Glasgow Introduction Walking Tour (Self Guided), Glasgow

The largest city and seaport in Scotland, Glasgow is also one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. Famed for its 19th-century Victorian and Art Nouveau architecture, numerous musical events, football matches, traditional pubs, and food venues, this place is truly unique.

The area of Glasgow in Scotland's western Lowlands has been inhabited for millennia, with the River Clyde providing a natural location for fishing. Glasgow itself grew from a small rural settlement on the river, reputedly founded by the Christian missionary Saint Mungo in the 6th century. He established a church on the Molendinar Burn, where the present Glasgow (aka St Mungo's) Cathedral stands.

The name Glasgow is of Brittonic origin and means "green-hollow", which may refer to the ravine east of the Cathedral.

In addition to being a religious center, the establishment of the University of Glasgow in 1451 paved way to the city's becoming a major center of the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. Thenceforth, Glasgow also grew as one of Great Britain's main hubs of transatlantic trade with North America and the West Indies. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, the population and economy of the city expanded rapidly, making it one of the world's pre-eminent centers of shipbuilding and marine engineering.

Daniel Defoe, visiting Glasgow in the early 18th century, famously described it as "the cleanest and beautifullest, and best built city in Britain, London excepted". For much of the Victorian and Edwardian eras it remained the "Second City of the British Empire".

The rich legacy of the 18th–20th century prosperity helped the city's evolution into a national cultural hub, home to such institutions as the Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet and National Theatre of Scotland, as well as acclaimed museums and a thriving music scene.

The heart of the city is George Square, site of many of public statues and the elaborate Victorian Glasgow City Chambers. To the south and west are the shopping precincts of Argyle Street and Buchanan Street. The latter is a home to Buchanan Galleries, a major retail venue similar in grandness to that of St. Enoch Centre (linking Argyle Street and St Enoch Square), with the up-market Princes Square not far away.

If you wish to make a closer acquaintance with these and other popular sights of Glasgow, don't miss a chance to do that with the help of our self-guided walking tour!