Een paar maanden geleden begon mijn reis door de Schotse hooglanden in Glasgow, waar ik de West Highland Line zou nemen richting the Isle of Skye. Aangezien Edinburgh mijn hart al gestolen had, had ik weinig verwachtingen van Glasgow. Toch vond ik het een leuke stad! Maar zo leuk als Edinburgh, nee, zeker niet. Naar mijn idee zijn het ook heel verschillende steden, de ene een oude Middeleeuwse stad vol historie, de andere een moderne, meer industriële stad vol met winkels. Al had Glasgow ook zeker wel zijn mooie gebouwen en plekjes en waren er ook zeker een paar leuke plekken die ik met jullie wil delen! Vandaar hier toch nog een soort mini city guide! Zoals gewoonlijk zal de rest van de guide in het Engels zijn, hopelijk schrikt dat mijn Nederlandse lezers niet af.
English: A few months ago I started my journey through the Scottish Highlands in Glasgow. From Glasgow I took the West Highland Line, the train to the Isle of Skye. It was absolutely necessary for my journey to start in Glasgow and after I’d been to Edinburgh two times before, I had to say I was a little curious about this city. Bigger in size than Edinburgh, it feels more like a capitol, a big city. It’s still not ridiculously big though and everything is pretty doable on foot, no worries! Anyway, I was curious about Glasgow, but I’d already lost my heart to Edinburgh so I didn’t expect too much of it. Which was probably a good thing, because I feel this city is so much more different than Edinburgh. Edinburgh is full of history, has its old, medieval charm. Where as Glasgow is modern, feels very industrial, has a lot of shops (somehow I’ll never forget this haha). Though Glasgow definitely has its beautiful buildings and charming places and I felt it was worth it to make a little city guide about it! Rest of the post will be in English, again, no worries.
This one might be a bit of a sinister one to start with, but the Necropolis cemetery was one of my highlights (I actually typed highlands and found out about that 2 hours later, oops!). I feel like a very old gothic kid that’s really into graveyards, as I always seem to visit one while traveling. For some reason I’m drawn to them, I guess it’s the architecture and the mood? I’m not sure. I heard a lot about the Necropolis and it was also very foggy, a perfect moment to visit a graveyard! It’s next to the Glasgow Cathedral, which is a small church. If you’re really into churches or haven’t seen a thousands already, that one might also be worth a visit. I liked the shade of blue! ;)
On the top of the hill you’ll find all the tombs and impressive things, like a great view over a part of the city!
One of the things I really love about the UK is the free entrance to museums! As an old art student, I love museums. I made it my goal this year to visit more museums in my own country instead of just on holiday. Anyway, home to the famous Glasgow School Of Art, Glasgow indeed has a lot of… art! You can visit the School Of Art (sadly the old Mackintosh building had a fire last year, which is a shame as it was such an important piece of architecture) where they have a nice shop and also a few small exhibitions. They also do tours, if you’re interested…
There is also the Gallery Of Modern Art, a small but interesting gallery.
But my most favourite was the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. It reminded me a lot of the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. First of all, it’s huge! Second, it has everything you want: modern art, planes, giraffes, traditional paintings, stuff about vikings and other cultures and history. Basically, it’s awesome. They also have a small but nice exhibition about Mackintosh, one of the greatest Glaswegian architects, designers and artists. As you might have guessed he also designed the Mackintosh building of the School of Art.
Anyway, I really loved this museum and could’ve easily wandered around for hours if I didn’t arrive quite late. Take your time with this one!
(I apologize for the crappy phone pictures)
On my way to Kelvingrove Gallery I felt quite tired and cold (it was also quite a bit of a walk) and also hungry, so when I came across The Steamie I just had to go in. I was actually looking for a different coffee place, but I have zero regrets! It’s small, cosy and maaaaan look at that food!! Yummy! The shortbread was very good, the coffee was… okay. But as a barista I might be overly picky ;) Overall a great place!
Right next to the Kelvingrove Gallery is the Brewdog Cafe! As you might have noticed, I’m talking about beer here. If you’re into craft beer, this is a must! Great beer, really friendly staff, nice burgers, cool atmosphere, I really loved it. Even though the wifi wasn’t working I think I stayed here for like 4 hours haha. There even was a singersongwriter performing some Spice Girls songs, what’s not to love?
I also had a (vegan!) burger at 13th Note. This restaurant is a vegetarian & vegan cafe and restaurant. It’s also cheap! What more do you want? Oh, I almost forgot, they also have a-ma-zing fries. I think they even have the best fries of Scotland, or maybe it was just Glasgow. Whatever it was, their fries are great. They also had a great vegan chocolate pie with vegan ice and vegan cream, yummy! As a non vegan I found it delicious (although that one was quite expensive). A lot of things on the menu sounded delicious and it’s just a cool place, with a nice atmosphere, nice food and great people.
Around the corner is also Mono, another vegetarian restaurant. Stereo was another one that was recommended to me, but I haven’t checked both of them out.
Let me just start by saying that I am not a shopping kind of person. I don’t go on holiday to go to shopping, I have better things to do plus I always travel by hand luggage only. No space, no budget to buy things! Of course, I do make some exceptions. However, if you really love some hardcore shopping I think Glasgow will be for you! I’m not sure if it is true, but for me it felt like there were way more shops there than in Edinburgh.
That pretty picture in the building is the Princess Square Shopping Centre. I believe there’s mostly expensive stuff inside, but hey, the building is gorgeous right? It’s located at Buchanan Street, which is the centre of the shopping area!
Why? Because Edinburgh is the best city in the world, period. Also, it’s also just a 45-minute train ride. If you were planning to only visit Glasgow: don’t! Go to Edinburgh for a day! Or maybe it’s the other way around and you’re traveling to Glasgow for a day, in that case I haven’t said a thing. Somehow it feels like Glasgow and Edinburgh are always competing with each other and I don’t really want to say that one is better than the other, buuuuuuut I do prefer Edinburgh. Big time. Glasgow is still pretty cool though, it feels a bit more artsy but also a bit more gloomy and grey. I heard a lot of different things about Glasgow, some people love it more than Edinburgh, some people find the people horrible, some people find the people better than in Edinburgh! It’s all so different. Let me just say that they are both great cities, just different!
A city guide about Edinburgh will be coming up soon :)
Laura says
Ohh al die vibes van die mooi steden! Ik wil ook echt eens Edinburg bezoeken. Lijkt me geweldig!
Angélica says
Jaa leuk he? Edinburgh is echt een aanrader, zeker doen!
Karlijn says
Ooh, mooie foto’s! Ik vind het wel gaaf om een begraafplaats te bezoeken, wel een bijzondere plek om te bekijken in het buitenland :)
Angélica says
Dankjewel! Ik vind begraafplaatsen op vakantie eigenlijk ook wel interessant haha, terwijl ik er verder niet echt een interesse er voor heb ;) Maar het heeft wel wat!
Maris says
Zelf ben ik ook meer fan van Edinburgh, maar van deze foto’s krijg ik wel weer zin om Glasgow nog eens te bezoeken.
Mariska says
Wat een coole en mooie foto’s! Echt een bezoekje waard :D
sarie_gamgee says
I missed this when you posted it but I really want to go back to Scotland this year, so I’m bookmarking for future use! (mostly so I can go to all those cafes and pubs, nom nom nom!) Somehow I love Glasgow’s industrial charm, and I love the necropolis and the area around the university… or maybe it’s because I almost got to study there, but the city is close to my heart somehow :D
Loes says
Ik dacht al dat Glasgow gaaf zou zijn, maar nu ben ik overtuigd! Super gave foto’s.