Though it has plenty of landmarks, the wide-open plaza of George Square is as close as Glasgow gets to having a focal point. Heavy traffic and the close railway station always give it a vibrant bustle, but it's not really a place to linger, other than to soak up its self-confident Victorian architecture and trappings.

The square's centrepiece eighty-foot column is topped by a statue of writer Sir Walter Scott (who had few links with the city), while other statues here depict other Scots heroes such as James Watt and Robbie Burns.

Also among the statuary, is Queen Victoria who in 1888 opened the square's main building, the City Chambers. As mighty and impressive as the city's colonial trade and heavy industry that funded it, the ground-floor mosaic ceilings and mighty Italian marble stairwells are open to the public.