Travel & Holidays in later life

As a prewar schoolboy I once visited Glasgow over Hogmanay, and stayed with a distant relative who lived in the Gorbals. It was an unsettling experience. 

I slept in a 'hole-in-the-wall' bed, went down three flights to the outdoor WC, saw the traditional tribal-warfare Celtic v. Rangers match, and listened aghast to tales of the razor gangs and of Glasgow on Saturday night.

With those background memories of old-time Glasgow, it seems odd to find that today's Glasgow is now promoting itself as a City with Style. 

The change has come especially during the past 15 or 20 years. Typically, in 1990 Glasgow served a year as Cultural Capital of Europe. 

It seemed hard then to credit that Glasgow could be in that league. But in fact the event was a stunning success, and has led to the city's onward march from that milestone. 

To set the scene of  "the Glasgow I remembered" my wife and I went first to the Tenement House at 145 Buccleuch Street. I was expecting something of the Gorbals. In fact it was the cosy first floor flat of a middle-class tenement, filled with everyday Late Victorian household items.

The old-time Gorbals which gave Glasgow such a lurid reputation had long since gone: totally demolished, everything rebuilt, and not even a museum sample remaining as a corner of social history. 

Likewise, miles of derelict shipyards have been converted to green-field sites, or rebuilt with modern housing, offices or new-style industry.

Memories of life among the under-dogs are recorded in the People's Palace on Glasgow Green. It's a museum of Glasgow history from 12th century onwards, but especially strong in the political and social life of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It's fascinating stuff!

Alongside is an elegant Victorian glasshouse - the Winter Gardens - where you can look for banana and coconut trees and enjoy a coffee. On Glasgow Green is a memorial stone marking the spot where James Watt had his inspiration in 1765 on how to make steam engines more efficient. Glasgow claims that here's where the industrial revolution really began.

In Victorian times, Glasgow was a world-class engineering and trade centre - reflected in the wealth of its public buildings, which have been totally restored in recent years. The City Chambers are typical. Opened by Queen Victoria in 1898, the building is more like an Italian renaissance palace than a town hall. There are free guided tours every weekday at 10.30 and 14.30 hrs. Just walk in..

Glasgow had already begun to amass a considerable civic museum and art collection, housed in the building opened for the Great International Exhibition of 1901. Following a three-year revamp, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum re-opened in 2006 and looks set to be one of Scotland's most-visited attractions. 

The famous Burrell Collection is located on the city outskirts, in the idyllic setting of Pollock Country Park. You can wander round displays of medieval art, tapestries, stained glass and English oak furniture. There are paintings by Degas and Cezanne, and sculptures by Epstein and Rodin.

The superb glass-walled gallery looks out onto woodland which reaches right up to the windows. During winter, wild deer and birds come close. Glasgow, with its 70 parks and gardens, claims more parkland than any other city in Britain.

Opened in 1996, the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA for short) displays work by local and international artists. GoMA is well established as the second most visited contemporary art gallery outside London, with a vibrant programme of temporary exhibitions and workshops. 

The Hunterian Art Gallery - part of Glasgow University - is rich in paintings by Whistler. 

The work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh - the pioneer Art Nouveau designer and architect - was a major style-setter in early 20th-century Glasgow. He led a group that founded 'the Glasgow Style'. You can see his work in a dozen locations - at the 1904 Willow Tearooms in Sauchiehall Street, for instance. 

The Hunterian museum houses reconstructed interiors from the architect's Glasgow home, fitted with highly original furniture and decor which owed much to Japanese influence.

Close by is the Transport Museum, rated among the best general transport collections in the world. There's everything from magnificent steam engines to trams, buses, vintage cars, horse drawn vehicles, fire engines and commercial vehicles. And - obviously for the Clyde - the museum is very strong on the ship-building industry.

In the performing arts, Glasgow is home to the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Opera and Ballet, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Citizens' Theatre. 

Strolling around the city centre is rewarding. The highlight is St. Enoch Centre, an enormous greenhouse shopping arcade, built with fantasy and style. Another stylish shopping centre is Princes Square close by - a remarkable exercise in urban renewal.

At the other shopping extreme, in the Barras open-air weekend market every stallholder claims to have the cheapest prices for trash and treasure, 'handy bits' and 'naughty knicknacks.' Whatever your interest, Glasgow is where to go for a stylish short break.

Copyright: Reg Butler

Check out these other destinations in Scotland

EDINBURGH - Look ahead for the big dates

HEBRIDES - Hopscotch to the Western Isles

SCOTLAND - Explore the wild Highlands

SCOTLAND-NORTH - coach tour from Dornoch

The Glasgow Pub Companion  by Rudolph Kenna - Compile your own version of 'Saturday night belongs to be' with guidance from this works which describes 200 varieties of Glasgow's choice of pubs and coffeebars.

"Time Out" Edinburgh, Glasgow, Lothian and Fife - A round-up of what the two great cities have to offer,  with additional guidance to distillery tours etc.

50 Walks in Glasgow and South West Scotland - by Automobile Association - a useful guide for both the serious and the casual walker, mapping out routes for Glasgow itself and selected regional routes.

Glasgow Insight Compact Guide - gives reliable descriptions of what to see and do during a brief visit.