Brief Glasgow Visit... What To Do?

[JimLucas]

I'll be visitng Glasgow (Scotland) for a few days. My errand is brief, but thanks to the airfare casino I'll have a couple of extra days and am looking for suggestions of things to do, folks to meet, or whatever.

 

I'm actually flying into and out of Edinburgh -- arriving the morning of Sunday, May 24, leaving the morning of Thursday, May 28, -- so something in Edinburgh on either the 24th or 27th wouldn't be out of the question.

 

It looks like I'll be paying an overnight visit to "our" Samantha (and her husband) on Monday the 25th. But aside from that, things are still pretty open. I have been told there's a Wednesday session "in Babbity Bowster in Glasgow's Merchant City", so that might be a possibility... assuming I can make a train connection for my flight the next morning.

 

Oh yeah, suggestions of a cheap place to stay for a couple of nights could also be useful.

 

Looking forward to replies,

Jim

[alex_holden]

I think most of the museums in Glasgow are free entry; the Kelvingrove and the transport museum are very good.

 

There's a cheap independent hostel near the university that I've stayed in half a dozen or so times over the past decade, but I hesitate to recommend it because they don't seem to do much maintenance and every time I go it's more run-down than the last! Somebody told me the SYHA hostel is OK.

[Alex West]

Jim

 

I've not been myself, but I think the Babbity Bowster session on Wednesdays is in the afternoon rather than the evening. Jim Kane (you've met him at the Arran Concertina Event) would know and Samantha has his contact details.

 

I'd offer, but we're hoping to get away sailing this weekend and suring the time you're here. Tickets booked for the Islay Whisky Ceilidh at Port Ellen on Monday 25th!

 

Alex West

[Rikki]

I'm sorry I can't provide you with accommodation Jim, but I've reserved Sunday morning to pick you up. Unfortunately you are one week early for the monthly Central Scotland Concertina Group meeting.

[Roger Hare]

In Edinburgh:

 

Sandy Bell's Bar in Forrest Hill Road (originally called the Forrest Hill Bar).

 

Used to be good for Scottish music, years since I went though (I left Edinburgh in 2004).

Can't remember ever having seen/heard a concertina in there...

 

Roger

[SeanD]

My daughter attends the University of Glasgow and last time I visited I stayed at the SYHA hostel up the hill on Park Terrace with my teenage son. We were quite happy with it, low-key, friendly, solid breakfast, nice view of the park, short walk to the Kelvingrove museum, walk down the hill the other direction to Sauchiehall Street area, cozy cafés nearby along Woodlands Road.

 

I am very interested in the turn of the century Glasgow Art Nouveau style and I very much enjoyed the rebuilt interior of the Mackintoshes' residence, located at the Hunterian Art Gallery - when the house was destroyed in the early 1960s, the interior was saved & rebuilt with the original fittings & furnishings... inside a concrete block of a building!

 

My daughter often flies from/to Edinburgh, for the Glasgow transfer she prefers the bus to a train, don't remember why (maybe to save some silver, maybe because direct to the airport).

 

Sean

[Robin Harrison]

Like Sean, I too like the Art Nouveau architecture & interior design and a great exemplar is the "House for an Art Lover"......again a Macintosh inspiration. Fascinating..... esp. it's history & building.

If you're thirsty (after all that rich cake you've been eating !) visit the Drum & Monkey.....interesting pub with enough real ales to satisfy.

Robin

 

http://www.houseforanartlover.co.uk/

 

http://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/thedrumandmonkeystvincentstreetglasgow/

 

Robin

[Jake Middleton-Metcalfe]

I also am a fan of Macintosh's unique take on art nouveau. I would really recommend a tour of the Glasgow school of art as the interior was amazing. Unfortunately the interior was practically all burnt down last year Something about a projector being left on in the basement.

 

On the upside, I would recommend the Glasgow riverside museum - a great transport museum with an excellent collection of bicycles cars, ship models and the like, If such things interest you.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Jake of Hertford

[jdms]

I also am a fan of Macintosh's unique take on art nouveau.

 

Someone, I feel, ought to build a custom computer case for an Apple desktop machine using design elements in tribute to the Glasgow school. The result would be, of course, a Charles Rennie Macintosh.

[James McBee]

Sandy Bell's still has music (or at least it did around this time last year). There was even an English concertina player at one of the session I observed. The caliber of the playing was pretty high as I recall, but the bar was so loud and crowded on the nights I was there, that it was a bit difficult to hear unless you could snag a spot near the musicians.