Glasgow Attractions

The huge Barras Street Market begins a few hundred yards further east. At the weekends as many as 1,000 traders congregate here to sell food, antiques, bric-à-brac, household goods and clothing. With luck it is possible to pick up a designer outfit at a very reasonable price.

Glasgow's oldest park (1662) runs alongside the banks of the Clyde. A museum in the People's Palace illustrates the development of trade and industry, the trade unions, the women's movement, entertainment and sport. Tropical and sub-tropical plants flourish in the large winter garden.

Exhibits include ship models, locomotives, trams, vintage cars, horse-drawn carriages and a reconstruction of a 1938 Glasgow street.

Opened in 1992, the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art examines the world religions, their rites and how their doctrines deal with the issues of life and death. Exhibits range from Egyptian mummies, Hindu statues of Shiva and African fetishes to Salvador Dali's "Christ of Saint John of the Cross" (1951). A Zen Buddhist garden flourishes in the courtyard.

To the west of George Square and a few yards from the corner of Queen St and Ingram St stand the Royal Exchange Buildings by David Hamilton (1832) identifiable by their Corinthian columns. The Stirling Library has been housed here since 1950.

To the northwest of the Glasgow School of Art at 147 Buccleuch Street, the Victorian Tenement House offers an insight into how the middle classes lived in the early part of the 20th C.

Caledonian MacBrayne runs cruise trips downstream from Glasgow into the Firth of Clyde.

Great bays of ironwork tower over the platforms at this rail station, with classically capped columns supporting its mighty structure.

Gorbals Street on the south side of the Clyde leads to the Citizens Theatre, and Glasgow's most innovative repertory stage.

Clyde Marine runs cruises downstream from Glasgow into the Firth of Clyde.

Crookston Castle was inhabited by Mary, Queen of Scots, and her husband Darnley in 1565. Their home was an early 15th C tower house that was built on the site of a 12th C castle.

From Glasgow majestic cruise ships depart for distant ports of call. While docked, these mighty ships are a spectacle for all to see.

During the late 1980s Page and Park redesigned the memorial to David Livingstone which adorns the concourse.

The Geilston Garden in Dumbarton is located on the property of a small country house along the banks of the Clyde. The house is not open to the public, but visitors are welcome to explore the garden which features a walled garden and wooded glen.

Dumbarton Castle perches on a basalt rock on the north bank of the Clyde, facing Port Glasgow. This strategically important stronghold was started in the sixth century and remained in the hands of Britons until the 11th C. In the 13th C it was taken over by the royal family. Only the dungeon and 12th C gateway remain from the medieval edifice. Mary Stuart embarked for France here at the age of five.

Part of Rouken Glen Park (Giffnock) is given over to Eastwood Butterfly Kingdom.

The Glasgow Metro was opened in 1896 and is made up of 10.4km of track. There are 15 stations. The system is circular originally designed to be pulled by a cable. Thus there are no switches and cars requiring maintenance must be lifted out of the tunnel. The cross section of the tunnel is small, with cars having a circular cross section and just enough room for a person to stand in the center. Seats facing inward run along the edges.

The system has a flat fare structure.

The metro has park-and-ride facilities at four stations with 826 parking spaces. During peak hours in the central area trains run every four minutes.

Glasgow Science Centre brings science and technology to life through hundreds of interactive exhibits in the Science Mall with additional experiences of the GSC IMAX Theatre and the Glasgow Tower available.

The garden is set in the grounds of an old Georgian house. There are a wide variety of plants, shrubs and trees and gardening demonstrations are held regularly.

Haggs Castle dates from 1585 and is Glasgow's oldest inhabited secular building. Haggs Castle Children's Museum was opened in 1976 and closed in 1997 and the castle was reverted back to a residential dwelling. It is not open to the public.

Holmwood House was built in 1857-8 for James Couper of Millholm Paper Mills. The architectural design of the house is an adaptation of classical greek with many rooms ornamented in wood, plaster and marble. The rich room decorations are in the process of being uncovered, but still open to the public.

Hutcheson's Hall, a building designed in 1802 by David Hamilton hosts musical events such as lunchtime recitals, clarsach concerts, visiting choirs and Christmas music. It is the headquarters of the National Trust for Scotland.

Parklea Farm is a strip of 68 acres of land on the south bank of the Clyde. It is leased by the Inverclyde Council as a recreational area.

A group of mid-19th C warehouses to the south of City Chambers were given a face-lift in 1990 by the architects Page and Park. The Italian Centre with its open inner courtyard, cafe, restaurant and 10 designer boutiques can offer Glaswegians continental-style shopping.

Facilities for athletics, tennis, football and other activities are available in the nearby Kelvin Hall sports center.

In 1904 Frank Matcham equipped the King's Theatre in Bath Street with a splendid auditorium. It is used mainly for plays, light entertainment, and musicals.

The Mitchell Library is housed in a striking building in North Street (1874). It is Europe's largest reference library with over 1.3 million books including the world's most comprehensive collection of works by Robert Burns.

The Moat House Hotel with award-winning restaurant is situated alongside the conference center.

Glasgow's largest cemetery on Fir Park Hill was laid out in the 18th C. In most cases, the grand tombstones recall the lives of wealthy merchants who made their fortune during Glasgow's heyday in the last C. A monument erected on a Doric column (1825) commemorates the reformer John Knox.

The 144ft/44m high Nelson's Monument, alongside the Clyde River, was erected in 1806 to the memory of Lord Nelson, victor of the Battle of Trafalgar (1805).

The elegant, glass-roofed Prince's Square shopping arcade runs to the south of Buchanan Street's pedestrianized zone. Continue through Argyle Arcade, the address of Sloan's, Glasgow's oldest restaurant (19th century), towards Howard Street and passing the stylish shop windows beneath the futuristic glass roof of the vast St Enoch Shopping Center.

Provan Hall was built in the 15th C. This is probably the most perfect example of a pre-Reformation house in Scotland.

Facing the Museum of Religious Life and Art stands Provand's Lordship, Glasgow's oldest house, a three-story building with a stepped gable. It was built ca. 1471 for the head of St Nicholas Hospital. James II and James IV are said to have stayed there and Mary Stuart spent the winter of 1566 in the house while she visited her sick husband Lord Darnley who was murdered soon after. The Curate's Room (16th century) and a fine collection of furniture (17th/18th century) are the most interesting exhibits in the museum.

In Scotland Street stands a school building with 21 classrooms and a kitchen. It was used as a school until 1979 but was later converted into a museum. The furniture, educational equipment and textbooks used in local schools document the history of education in Glasgow from Victorian times to the present day.

In 1985 to the southeast of Glasgow city center but north of the Clyde, the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre was opened in the old dockland district. The center has a total of five halls and there is seating for 10,000 visitors.

Slater Menswear, a men's outfitter, has been certified by the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest menswear shop in the world. It stocks over 18,000 suits ranging from Cacherel to St Laurent.

The Springburn museum concentrates on local railway and mining history.

In the Classical-style St Andrew's Church (18th C) the mahogany choir stalls, which were provided by wealthy benefactors, are the most interesting features.

Just a short distance to the north of the Stirling Library, Glasgow's Stock Exchange is housed in a Venetian Gothic edifice designed by William Burdett and built between 1875 and 1877 on the corner of Nelson Mandela Place and Buchanan Street.

Strathclyde University, founded in 1795, is situated to the northeast of George Square.

Victoria Park (Victoria Park Drive) contains the remains of trees that grew here over 330 million years ago (discovered in 1887).

In summer the paddle steamer "Waverley" makes round tours of the Clyde from the Glasgow Science Centre.