Well this is starting to sound boring but
another brilliant sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. In fact the south of England is suffering
under quite a heat wave; we are hovering around the mid-twenties in the heat of
the day. After a lazy start bringing the
Blog up to date we headed off to Glasgow about 45 minutes away. Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland
located on the River Clyde in the lowlands, because of the river it grew to one
of the largest seaports in the world and a trading center for the West Indies. The University of Glasgow was established way
back in the 15th century making it a major center for Scottish
enlightenment in the eighteenth century.
The greater Glasgow area encompasses about 2.3 million people or two
fifths of Scotland’s population, the city itself has about 1.2 million people
living within its boundaries. It is the
heart of Scotland’s engineering and manufacturing and is one of Europe’s top
ten financial centers. The core is a beautiful, thoroughly modern
city filled with heritage buildings, museums and galleries galore, art and
fascinating people – well worth the visit.
As we only had a few hours we limited ourselves to a small area of the
downtown.
Our visit started at Glasgow Cathedral, a sacred
site that has been used by Catholics and later the Orange for more than fifteen
hundred years! This is the site where
Saint Mungo was buried back in 603 (but the first cross was planted back in 397
by St. Ninian). Because the church is
built into a hill it is ‘split-level’.
The lower church is the tomb of St. Mungo and the newer upper church
(the third to be built on the site) which dates back to the 13th
century. This church is old! It is filled with tombs and treasures a bit
of a warren of interesting naves and alters and quirky little corners all with
something interesting to see. The stained
glass is stunning, much of it modern replacing old German glass
that is no longer in the windows but has been retained for future restoration. This church was one of the only ones spared
from the reformation as it was protected by the city fathers and guilds who
allowed it to be ransacked but not burned and pulled to the ground. The Nave itself is 105 feet high with an open
timber roof that dates back to the 14th century – like I said old!
After a wonderful personal tour by one of the Friends of Glasgow Cathedral it was time for lunch at a Glaswegian pub that of course was written up in the Good Beer Guide! Fortified it was time for a stroll through downtown Glasgow where I am sure the temperature actually hit thirty degrees! Fabulous wide streets, old interspersed with new, people strolling and eating everywhere (it was a business day after all). We popped our heads into the Museum of Modern Art (wish I had time for more), did a bit of shopping then it was time for home.
We are going to try a bit of local Chinese and Indian take-out tonight and get packed for our long road trip back to Glen Iris tomorrow. It is about seven hours drive but we have a couple of stops in mind.
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