Glasgow is only 40 miles (64km) west of Edinburgh but forms an amazing contrast to Scotland's capital. Scotland's largest city and commercial powerhouse and Britain's third-largest city, Glasgow is now the country's cultural capital and home to half the population. It has long been famous for ironworks and steelworks and was the birthplace of the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth, and other fabled liners.

But Glasgow is no longer the smoking industrial city, blighted by Gorbals, that used to contain some of the worst slums in Europe. Urban development and the decision to locate the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre here have brought great changes: Industrial grime is being sandblasted away, city-center overcrowding has been reduced, and more open space and less traffic congestion mean cleaner air.

The splendor of the city has reemerged. John Betjeman and other critics have hailed Glasgow as "the greatest surviving example of a Victorian city." The planners of the 19th century thought on a grand scale when they designed the terraces and villas west and south of the center.

Glasgow's origins are ancient, making Edinburgh, for all its wealth of history, seem comparatively young. The village that grew up beside a ford 20 miles (32km) from the mouth of the River Clyde as a medieval ecclesiastical center began its commercial prosperity in the 17th century. As it grew, the city engulfed the smaller medieval towns of Ardrie, Renfrew, Rutherglen, and Paisley.

Glasgow is part of Strathclyde, a powerful and populous district whose origins go back to the Middle Ages. Irish chroniclers wrote of the kingdom of Stratha Cluatha some 1,500 years ago, and Strathclyde was known to the Romans, who called its people Damnonii. The old capital, Dumbarton, on its high rock, provided a natural fortress in the days when locals had to defend themselves against enemy tribes.

The fortunes of Strathclyde changed dramatically in the 18th century, when the Clyde estuary became the gateway to the New World. Glasgow merchants grew rich on tobacco and then on cotton. It was Britain's fastest-growing region during the Industrial Revolution, and Glasgow was known as the Second City of the Empire. Until 1996, Strathclyde functioned as a government entity that included Glasgow, but it's now broken down into several new divisions: the City of Glasgow; Inverclyde, which includes the important industrial center of Greenock; and several others. In 1736, Greenock was the birthplace of James Watt, inventor of the steam engine.

Glasgow is a good gateway for exploring the heart of the Burns Country, Culzean Castle, and the resorts along the Ayrshire coast, an hour away by frequent train service. From Glasgow you can also tour Loch Lomond, Loch Katrine, and the Trossachs. After a day or so in Glasgow, you can head to the Burns country for perhaps another night. Also on Glasgow's doorstep is the scenic estuary of the Firth of Clyde, down which you can cruise on a paddle steamer. The Firth of Clyde, with its long sea lochs--Gareloch, Loch Long, Loch Goil, and Holy Loch--is one of the most scenic waterways in the world.