HOW TO SPEND AN 18TH BIRTHDAY IN GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

We booked to stay with EasyHotel for the duration of our time in Scotland, because whilst there were many other options we could choose for a similar price range, this hotel was very central, only a couple minutes walk from the main city centre. However, it was only when we arrived that I clocked they were just an off-branch from the aeroplane company EasyJet – and let me just say, you get more legroom on a flight than you do in their hotel. 

It was clean and all, but holy moly was it tiny, and added expenses were everywhere so you couldn’t even make tea or turn on the TV or use the internet. Quite frankly, any other hotel in Glasgow would have probably been a lot better, but then again we were only there to sleep in the evenings so it wasn’t much of a big deal. The people at reception had such thick Scottish accents that I could barely make out a single word, at one point going completely blank that they could possibly be speaking my mother tongue. I soon found that this was a recurring theme, and I just can’t for the life of me understand a vast majority of the Scottish accent. It’s a massive hindrance, I know, especially as on the day of my birthday I wore this big “18 today” badge because I love drawing attention to myself evidently – as so many adorable people came to wish me a happy birthday, by the end of it I completely tuned out and Jaimie had to tell me people were communicating with me in their beautiful, but extremely thick accents. And they are beautiful – I felt like I was on the movie set of Brave the whole time (and saw a child that was even actually called Merida, no kidding).

THINGS TO SEE AND DO IN GLASGOW

THE SIGHTSEEING BUS

As a tourist, I felt it my duty to go on the Glasgow city sightseeing bus, the best way of seeing any city. The idea is, you get on the bus, and they give you a little guided tour of the place, and at all the best destinations you have the option to get off to go and see them. This means that you can get off at a cool museum, look around, and get back on the bus two hours later and resume the tour. It’s literally such a brilliant idea, I don’t know why they don’t have them in smaller places like Swansea and Dusseldorf. So anyway, we went on the city sightseeing bus and saw a bunch of amazing places that I otherwise would not have been able to see, such as The Tall Ship, the Royal Concert Hall, St Vincent Place, and Glasgow Green. They’re all places I wouldn’t have wanted to spend a long time at, but am glad to have seen nonetheless. 

GLASGOW CATHEDRAL

Also referred to as St Kentigurn’s and consecrated in 1197, this cathedral was absolutely beautiful and definitely one of the top five I’ve ever seen. I adore cathedrals, as they can be absolutely gorgeous, and are so seeped in culture and history that even though I don’t share the same religion as those who built these places, I can really appreciate them. For cathedral lovers like me, I can’t recommend Glasgow enough, especially as it has a little crypt and everything underneath. Truly fabulous.

THE NECROPOLIS

The best graveyard I’ve ever visited in my life. That’s not a sentence I ever planned on saying, but during my *gulp* 18 years on this earth I have seen pure white marble graveyards to indoor cathedral ones, and whilst they’ve all been insane in their own way, this one really tops it. It’s right by the cathedral, and you weave your way walking up this massive hill to end up overlooking the whole city, with impressively massive monuments surrounding you. We went up relatively early one morning so the sky still had that post-sunrise look to it, and the brewery by the side was spewing smoke into the air, which just made it even more beautiful. It’s a tad off the beaten track and a bit niche, but if you want to see something beautiful, if a little spooky, you absolutely must go to the Necropolis. 

ST MUNGO MUSEUM OF RELIGIOUS LIFE AND ART

When I was researching Glasgow, one of the places I found to go to were St Mungo, which was this very little museum that was focused on how different cultures and the like deal with religion and art. Me, being someone who’s deeply in love with travel (can you tell?) and learning about other societies had to visit, and it was oh so worth it. I drank everything in, as it tells you about marriage and death and beliefs in all these other countries and communities, and it was insanely interesting. It’s the sort of wacky, yet pretty darn awesome you wouldn’t think about going to but would fall in love with if you did. Also, there’s a pretty decent view from the third floor, which is worth checking out.

PROVAN’S LORDSHIP – THE OLDEST HOUSE IN GLASGOW

Funnily enough, this place was recommended to us by a guy at St Mungo, and so we went to check it out. Whilst the oldest building in Glasgow is the cathedral itself, the oldest actual house is this place, which was built in 1471 as part of the hospital. You go inside with the free entry, and whilst it smells pretty grim and the floorboard ceiling overhead looks extremely dodgy, it’s super cute. We didn’t spend long there, but the time we spent was worth it. 

GEORGE SQUARE

Very similar to Trafalgar Square in London, George Square is a little place full of beautiful buildings and food places, and it’s a very central place to catch buses and the like from. It’s a cute square, and on our final night we had time to have a proper look around the place (and not just because I’d booked the return coach for 10:30pm when all the shops closed at like 5). In the evening of our first night, Jaimie took me out for dinner at a cute Italian place called Bella Italia which was right by the square and I fell in love with the place almost instantly. The food was incredible, the setting was wonderful, and I got to wear my favourite burgundy dress whilst Jaimie wore suspenders and a bow tie. We were exceedingly overdressed, and I loved it. And the waiter was the nicest person ever, like all the Scottish lads and lasses I met. 

PEOPLE’S PALACE

Not only is this place a super lovely museum, but it also houses a ‘winter garden’ which is basically this massive greenhouse where you can sit and chill and drink hot beverages. It tells you all about the history of Glasgow, and has little exhibitions on what it was like back in the day. It was nice, and the winter gardens are literally adorable – and meant that I got a super badass Instagram photo.

KELVINGROVE ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM

This was the best museum ever, I adore it so much. They have elephants and mummies and a floating head installation, and it’s badass and brilliant and I could have spent a solid week there. It’s one of the most popular attractions in the whole of Scotland, and it’s not hard to see why. And they have a little indoor cafe where they sell the most beautiful orange and chocolate cake, which ended up being my birthday cake. Honestly, the best thing ever. Also, they sell these little bagpipe magnets that sing when you press them, and if that doesn’t win you over then I’m not sure what will.

CINEWORLD (YES, REALLY)

Remember I mentioned the shops closed at 5pm and we had a coach at 10:30? Well we ended up spending our final hours drinking hot beverages and watching Passengers, an adorable movie that I cannot recommend enough, at the tallest cinema in the world. It has 18 screens that are glossed around six different levels, and it’s so lovely in there I can’t even tell you. And the film? Had me blubbering like a baby. Which I guess makes sense, as 18 years ago I was also doing just that.