Scotland - Central

Scotland’s two principal cities dominate the central belt – Edinburgh, the beautiful capital, and Glasgow, Scotland`s bustling commercial hub.   Aberdeen, lies in a north-eastern extension of the lowland country.    All three are old university cities, and boast easy access to lovely surrounding countryside – Edinburgh to the Borders and Fife, Glasgow to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, and Aberdeen to Royal Deeside.  

GLASGOW
Glasgow has undergone some major urban renewal in recent times, while retaining an architecturally splendid city centre.  It was the European Capital of Culture in 1990, and the city is now home to more than 200 arts organisations including Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.  Shoppers should head for the West End with its international shopping chains, lively bars, and classy restaurants.  Try the Ubiquitous Chip for an experience of classic Scottish cuisine.  The open spaces of George Square are populated by the statues of famous Scotsmen (Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and many others).  The City Chambers, on the east side of the Square, is a magnificent Victorian pile with marbled interior, extravagantly celebrating the then power and wealth of the city.   Nearby one can find Glasgow`s two principal medieval survivals, the gothic St Mungo`s Cathedral and the 15th-century house (and present-day museum) of Provand`s Larder.  Going west from  the city centre, by some handsome 19th-century streets and squares and Charles Rennie Mackintosh`s Glasgow School of Art,  one arrives at a splendid complex of buildings and park at Kelvingrove – most notably Sir George Gilbert Scott`s Glasgow University (with Hunterian Museum and Gallery) on the heights of Gilmorehill, and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, on the banks of the Kelvin.    Stroll along the Clyde and you will come across attractions displaying the river`s history such as the Pumphouse and the Tall Ship - an 1896 vessel still afloat today. 

AYRSHIRE & ISLE OF ARRAN
Robert Burns is, by far, Ayrshire`s most famous son and one of the world`s most loved literary figures.   The humble cottage he was born in can still be visited, and the Burns Museum next door houses a number of priceless letters and manuscripts in the poet`s hand.  Alloway is also home to the Land O`Burns Centre and Alloway Auld Kirk.  There are also Burns museums in nearby Mauchline, and in the port of Irvine.   The coastline of Ayrshire is particularly attractive to the south of Ayr and to the north of Ardrossan, and is particularly noted for its abundance of fine golf courses, the most famous being Turnberry and Royal Troon, both venues for the Open Championship.  Among the many fine houses that can be visited, Culzean Castle, in the south, is perhaps the most remarkable, on a site high above the Firth of Clyde, and featuring an apartment given to President Eisenhower for his role as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II.   The whole coastline faces west towards the high peaks of Arran, and the island can be visited by car-ferry from Ardrossan.  The main village is Brodick, lying underneath the cone-shaped 2,866-foot mountain, Goatfell.  The path to the top is quite straightforward, with rough scrambling confined to the last few hundred feet.  The view from the summit on a clear day is one of the finest in Britain – from the Central Highlands in the north, to the inner Hebrides in the west, to Ireland in the south.  The island is fairly easy to cycle round, and for golfers there is a wonderful array of courses of varying sizes in the main villages.  The prettiest settlements are Corrie, next to Brodick, and Lochranza, in the far north with its ancient castle and quality whisky distillery.  Brodick itself is home to a beautiful castle with gardens and country park, a small brewery, a fine Heritage Museum, the Island Cheese Company, and the little factory and retail outlet of Arran Aromatics.

LANARKSHIRE
Lanarkshire’s biggest attraction is probably the birthplace and museum of the African explorer and missionary David Livingstone at Blantyre.  At Lanark, a market town, the Visitors` Centre will give you The New Millennium Experience - a high-tech ride through the town`s past and present   A little way south,  Robert Owen`s New Lanark, a World Heritage site with a splendid 18th-century cotton mill and workers` houses, attracts 400,000 visitors a year.  Walk up to the Falls of Clyde through a beautiful nature reserve and, some way beyond, to the Cora Linn waterfalls that inspired both Wordsworth and Turner.

EDINBURGH
Scotland`s capital was recently voted the most desirable place to live in the UK by Channel 4’s `Location, Location, Location` programme.   With a long and ancient history and royal connections,  Edinburgh`s beauty has been carefully preserved and advanced over the centuries.  Wander around the elevated Old Town with its medieval tenements, closes, museums and St Giles Cathedral for a powerful sense of the city`s history.  The Royal Mile connects Edinburgh Castle on its dramatic volcanic rock downhill to the Palace of Holyrood House, celebrated in particular for its associations with Mary Queen of Scots, and, close by, the spectacular new Scottish Parliament building.  The fine thoroughfare of Princes Street separates the Old Town from the New Town and the latter both World Heritage Sites are widely regarded as one of the world`s finest  examples of Georgian town-planning.   Energetic visitors, seeking magnificent panoramas over the city, can climb Calton Hill with its classical folly to  the east of Princes Street,  or Salisbury Crags and Arthur`s Seat, rising above the green expanses of Holyrood Park.   Shoppers can find the usual international chains mixed in with a host of tartan shops and stylish old Edinburgh stores such as Jenners on Princes Street, dating back to 1838 and offering 100 separate departments.    Culturally, Edinburgh is a true European capital with its world-celebrated International Festival, running every summer since 1947;  its regular performances from Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, and the Scottish Royal National Orchestra;  its new Museum of Scotland; its Military Tattoo and its Hogmanay festivities;  and the marvellous collections in its different art galleries – the National Gallery of Scotland, the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and the Fruitmarket Gallery.    It goes without saying that a city of this quality has an enormous range of fine restaurants, as well as countless pubs, most famously in Rose Street.  

