48 Hours in Glasgow – Day 2

Day two

After our first 24 hours in Glasgow, we were up early, well rested and stoked to see more of this invigorating city. Our stay at the Malmaison Hotel was perfect so far and continued with a great coffee and light breakfast to hit the road.

Glasgow Miracle

Our first stop was Glasgow’s School of Art where our art tour of the city centre would begin. Georgia and Laura, our tour guides, were a couple of enthusiastic young students heavily involved in Glasgow’s exploding art scene and brimming with knowledge.

Our casual walking tour would take us to 15 different points of interest that would include stunning art nouveau architecture, quirky and humorous installations and magnificent paintings.

Street art is virtually everywhere in Glasgow but this tour scratched below the surface to show us some hidden gems, even some that you wouldn’t think are art until someone pointed them out, like the Empire sign locked away in an alley.

It was two hours of non stop fun, tapping into the students’ perspective of the local scene and getting to feel the buzz of the “Glasgow Miracle”.

Our tour ended in the middle of town at Trongate 103 where we bid farewell to our guides and waited to meet up with our host Caroline for a quick lunch and a ten minute cab ride to our next destination for a gin tasting.

Once Upon a Tart

Rendez-vous made, we popped down the road to a fresh and colourful little place called Once Upon A Tart, a hipster’s paradise of mismatched furniture, and funky furnishing splashed with colour.  Soup and a sandwich was just what we needed to keep the gin in check and fight off the chill in the air. All was delicious and we were out the door in no time.

Makar Gin

Just outside of the city centre, in a fairly nondescript industrial park, our cab dropped us off in front of the Glasgow Distillery Company. Another pair of happy Glaswegians, Dave and Jack, greeted us with great enthusiasm and quickly escorted us inside their distillery.

A brand new operation, they are currently concentrating on making their Makar Gin. Whiskey is their ultimate goal, but to get things going and let their first batches of whiskey age, they can make an artisanal gin to sell immediately. Their still named Anna, after the distiller’s grandmother, stood majestically along one wall, polished in all its copper glory.

Jack, the head distiller, barely able to control his unbridled passion for the distilling process, with his partner, Dave, deftly brought us through the entire process of how the grain and water can become a sweet libation. It was truly hard not to share their fervour as young entrepreneurs and the wonderment of their Steampunk world with Anna the still making Makar Gin.
A plastic cup tasting was had standing around sacks of grain and bottling equipment. A stand alone gin, it was brimming with juniper and herbal flavours and left my lips a little tingly. 

Rogano’s Oyster Bar

Perfect for the cab ride back to the hotel to relax before heading to an early dinner and then the opening gala of the Glasgow Film Festival. We still had plenty of time until dinner so we decided to nip into town for another walk about and maybe find a beer to keep the gin company.

Within minutes we were on Buchanan St., the high street and main shopping district. Pubs were hustling after workers, flowing in after work, packing most of the pubs we passed along the way. Everyone seemed really happy despite the drizzling rain, with laughter and merriment the cure for a hard day at the office.

Refreshed by a crisp lager at Rogano’s Oyster Bar, it was time to freshen up for our night out.

The Butterfly and the Pig

Being masters at the quick change, we turned around and out of the hotel again within minutes and a short stroll later, arrived at The Butterfly and the Pig for dinner. Caroline, Moira from Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Northern Ireland’s Gossip Guy, Neil Cole were already seated and we joined them at a corner table, saving a seat for Geoff the videographer. 

The lower level of a tea house, this pub has a warm, cosy vibe with a casual drinking area made up of comfy couches, coffee tables and chairs and a dining room with vintage wood tables and chairs set with mismatched vintage dishes and cutlery. All the food coming out of the kitchen looked awesome, but the promise of a “proper fish and chips” won out for most of the group and I was primed for a choice piece of haddock, crispy fries and mushy peas. The Butterfly and the Pig delivered beautifully, recommending a couple of local brews to enjoy along with our perfectly executed fish and chips. 

With more awesome looking food coming past us from the kitchen I said to Nat, “We need to come back here if we can.”, but it was time to head off to the gala opening of the Glasgow Film Festival at the newly renovated and neon adorned Glasgow Film Theatre. 

While We’re Young

Movie buffs of all sizes and shapes huddled under the entrance to the theatre as the seats quickly filled up with a crowd of Glasgow film fanatics. Noah Baumbach’s newest offering, While We’re Young, starring Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts was starting off the whole festival and I was a bit worried it wouldn’t be film festival worthy, but was pleasantly surprised at its level of entertainment in the end. 

Forced out by the exiting crowd behind us, we reluctantly stepped into the pouring rain after the film. It was really coming down and our goal was to find the after party, quickly. Getting wetter by the minute we made our way to what turned out to be the wrong location only to be turned around and trace our steps to within a block of the theatre. The pouring rain caused a few casualties along the way, but we figured a happening after party could dry us out and forged on. Soon we were inside and it was evident it wasn’t exactly the kind of after party we expected. 

Film Festival After Party 

The warm mumble of hipsters enjoying drinks while discussing film was replaced by a pitch black room filled with damp people, a fog machine and a blisteringly loud DJ, pounding out all the latest hits. Doing the polite thing, we stayed for two drinks, yelling things in each other’s ear that none of us could hear because of the blaring tunes, strangely similar to the theme of the movie we had just viewed. 

It was time to make like a ghost and we slipped into the night with the city reflecting in the puddles left behind by the rain.
Tempted by a pub or two, we kept our heads down and made a beeline back to the hotel because first thing the next morning we would be off on a week long road trip to the Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides.

Until We Meet Again

48 hours just isn’t enough to see this awesome town properly, so we decided to return to Glasgow again to end our epic road trip and our visit to Scotland. 

Follow us as we head north with hopes of visiting the Isle of Harris and are dazzled by the scenery of the Highlands. Then return with us to Glasgow for another kick at the can with more curry, culture and fun.

For further information on visiting Glasgow please visit www.peoplemakeglasgow.ca

We were guests of Glasgow City Marketing, the opinions in this post are our own.