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Dining in Europe > Glasgow It used to be known primarily for its Indian food, but Glasgow now has a great variety of places to eat. Contemporary cuisine, Euro-food and organic menus are all on offer for the hungry client. Theres no shortage of pubs and bars either, so dining and drinking in this Scottish city are a real pleasure. The Merchant City has a healthy collection of bars and restaurants, which are all conveniently located near to each other. Feeling spicy? If you fancy fajitas or enchiladas, Pancho Villas' lively atmosphere and tasty menu will add sizzle to your evening. If this sounds too hot, visit The Fire Station and sample some wonderful Italian cuisine (no fire hoses I'm afraid!). Local food is well represented in this area. In the heart of the Merchant City, Schottische serves excellent Scottish fare, whilst The City Merchant specialises in seafood and local cuisine. On the same street as the latter, try Granny Blacks for a traditional pub atmosphere. The City Centre, unsurprisingly, has a greater selection of eateries than any of the other Glasgow districts. All the popular menus are on offer here, from Chinese to Indian, French to Italian. Canton Express is great if you're in a hurry or eating late. Curry with good music is the dish of the day at Bombay Blues, whilst Kama Sutra puts the sauce into Baltis. Malmaisons Brasserie offers fine French fare. If you're a fan of pasta and pizza, you'll love the enormous amount of Italian restaurants in the City Centre. Not far from Canton Express, Paperinos' parmesan-laced dishes are yummy, and Ricos is a top place to eat before a film. If you're feeling artistic, try some Scottish bites at the Gallery of Modern Art Café. Havana is a fun place to eat Mexican and drink in time to the Latin American tunes. Bars to try include Budda and Hogshead. The West End has a flourishing dining scene, with treats to tickle
most taste buds. Try some Greek cuisine at Parthenon and Indian food at
Ashoka West End. Margaritas à la Mexicana are great, if a little
dangerous, at Salsa - go easy or it could get untidy! Diet-conscious
eaters might be put off the Two Fat Ladies, but rest assured, the
Scottish seafood here is really good. Can't decide what nationality you
fancy? Check out The South of the City has less eating establishments than the city centre, but there are some gems that are worth seeking out. Not far from the Burrell Collection, the Stoat & Ferret offers good pub meals and nicely-pulled pints. Battlefield Rest is a great Italian joint and, for good Greek cuisine, Café Sergheis menu is impressive. L.Northmore-Ball Entertainment in GlasgowGlasgow, Scotlands largest city, is THE place to party. A dynamic cultural centre, the dirt and crime which formerly tarnished its reputation now highlight an ultra-hip image and cool new buzz. Culture by day, clubbing by night, no moment need pass without some form of Entertainment. Museums and Galleries provide the best daytime diversion in the city. A particularly good spot for educational treats, the area around the University has highlights such as Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum and the Museum of Transport. In the centre of town, visit the controversial Gallery of Modern Art and make up your own mind. If you only want one Glaswegian gallery on your schedule, marvel at the treasures that make up The Burrell Collection. Fed up with Museums? Worship the beauty of Glasgow Cathedral, then check out Provands Lordship next door. As the light fades, choose between noisy and civilised pursuits. Glasgow is blessed with a wealth of good writing and since the 1990 Year of Culture, Theatre has been a thriving presence in the city. The Citizens Theatre is widely regarded as the best in Scotland and Theatre Royal often welcomes the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Arches is great for cutting edge drama, whilst Kings Theatre is musical-land. Feeling groovy? Slip on your glad rags and prepare for a night of funk and frolicks. The club-scene in Glasgow is difficult to fault. With something for everyone, cheesy popsters can party as hard as professional techno-heads, and rock chicks can mosh in style. If live music is your thang, there are plenty of venues to try. Gigs at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut feature fresh new talent and established names, whilst The 13th Note has salsa classes as well as top bands. On Sauchiehall Street Nice 'n' Sleazy is a great night out. Glasgow has many clubs to rave about. Still on Sauchiehall Street, The Garage is a favourite with student poptarts and disco divas, whilst Velvet Rooms attracts an older clientele a few doors down. For a cheap and cheerful atmosphere Penelopes Nightclub is a good spot. A mainstay of the Gay & Lesbian club-scene is the popular Polo Lounge. Going underground, The Tunnel attracts famous faces, but Glasgows party-piece is definitely The Sub Club. This place is v. cool. L.Northmore-Ball Recommended