IMMERSE YOURSELF IN ART IN GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
WHY GO: Scotland’s biggest city has a seemingly infinite array of attractions for the curious. If you fancy live theatre, A Play, A Pie and A Pint is an exclusively Glaswegian treasure featuring lunchtime pub-style performances with, you guessed it, a meat pie and pint of beer. EXCEPTIONAL TO-DO’S: Visiting one or more of the spectacular galleries is a must. Options include Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, where the recently redesigned Life Gallery showcases collections pertaining to natural history, while the Riverside Museum displays a dizzying array of transport-related items, from trams to motorcycles and bicycles to locomotives. Art and design enthusiasts should check out the original collections and pain stakingly reproduced interiors designed by noted Scottish architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife, artist Mar- garet Macdonald Mackintosh, throughout the halls of The Mackintosh House, and also at House for an Art Lover, the latter being anideal locale for lunch or afternoon tea. WHERETO EAT: The Ubiquitous Chip has appeared in the U.K.’s respected The Good Food Guide for 45 consecutive years, and features ever-changing menus with an od to traditional dishes, including the perfectly aged Scottish Aberdeen Angus beef or the Loch Mel fort sea trout with chard, radish and brown shrimp. Save room for the famous Caledonian oatmeal ice cream with toasted honey oats. WHERETO STAY: The suitably named Dakota Deluxe is a gorgeous newhotel in the heart of the city centre. But five-star luxury a waits less than anhour’s drive away at ultra-posh Cameron House on “the bonnie, bonnie banks o ’Loch Lomond” (as the traditional Scottish song goes). Here you’ll find 17 treatment rooms and a VIP couples room at The Spa, and four luxurious dining options, including Michelin-starred Restaurant Martin Wishart.