The Glasgow University Tower: A Glimpse of Glasgow's Former Grandeur

Our hotel, Cameron House, is ideally situated for exploring both the Loch Lomond area and Glasgow. On our first morning there, Helen, our guide whom we had already met in Edinburgh, joined us along with Andrew, our driver for the morning, and took us to Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, with over 650,000 inhabitants. Since the city's landmarks are spread out, Helen drove us to the main sites to help us get our bearings before exploring on foot in the afternoon.
​We began at Glasgow Cathedral, a stunning example of medieval architecture dating back to the 12th century, and Necropolis, the historic cemetery located on a hill east of the cathedral. Its impressive collection of monuments, mausoleums, and sculptures includes a prominent statue of John Knox, seemingly overlooking the cathedral as if guarding the Scots against reverting back to Catholicism.
Glasgow is also home to world-class museums, but on our first morning, we limited ourselves to visiting The House for an Art Lover, a unique building in the Art Nouveau style designed by the famous Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1901. Additionally, we visited the Riverside Museum, which boasts one of the world's finest transport collections. As we explored Glasgow, the Victorian and Edwardian buildings lining the streets reminded me of Liverpool in the early 2000s, before it became the European City of Culture. Similar to Liverpool at that time, Glasgow felt like a large city in need of restoration and modernization. Finding decent postcard shots of the city proved challenging, but amidst the worn-down streets, there were glimpses of its former grandeur, like the tower of Glasgow University waiting to be rediscovered – Glasgow, Scotland, UK