| Great escapes: Scotland 3 |
Glasgow's name comes from the gaelic Gl_s chu (m_eaning dear green place) when there was a tiny trading post on the Clyde. Its name is appropriate, as Glasgow has the second greatest number of parks of any city in Europe.
In the late 19th century, as the city enjoyed huge productivity, prosperity and a cultural revival, it was known as the Second City of the Empire. Latterly, the sobriquet ‰Workshop of the World', reflected the city's engineering successes in shipping, and other fields.
It also has a heritage of fine buildings by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Alexander 'Greek' Thompson and their ilk.
Having scooped awards such as European City of Culture (1990) and City of Architecture and Design (1999), this is the Scottish city to be seen in. It is a powerful, addictive, vibrant city, inhabited by a warm and uniquely good-humoured population.
Start here
Take the train into Glasgow - don't attempt to drive - it only takes 35-40 minutes and Glasgow has an excellent integrated public transport network. An adult, cheap day return is £6.20.
1: Glasgow Science Centre (GSC)
Leave Queen St station and turn left, then right into Buchanan St. Walk down this, the city's most recently renovated shopping street, to Gordon St, and turn right. Keep walking until you reach the Caledonian Railway's 1896-built Glasgow Central station and buy a ticket (95p return) to the Exhibition Centre on the Central Low Level line (platform 14, westbound). Exit Exhibition station, turn right, and walk to the SECC (Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre) through the 'tube', around the 'Armadillo' conference centre, and across Bell's Bridge over the Clyde. The GSC is on your right.
Glasgow's new Science Centre explains in a very involving way the key principles of science and shows children and adults how they affect our bodies, environment, and everyday lives. Among its exhibits are an illusion installation with seven baffling illusions, a magnet showcase, and the 'Laser Amazer' where visitors can alter prisms and mirrors to deflect a laser beam to watch its effects on different materials and shapes.
If you have the nerve, you can go to the top of the only 360_ rotating tower in the world - at 127m, the highest free-standing structure in Scotland. You can see over 20 miles to Ben Lomond and across to the Isle of Arran. At the tower's base are two superb galleries: one celebrating Glasgow's history of science, the other looking into the future.
2: Walkabout Glasgow Tours
Return to Glasgow Central the way you came. Once back in Central Station, exit into Gordon St again, turn right, then second left into Buchanan St. At St Vincent St, turn left, and walk to George Square. There, on the south side of the square, nearest the Queen St side, is the Tourist Information Centre.
Walkabout Glasgow Tours enables you to hire a Walkman and tape which will guide you for about an hour and a half around Glasgow's old town, from George Square, through the merchant city area, right up to the Cathedral in the oldest part of town, returning via Glasgow Green. Along the way, actors tell amazing and humourous anecdotes about events in the city's colourful past.
3: The Gallery of Modern Art
From the south-west corner of George Square turn left into Queen St, cross the road, and look for the Duke of Wellington's statue (almost certainly with a traffic cone on his head!).
There, behind it, is the Gallery of Modern Art. Entry is free (as in all Glasgow's museums).
This gallery is housed in a stunning building in the centre of Exchange Square. Unlike many modern art galleries, this is unpretentious and we guarantee you'll find many works of art to catch your attention including those by Patrick Hughes, Andy Warhol or David Hockney.
4: The West End
Glasgow's West End is a cultural melting pot which produces the most fascinating manifestation of Glasgow humour. With the mix of local celebrities, 'posh, des. res' people, ordinary Glasgow folk and over 13,000 students from the 'Yoonie' (University of Glasgow), you're bound to see some colour.
A Walk to Buchanan St underground station. Buy a return ticket (£1.80) and get off at Hillhead. Exit the station, turn left, then left again into Ashton Lane, then right and follow the stairs up to University Gardens. Walk along to University Avenue.
• The Grosvenor Cafe, in Ashton Lane, provides cheap and cheerful food - great at lunchtimes for watching Glasgow go by. Students meet here along with the locals and it's a treat to listen to the banter and general good cheer. Check out the caf_'s magnificent frieze of Ashton Lane, too.
• The University Cafe in Byres Rd is another eating house, in exactly the same vein.
• The University of Glasgow is Scotland's second oldest, founded in 1451 - only St. Andrew's is older. It also has an outstanding campus, with Sir Gilbert Scott's magnificent, quadrangled building dominating the skyline.
• The Hunterian Museum is housed in the University, above the Quadrangles. It tells the story of Glasgow with some spectacular exhibits such as dinosaur footprints and other fossils. You can also see stone tablets from the Roman occupation found at the Antonine wall, just to the north of the city.
B Leave by University Avenue and walk down the grassy slopes towards Dumbarton Rd. Cross the road at Kelvin Hall, and walk down its right-hand side to the Museum of Transport.
• The Museum of Transport offers a look at Scotland's contribution to transport. There are displays of old cars and trucks, along with railway trains while upstairs the superb Clyde Room with hundreds of enormous, model ships which commemorate centuries of shipbuilding on the Clyde. Downstairs, by the entrance, is a recreation of a typical Glasgow street of the 1950s, complete with cinema and underground station.
C Walk out of the transport museum, turn left, and take the pedestrian crossing to the enormous red building before you - this is Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.
This is a remarkable building and there's a popular myth that when its architect, Robert Adam saw it finished, he realised it was the wrong way around: the entrance was at the back.
Distraught, he supposedly threw himself from its left tower. It's not true, because it was designed to face the river Kelvin, and Argyll St at its rear was yet to be built. Exhibited here are fine works by the likes of Turner and Seurat as well as a fine collection by the Scottish Colourists, Caddell, Ferguson, and Peploe.
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PARK GUIDE
Keltie Bridge Caravan Park
Stirling Road, Callendar, Perthshire, FK17 8LQ
Tel: 01877 330606
Open 1 April to 31 Oct
OS Ref NN 649 069
Time: 8.5 hours
Suitable for: all the family
REFRESHMENTS
Grosvenor Cafe Tel: 0141 339 1848
University Cafe Tel: 0141 339 5217
INFORMATION
Glasgow Tourist Information George Square. Tel: 0141 204 4400
ATTRACTIONS
Glasgow Science Centre Tel: 0141 420 5000
Walkabout Glasgow Tours:
Tel: 0141 204 4400
Gallery of Modern Art:
Tel: 0141 229 1996
University of Glasgow:
Tel: 0141 330 5511
Hunterian Museum:
Tel: 0141 330 4221
Glasgow Museum of Transport:
Tel: 0141 287 2720
Kelvingrove Art Gallery:
Tel: 0141 287 2699
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