ToursCity of Architecture And Design Our tour starts on Sauchiehall Street at Charing Cross, just over the M8 motorway from St Georges Cross Underground. Once the traffic is safely negotiated, glance upwards at the Baroque Charing Cross Mansions on each corner, designed by local architect John Burnet in 1891, and a stunning sight at sunset. Walk along Sauchiehall Street until you reach Baird Hall, an example of Art Deco architecture that has been beautifully preserved. Although this is now a Strathclyde University Hall of Residence, it was originally created by William Beresford Inglis and James Weddell as "The Beresford Hotel", a plush place to stay whose roof garden offered an excellent view of the city. With its unusual sweeping curves and mustard coloured earthenware exterior, this is one of the most memorable buildings, and best seen from across the street. Take the next turn left and walk up an unpleasantly steep but mercifully short hill to Renfrew Street, where you turn right as the next stop is the Glasgow School of Art. Designed by the citys most famous and original architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, this building was completed in 1907 and attracts visitors from all over the world as well as budding artists. If you've planned ahead then a guided tour (advance bookings and the only way for non-art-students to see inside) will take you through the remarkable Mackintosh Library and the Hen Run, an aptly named glass corridor that offers a great view. If you didn't book, never mind. Common consensus says the west exterior of the School is Mackintoshs finest work as a designer and you don't need a guide to look at that. Back down to Sauchiehall Street now and turn left, passing the McLellan Galleries, dating from 1854, which currently houses the Centre for Contemporary Arts. Ignore the many shops which line the street until you come to Henderson the Jewellers, recognisable by the distinctive Mackintosh typeface. A well-earned break from walking can be enjoyed without stopping the tour, as The Willow Tearooms are just upstairs. Mackintosh designed this building in 1903 for local genteel restauranteur Miss Kate Cranston, and the interior has been restored to its 1905 glory, complete with plaster friezes and trademark decorative leaded glass. Miss Cranstons memoirs are available from Hendersons if you fancy reading up on social background. After a cup of tea and maybe a cake, walk down Campbell Street until you reach St. Vincent Street. Turn right and walk along to the St. Vincent Street Church on the corner of Pitt Street. Glasgow is a Victorian city and the greatest architect of this era is undoubtedly Alexander "Greek" Thomson, who is commonly regarded as an "unknown genius". Thomson was strongly influenced by Greek, Indian, Eqyptian and even Assyrian decorative architecture, but combined elements of each to create a style easily recognisable as his own. Many of the buildings he designed are privately owned or have unfortunately been destroyed, but the St. Vincent Street Church has survived virtually intact, since it opened in 1859. Now walk back along St. Vincent Street towards the city centre. It shouldn't be long before you reach number 142, an unusual building designed by James Salmon Junior, completed in 1902, and generally known as The Hatrack. The reason for this nickname soon becomes clear when you look up at the lead covered roof, whose dramatic spiky spires and shiny curves closely resemble a hat-stand. Aside from the roof, interesting features include Art Nouveau detailing, a stained glass window above the door and over forty windows in a very narrow façade. From here, continue along St. Vincent Street until you reach George Square. On the east side of the Square you will see a fine example of Victorian Glasgow architecture, the City Chambers. This Italian Renaissance style building was designed by William Young and completed in 1888. If you have time, a guided tour of the interior will show you amongst other things, a series of beautiful panels in the Banqueting Hall which depict episodes in the citys history. On the west side of the Square is The Merchants' House, designed in 1874 by John Burnet. You'll need good eyesight or a pair of binoculars to see the fully rigged model merchant ship which rests upon a globe at the top of the corner tower. If you've had enough by now, note that many of the impressive edifices around George Square are now operating as pubs, so a rest in The Counting House, a former bank, allows an excellent view of its restored interior as well as refreshments. Onwards and upwards as you turn up North Frederick Street and turn right into Cathedral Street at the peak of the hill. You will pass relatively modern campus buildings for the University of Strathclyde but try not to look at them as they may offend the eye. At the end of the street is a T-Junction. Cross over to the Cathedral Precinct directly opposite and the tour ends with one of the citys oldest buildings, Glasgow Cathedral. Work