Glasgow Again

This is the first of my posts from Glasgow on this trip. So why is it titled “Glasgow Again,” you ask? I was in Glasgow about five years ago. It was the second trip I’d taken anywhere since starting this journal. That’s why. Click here to find all Glasgow-based posts from that trip and this one, as well as from any future trips should I come back again.

Glasgow Green
Glasgow Green

I don’t know how much I’ll repeat from that prior trip this time. Probably not a lot. I plan to take a couple of day trips out of Glasgow that I didn’t go on last time. One is a bus tour that I’ve already booked. The other is a trip that, if I go through with my plan, I’ll make my way to on my own by train. Including the day trips out of it, I’m in Glasgow for only three full days plus the half day today, so that doesn’t leave a lot of room for repetition of previous sightseeing. But there’ll probably be some.

The ambitious among you who are determined to catch me in an inconsistency can compare the write-up from this trip to the one back then when I do go to the same sight on both trips. Then again, that trip was five years ago. Glasgow has probably changed somewhat since then and that could explain any discrepancies. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

After a three-and-a-half-hour train trip from Inverness, I arrived at my hotel in Glasgow at about 1:30 in the afternoon. My room wasn’t ready yet. There was no food on the train, so I checked my bags at the hotel and set out to find somewhere to grab a sandwich for lunch.

While eating my lunch, I tried to figure out what to do for the rest of the afternoon.

To that end, I opened Google Maps and looked for the largest green blob that wasn’t an unreasonable walk away from my hotel. The one I found is called Glasgow Green.

Buchanan Street, Glasgow
Buchanan Street, Glasgow

Why did I pick Glasgow Green as a destination? I didn’t see it recommended in either of my guidebooks. Today has some clouds and it’s a touch cool, but it’s what I think passes for at least marginally clement weather in Scotland. In contrast, the forecast calls for rain for most of the day tomorrow and a 60% chance of precipitation the next day. The day after that is predicted to be nice, but that’s when I’m booked on the bus tour I mentioned.

So, if I’m going to visit a big green blob on Google Maps, also known as a park, this seemed like the best day to do it.

The streetscape of Glasgow on the route I took from the train station to my hotel and from the hotel to Glasgow Green is attractive, but it lacks a certain, shall we say, spectacularness. There are some nice old buildings, but they’re not consistently old and grand as in, say, Old Edinburgh. I get the sense that Glasgow doesn’t take nearly as much care to protect its heritage as Edinburgh does.

There is a very attractive pedestrianized shopping street here with oldish buildings lining its sides, Buchanan Street, in the central part of Glasgow. So, there’s that.

What’s more, I didn’t explore much of the city this afternoon, and I seem to recall from my last trip there are some very nice bits of Glasgow. There will probably be better to come on this trip.

Glasgow Toolbooth

On my walk to the park, I passed by a weird-looking old building. It’s a toothpick of a tower with a square base that stands pretty much in the middle of the street. It minds its own business while the rest of the neighbourhood does its level-headed best to pretend it’s not there.

I looked on Google Maps to see if it marked the structure. I couldn’t find anything.

Glasgow Tollbooth Spire
Glasgow Tollbooth Spire

I gave up trying to figure out what it was and pressed on to the park.

I spent a fair bit of time in Glasgow Green (see below) and sat for a spell on one of its benches. There, instead of relaxing, that building plagued me.

I opened Apple Photos, pulled up the photo I took of it, and used Apple Photos to show me the point on the map where I took it. Apple Maps didn’t label the building either, but I looked more closely at the nearby buildings that it did label I saw a couple that had “tollbooth” in their names, “Toolbooth Bar” and “Toolbooth Apartments.”

On a hunch, I Googled “Glasgow Tollbooth.” Eureka! I found it!

Wikipedia tells me there was a tollbooth there for quite some time, the first one dated back to at least the mid-14th century. A new one was completed in 1634. It continued as a tollbooth for a while and then served a few other purposes. By the early 20th century, the main building was dilapidated and it was demolished. But they kept the steeple. That’s the tower I saw today. The Wikipedia entry has an old picture of it with the building still attached and a picture of it as it is today.

Mystery solved!

Glasgow Green

I didn’t pick Glasgow Green for a visit solely because it’s a big green blob on the map. I chose it because it’s a big green blob that’s beside the River Clyde on the map.

River Clyde
River Clyde

On my previous trip, I wrote that I found River Clyde uninspiring and I thought the city could make much better use of its waterfront. But I hadn’t visited Glasgow Green or any significant green space beside the Clyde on that trip.

A voice inside my head said, “Surely, the river will be much more scenic beside a large park than it is running through a workaday part of Glasgow. You should give the Clyde another chance to impress.”

Another voice inside my head replied, “Don’t call me Shirley.”

If anyone ever tells you that it’s easy being me, don’t believe them. Particularly if it’s one of the voices inside my head. You can’t trust them.

Staid, but fanciful multicoloured building just outside of Glasgow Green
Staid, but fanciful multicoloured building just outside of Glasgow Green

It turns out the first voice was right. River Clyde is very pleasant with greenery on its banks. If I were American instead of Canadian I’d make a joke about also liking greenery in banks if it’s in my wallet, but most of our currency isn’t green.

There are a couple of pedestrian bridges over the Clyde in the park, so I was able to get some looks down the middle of the river.

In addition to the riverwalk, the park has lots of grass and trees. In all, it is delightful.

Just outside of one of the boundaries of the park, there’s a staid, but fanciful (if that makes sense) multicoloured building. I posted a picture of it here because I liked the cut of its jib.

People’s Palace

Front of People's Palace
Front of People’s Palace

Inside Glasgow Green, there’s a stately red stone building with a glass-walled, glass-roofed building growing out of the back of it. It’s called “People’s Palace.”

The objective of People’s Palace is to tell the story of the social history of Glasgow. That objective is on hold. The building is closed while it undergoes major renovations. It’s not expected to reopen until 2027. (It’s September 2024 as I write this.)

I knew it was closed before I got there because, 1) I’m me so of course they would have closed it, and 2) Google Maps told me it was temporarily closed when I checked out the park before heading there. So, I was able to get a head start on my disappointment over that.

Side of People's Palace
Side of People’s Palace

In front of the People’s Palace, there’s a tall terracotta fountain with a low, black rail-and-post fence surrounding it. Signs on the fence encouraged me to “Enjoy” what it says is the largest and best example of a terracotta fountain remaining in the world. It then goes on to tell me to not violate the perimeter marked by the fence.

The fountain, known as the Doulton Fountain, is multi-tiered. At its top is a statue that I recognized right away without any textual help as Queen Victoria. (Do you have to be a citizen of a British Commonwealth country to be able to recognize Queen Vic without prompting?)

Terracotta fountain
Terracotta fountain

On the tiers below Victoria, there are figures representing soldiers from the post-American Revolution colonies of Britain back when Britain still had colonies. (Other than the soldiers from India, I didn’t recognize the soldiers from the other colonies. I subsequently read they also include Canada, Australia, and South Africa.)

Glasgow Green turned out to be a good choice for my afternoon. If the weather forecast for tomorrow proves accurate, I’ll be looking for rainy-day activities for then. We’ll see what happens.


Discover more from Joel's Journeys & Jaunts

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

2 Comments

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.