Glasgow

Travel Advice for Seniors: Glasgow

Glasgow, a port city along the River Clyde, it is a UNESCO City of Music and is well known for its arts including the Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and National Theatre of Scotland as well as many live music venues. Such groups as Simple Minds, AC/DC and Primal Scream got their start here. We didn’t have time to check out the music scene, but if we visit again, we will make the time to visit some of the iconic bars such as the interestingly named King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut!

In the meantime, plenty else to explore on our single day in Glasgow.

Glasgow is called locally “the Dear Green Place” for its many parks and forested areas. One of the first stops we made was at a small park to see a contemporary mural of St. Mungo. St Mungo is the patron saint of Glasgow, who it is said performed many miracles including one bringing a bird back to life as is depicted in the park. Glasgow is also well know for its “mural trail” throughout the city. We were able to see a few, but our brief time in the city did not allow for further exploration.

The main highllght for us was without doubt, Kelingrove Art Museum. You can’t miss this huge orange Spanish Baroque building that houses both a historical museum and an art museum. The main feature is the original organ, built in 1901, on which a recital is given daily! It is a bit echo-ey, given the size of the hall, but it is pretty impressive.

The best part of the museum was the Rene Mackintosh display of furniture and artwork. Truly unique to Glasgow, Mackintosh created an entire design movement based on the “Glasgow style”, a mixture of arts and crafts, Celtic and Art Nouveau. There was also an excellent exhibit of Scottish colourists and the “Glasgow Boys”. Not to be missed: Dali’s Christ of St John of the Cross as well as a nice collections of European, particularly French masters.

The historical museum part was equally interesting with a Spitfire airplane hanging from the ceiling, the extinct massive Irish Elk assembled skeleton and Egyptian mummy display. We were rushed for time, but could’ve spent all afternoon. As a side note, the café had a nice selection of small bites. Fully accessible.

We also briefly saw a few other highlights including Glasgow Cathedral or St. Mungo’s Cathedral, built in the twelfth century. It is one of the few medieval cathedrals in Scotland that wasn’t razed during the Protestant Reformation. The unique and lovely cemetery was a pretty good jaunt away and uphill, but would have been interesting to spend some time exploring.

Would’ve enjoyed some extra time in Glasgow, but we had to get some rest to board our ferry early the next morning to Northern Ireland!