began on the Gothic Glasgow Cathedral in the 13th century and it was completed nearly a century later. However, its origins date back to St. Mungo, patron saint of Glasgow, who founded the first church on this site and is buried in the Lower Church. An excellent view of the Cathedral is from the Necropolis cemetery which overlooks it. C Magee A Short Walk Round the History of Glasgow in Sculpture There is a wealth of history in the public sculptures of the city. Glasgow grew through religion, trade and industry, all commemorated in stone. This walk will take about half an hour, depending on how long you stop to look! Start on the banks of the Clyde, at the corner of the Broomielaw and Wellington Street. On this building there are striking statues of Poseidon, god of the sea, and his sea-horses at roof level and on the pediment, throned in majesty. An appropriate tribute to the sea, since this is the headquarters of the Clyde Port Authority. "Glasgow made the Clyde, and the Clyde made Glasgow", the saying which expresses the citys debt to her river, deepened and straightened for access to trade. Go east up-river under the heavy railway bridge, and from the walkway you can see the massive piers left when part of the bridge was taken away. There is a concrete poem carved in the stone of these piers, part English, part Latin and Greek, which can be read from Jamaica Bridge. On the walkway immediately to the east of the bridge is a striking statue of Dolores Ibannurri ,"La Passionaria", heroine of the Spanish Civil War, commemorating the 65 men from Glasgow killed in that conflict. Move north up Dixon Street into St Enochs Square, and at number 40 you can see above the entry the helmeted head of a woman, a lions skin adorning her helmet. Perhaps St Tenew, whose name is the original of "St Enoch" - the ancient British warrior princess, mother of St Mungo the founder of Glasgow? Her well was sited in this square, in mediaeval times. The charming little former underground station building has the
Glasgow coat of arms carved on the south gable - Number 24 St Enoch Square, the Royal Bank of Scotland, has four allegorical figures, "Exchange, Security, Prudence and Adventure" adorning its facade. On the corner of Buchanan Street and Argyle Street, the building above Foot Locker has impressive art deco carving at the top, with a Twenties-style light at the corner. Walk on up Buchanan Street. Frasers' main entrance is surmounted by two female figures,one spinning, the other painting, appropriate accomplishments for the Victorian woman, flanking the Royal coat of arms, and a panel with the letters "W & L", since this was originally Wylie and Lochhead. Opposite is the Argyll Arcade, in a building called Argyll Chambers. There are two figures in alcoves at first-floor level, one holding a serpentine rod, the other a wheel and distaff. The large bronze bird in the middle of the precinct is "Spirit of Kentigern" erected in the 1970s. Princes Square has a giant ornamental peacock on the roof, streamers flowing down from its tail. The best way into the Square is up the escalator with its optical-illusion paintings. The building on the corner of Springfield Court has two statues in alcoves at third-floor level, one with a sword, the other with stone-masons equipment. They supply a sharp contrast with the Warner Bros figures opposite, of Roadrunner and Taz playing the bagpipes. Turn right at Borders book shop into Exchange Place. In front of the Gallery of Modern Art is the equestrian statue of the Duke of Wellington, normally with a traffic cone set rakishly on his head. It perfectly complements his arrogant commanding expression. Round the base are bronze reliefs showing the career of a young Scots soldier and some of Wellingtons military exploits, in India and at Waterloo. Go along Ingram Street past a former bank building at number 191, ornamented with statues representing Scottish towns, separated by Corinthian pillars. The Lloyds TSB, formerly the Glasgow Savings Bank, has St Mungo in gilded mitre and robes, as Glasgows first bishop - appropriate for a city whose motto is "Let Glasgow flourish - by the preaching of the Word and the praising of His Name." The latter part of the slogan is usually forgotten. Further on, cross over to the Hutchesons' Hospital, and see statues of two 17th-century benefactors of the city, George and Thomas Hutcheson, looking swell in Van Dyjk beards and Rembrandt ruffs. You can walk through the Italian Centre and see modern sculptures in the courtyard, a man and a dog howling at the moon, and metallic androids adorning the north facade. Through the alley and you exit facing the heavily incised Victorian pile of the City Chambers, and then walk left into George Square, past the Cenotaph. A leaflet describing the Victorian statues of literary and political figures is available on request from the Information bureau at the south-west corner of the square. Dining in Europe > Glasgow
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