Saturday 30th May
We left Belfast early to catch a 9:50 flight to Glasgow,
which left at 10:45.But not to worry, the flight only takes about 30 minutes.
Our luggage arrived and we were on the city bound bus within 15 minutes.
The
bus stopped 30 metres from our hotel and we left our luggage to explore
Glasgow. We were overwhelmed by the crowds and realised how quiet Ireland is.
Glasgow is a much busier city on Saturday afternoon than any place we saw in
Ireland. There was football match on Falkirk v Inverness, Inverness winning
2-1, a final we think. Crowds of people walking through the town, walking to
the football, shopping, sightseeing. It was loud, vibrant and exciting.
Buchanan Street
Argyle Arcade, 50+ jewelery stores
The main street, or one of them, Buchanan Street is a
pedestrian mall, and every 50 metres or so is a busker, traditional Scottish,
traditional Scottish with an almost heavy metal twist, South American Pan
flutes, pop singers, punk musicians, African drummers. A group of William Wallace/Braveheart
men playing drums and bagpipes had the crowd captivated. They looked wild and ferocious
and played the drums accordingly.
Clanadonia
We strolled through Glasgow and found the GOMA, Gallery of Modern
Art, which is in a most beautiful neo-classical building. The building far
outshone the art.
GOMA
We then came back to the hotel and checked in. Belfast 5
star hotel (Malmaison) is equivalent to Glasgow 4 star (Millennium). We have a
lovely spacious room, good quality toiletries and feel very comfortable. We rested
for a while, catching up on some reading; We have carted around a few books to
read in our “down time” and haven’t had any down time yet. Busy, busy, busy.
We set out for dinner, and of course, without having a
booking on a Saturday, couldn’t get in at the first few places. Fortunately we
found a place in the “Merchant City” area, and had the best meal yet, in Scotland.
Yes, it is the first, however, it was
very good! I had the Fisherman’s
Platter: cod, hake, salmon and cooley (?) with langoustine (lobster), mussels
and prawns and a couple of boiled spuds. When they bring out the hand towels you
know it’s going to be good, and messy. It was magnificent! Langoustine –
officially my favourite food in the world. Sweet, tender, delicious.
Dick had
the collets of filet beef with haggis and whisky jus.
A nice Cote de Rhone accompanied
the meal and we shared a lemon panna cotta.
As we are in Scotland, we decided
we should have a whisky digestive, and spoiled for choice, I had a 10 year Glenfiddich
and Dick had a really peaty 16 year Lagavulin. I’m not usually a whisky
drinker, but I could just get accustomed.
Our hotel is opposite George Square which seems to be a
central hub for events, and has many statues of prominent Glaswegians /
Scotsmen on display - Robert Burns, Walter Scott, James Watt and more, plus
Queen Victorian and Prince Albert.
Mercury near the Merchant City area
Statues in George Square
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