People Make Glasgow: Wendy H Gilmour’s Guide to Glasgow

The neo-classical building that houses the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) is its own piece of architectural artwork. The former home of one of Glasgow’s wealthy tobacco lords, it was also a center for business and commercial exchange for more than 100 years. It is now Scotland’s most-visited modern art gallery and with a vibrant program of contemporary art exhibitions and free admission, GoMA is a spot to visit again and again.

Glasgow weather is notoriously fickle and not uncommonly damp, but the sun does shine and, when it does, this extensive park in the city’s fashionable West End is the place to be. It features 66 acres to wander, picnic, or just people-watch, plus monuments like a fine statue of Victorian man of letters Thomas Carlyle and the Stewart Memorial Fountain, designed in memory of the man who brought the first and lasting supply of fresh drinking water to the city from Loch Katrine in the Trossachs Mountains of the Southern Highlands. Also on-site are four tennis courts, three children’s play areas, a skateboard park, and several picturesque riverside trails.