DUNDEE
Dundee, Scotland`s fourth-largest city, and home to two universities and two football teams, is traditionally famous for its Three J's Jute, Jam and Journalism.  Jam, or Marmalade, made famous world-wide by the firm of James Keiller & Son.  It has a beautiful location on the north shore of the Firth of Tay and is connected with Fife and the south by the Tay Rail Bridge and the Tay Road Bridge.  Visitors can go on board Captain Robert Falcon Scott`s  Antarctic-expedition ship `Discovery` built in Dundee.   Culturally, the Dundee Repertory Theatre and Caird Hall – standing on the south side of the fine City Square, is regularly visited by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.  The Gothic-Revival McManus Galleries, in Albert Square, houses a large art collection and museum.  Also of great interest is the Verdant Mill, a 19th-century jute works which has been converted into a fascinating living museum.  Broughty  Ferry, four miles east, has its own fine Castle Museum, in addition to a popular sandy beach.  Arrive on New Year`s Day and join in the traditional Ne`erday swim between the piers of the harbour!

FIFE & PERTHSHIRE
The Kingdom of Fife lies between the Firths of Tay and Forth, its three main towns being Dunfermline, Kirkaldy, and Glenrothes .  Dumfermlne is the  burial place of Robert the Bruce,  Kirkaldy is now part of the prime minister, Gordon Brown`s, constituency and Glenrothes is one of Scotland`s longest established New Towns.   Most famous of all is the lovely old seaside town of St Andrews, with its medieval university and world-famous Royal & Ancient links – the `home of golf`   The countryside is particularly attractive, with the rolling farmlands of the Howe of Fife, and  spectacular eminences like the Lomond Hills.  The coastline is notable for its little fishing harbours - Anstruther, Crail, and Pittenweem, for example, all popular resorts with, like Fife as a whole, a fine range of excellent restaurants. 

Perthshire, to the west of Fife, is one of Scotland`s largest and most beautiful counties, extending from the farmlands in the east to the great Highland peaks of Ben More, Ben Lawers, and Schiehallion in the west.    The ancient and historic county town of Perth sits elegantly on the banks of the Tay, four fine bridges straddling the river and the two verdant parks of North Inch and South Inch lying on either bank.  Notable places to visit include the Perth Museum and Art Gallery, the Fergusson Gallery, the Perth Museum, the Black Watch Museum, and the 15th-century St John`s Kirk.   Every May, the town hosts the two-week Perth Festival of the Arts.  Good restaurants abound, and shoppers should have a look at McEwan`s of Perth, a long-established and up-market department store.    Just outside the town, the late-Georgian Scone Palace sits near Moot Hill.  The county has a number of handsome little towns and villages, some on the edge of the Highland line – Dunkeld with its grey-sandstone medieval cathedral;  Aberfoyle, the Gateway to the Trossachs;  Pitlochry, popular with tourists since Victorian times, and offering two whisky distilleries and a repertory theatre.  Callendar and Crieff are also well worth a visit.

ABERDEENSHIRE
Aberdeenshire, like Perthshire, encompasses both highland and lowland terrain, and its extensive coastline boasts some fine sandy beaches and attractive little harbour towns and villages.   Aberdeen itself, the `Granite City` has seen much wealth come to the area  – something reflected in its excellent shopping and restaurant facilities.   There are a  number of impressive buildings - St Machar`s Cathedral,  the Kirk of St Nicholas, and the 19th-century St Mary`s and St Andrews Cathedrals.  The University of Aberdeen is home to a large art and archaeology collection, is well worth a visit.   So too are Provost Ross`s house, dating back to 1593, the fascinating Aberdeen Maritime Museum, the Aberdeen Art Gallery, and the early-morning fish market.  The city is rightly famous for its fine parks and gardens:  Duthie Park, Hazlehead Park,  Seaton Park, and the Union Terrace Gardens.  Aberdeen has won the Royal Horticultural Society`s Britain in Bloom `Best City` award a remarkable 10 times. 

Beyond the city, Aberdeenshire embraces some of Britain`s most spectacular mountain scenery – most particularly in Royal Deeside and in the Cairgorms National Park and Ben Macdhui, the second-ranking British peak after Ben Nevis.   Just north of Aberdeen lies the magnificent Forvie National Nature Reserve,  its estuary, extensive dune system, and isolated beaches providing a paradise for birds and bird-watchers. Here you can find the largest breeding colony of eider ducks in Britain.  St Cyrus, near the fine little town of Stonehaven, has its own smaller nature reserve, and close by stands the splendid clifftop ruin of Dunnottar Castle, where Franco Zefferelli filmed his 1990 version of Shakespeare`s Hamlet.   Walkers might be tempted to try part of the North East Coastal Trail running from Aberdeen to Inverness by way of the neighbouring counties of Banff, Moray, and Nairn along the shores of the Moray Firth.