολυ μ αρέσει και βάζω λινκ πάραυτα!

Γκρινιάρης said...

Natassaaaa! It is supposed to be an english blog, how come you keep writing greek? :)

Thanks for the link! Keep in mind however that I have written about these journeys at my greek blog too.

Cheers!

Natassa said...

hm ....sorry for the greek :) next time i will comment in english :)