Glasgow

Yesterday we spent the day touring Stirling. Today we did the same in Glasgow. The plan was to walk to the Merchant’s Square Market as a first destination but it was closed so we walked on to see the Barras Market instead. It’s like a huge garage sale in a covered building with hundreds of stalls selling all sorts of goods. From there we walked on to Glasgow Green which is a large park located alongside the River Clyde. The park has a beautiful fountain, Doulton Fountain which is considered the most impressive monument in Glasgow. It is also the largest remaining terracotta fountain in the world. The park also contains Nelson’s Monument which is an obelisk that stands 44 m high!
Next stop was the Kelvingrove Museum which is both a museum and an art gallery. It is the most popular free to enter attraction in Scotland. We arrived there in time to eat a packed lunch on the benches outside, take a look at a few natural history exhibits and then sit down and enjoy a 30 minute recital on a large church, pipe organ located in the main entrance area of the museum. It was amazing to hear the organist play Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and a number of other songs. Following the concert we spent another hour roaming through the vast collection of art, Egyptian artifacts, as well as arms and armour dating back to the Middle Ages.
High on my list of must do’s for Glasgow was the Riverside Museum, also known as the Glasgow Museum of Transport. It was not a long walk to get there from the Kelvingrove Museum and the pedestrian path to get there is well marked. Again, entry was free, as is the case for all museums in Scotland. Once inside it was very enjoyable seeing the historical collection of motorcycles, cars, … trains, bicycles. The highlight, however, was the large, tall ship, located outside on the Clyde river. We were able to get right inside and see the crew cabins, the engine room, captain’s quarters and all other areas of the ship. You could get a real feel for what it might have been like living and working on such a ship as it navigated the world’s oceans.Read more