Cities
Traditionally, a city had a diocesan cathedral. Today it is size of population that determines matters. Scotland has six cities. These are Edinburgh, the capital with 450,000 people, Glasgow, once the second largest city in the British Empire (560,000), Dundee (145,000), Aberdeen (215,000) - oil capital of Europe, Inverness (51,000) in the Highlands and Stirling (45,000). Three of the cities are within two hours drive from Baltersan.
Edinburgh
This is the nation's ancient capital and one of Europe's great cities. Its compact nature makes it ideal for staging the world-famous arts festival, now into its second half-century. At its centre it is basically two towns - the Mediæval Old Town clinging to the post-volcanic tail of Edinburgh rock, from the castle to the royal palace of Holyrood House, and the elegant Georgian New Town (a UNESCO World Heritage site). The picture (above, left) is centred on the headquarters of the Bank of Scotland with the castle just seen on the right.
Edinburgh is the location for the main national art galleries, library and museum. It is also home of the controversial new Scottish parliament building.
Journey time from Baltersan: 2 hours by car. There is a good train service from Glasgow (4 trains per hour) which terminates right in the heart of the city.
Further information: http://www.edinburgh.org/
Stirling
Scotland's newest city is in the cockpit of the country. So many important moments in the nation's history have taken place within a few miles of its castle (pictured above, centre). The golden-harled building shown is the magnificently restored late 15th c. Great Hall of King James IV. Historic Scotland is now working on the recreation of the Renaissance royal apartments. It was here that the famous Stirling Heads as shown on the Home page Flash sequence, adorned the ceiling of a presence chamber. The replicas, carved by John Donaldson, will soon be placed in the castle.
A short walk from the castle is the glorious Argyll Ludgins, the 17th c. town house of the Earl of Argyll. This too has been brilliantly restored by Historic Scotland and is a must-see for all visitors to the city.
A few miles away and visible for many miles around is the proud Wallace Monument commemorating Scotland's national hero who won a decisive victory against an invading English army at Stirling Bridge.
Journey time from Baltersan: 80 minutes by car. There is a regular train service from Glasgow.
Further information: http://www.visitscottishheartlands.com/
Glasgow
Described in the early 18th c. by the English writer and spy, Daniel Defoe as the "the cleanest and most beautiful, and best city in Britain, London excepted" and in the 20th c. by the English poet John Betjeman, as the greatest Victorian city in the world. When Defoe visited the city it probably had a population of around 12,000. By the middle of the 20th century it had risen to over 1 million, more than a fifth of Scotland's population.
Its great commercial and industrial past has endowed the city with many fine buildings, public parks and superb art collections that one would not expect to find in a city of this size. Pre-eminent in the architectural field are the works of Scotland's greatest architect/designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Mackintosh's famous Willow Tearooms in Sauchiehall Street are still open to the public. They are within a very short walk from his masterpiece, the School of Art.
Glasgow cathedral (pictured above, right) dates back to the 12th century and thankfully survived the depredations of the Reformation iconoclasts.
Built on clay glacial hills known as drumlins, Glasgow city centre's gridiron streets resemble San Francisco with dizzying gradients that Steve McQueen would have relished.
Journey time from Baltersan: 1 hour by car. There is a regular train service from Maybole via Ayr and an express bus service from Ayr.
Further information: http://www.seeglasgow.com/