A weekend in Scotland, what a sight to see! I'll touch on my do's and don'ts of the cultural city of Glasgow and capital city Edinburgh. While I did not try haggis in meat form, nor did I buy a kilt, I embraced the old and the new of the two major cities.
Landing in Glasgow at 8am gave us plenty of time to get ready and explore all of what the city had to offer. Much of the city is within walking distance, which is excellent for travelers on a budget. The hostel was just down the road from the central station, which gave us great access to the whole city. Euro hostel: I give it 7.8/10.
We first walked towards the Glasgow Cathedral, which is the oldest cathedral on mainland Scotland and is the oldest building in Glasgow. It was a sight to behold!
Behind it was a hillside Victorian cemetery, the Glasgow Necropolis. Walking up and around the cemetery we gained an expansive view of the city. Ultimately breathtaking, but also a tad bit morbid. We walked back into the center of the city to jump onto a hop-on-hop-off tour to get a better understanding of the city.
I find hop-on-hop-off tours a fabulous way to get around cities and learn more about the culture. Although they can be quite costly, the tour could take you to a new part of the city you might not have known about, places that are hard to access just by walking.
Getting off at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, we explored our artistic sides. The great thing about Glasgow is that every city-owned museum is free admission! Here I looked at many art pieces and explored the world of taxidermy, and by exploring, I mean I couldn’t believe that these animals were once living, breathing creatures! But the elephant hairs gave it away. It brought forth the question: what’s the point of taxidermy? And why were these animals picked for this fate? I guess these reflections are what makes art galleries and museums interesting.
We ended our day on the wonderful Buchanan Street, where no shopping addict should ever visit, as Glasgow is the UK's second largest shopping district.
Next stop, Edinburgh, named after the Castle on the Hill, felt like a whole new city to us, but it anything but new. With all the many highlights of the trip, there were enough low points in Edinburgh to turn me off the Scots. Fortunately, our hostel was in a prime location right off the Royal Mile which meant we were right near all the action and could enjoy all aspects of the old town. High Street hostel: 8.3/10, highly recommend.
If you are on a budget and don't fancy tourist attractions with many gift shops, I would skip the Edinburgh Castle. Don't get me wrong, it is one of the most beautiful architectural buildings I have ever seen, but like our waitress recommended after we left the castle: go up to it and take pictures but don’t feel like your experience will grow by paying £18.50 to enter the castle... unless you find history fascinating and enjoy reading all the plaques and signs. The best part was viewing the Scotland crown jewels and Stone of Destiny, but no photos or recording was allowed.
If you want historical experience, I firmly recommend the Mary Kings Close, as it was historically amazing to walk through and ultimately scary knowing you are walking under the city of Edinburgh. This was also a tour you could not take video or photos as it’s owned by the government. The city is a maze of closes which explains why this is a historic close, buried deep beneath the buildings of the Royal Mile. Closes are what they called streets back in the 16th century, but nowadays would be considered small alleyways. https://www.realmarykingsclose.com
Sadly, we reached the bottom of the Royal Mile shortly after the Parliament building closed for the evening. So, we walked back up the hill and met up with fellow Canadians and headed to a burger joint where I enjoyed a big juicy, old fashion, vegetarian haggis burger. If it tasted anything like real haggis, I give it two thumbs up!
Glasgow the city of culture, while some may say underwhelming, I think is a great city to get a taste of metropolis Scotland. Edinburgh, on the other hand, is historically action packed. There are many free walking tours available to learn more and, who knows you might be lucky like us and get a true Scotsman to teach you about their history and love for haggis.
P.s. Gardyloo is a Scotish term used during medieval times-1940s to warn passers-by of waste about to be thrown from a window into the street below. Cheers.
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