" History
of Aberdeen
" Oil
And Aberdeen
" Arrival,
Information And City Transport
" Listings
" Eating,
Drinking And Nightlife
" Explore
Aberdeen
The third-largest city
in Scotland, ABERDEEN , commonly known
as the Granite City, lies 120 miles northeast of Edinburgh, on the banks of the rivers Dee
and Don smack in the middle of the northeast coast. Based around
a working harbour, it's a place that people either love or hate.
Certainly, while some extol the many tones and colours of Aberdeen's
granite buildings, others see only uniform grey and find the
city grim, cold and unwelcoming. The weather doesn't help: Aberdeen
lies on a latitude north of Moscow and the cutting wind and driving
rain (even if it does transform the buildings into sparkling
silver) can be tiresome.
Since the 1970s, oil has
made Aberdeen a hugely wealthy and self-confident place: only
four percent of Scotland's population live in the city, yet it
has eight percent of the country's spending power. Despite (or
perhaps because of) this, it can seem a soulless city; there's
a feeling of corporate sterility and sometimes, despite its long
history, Aberdeen seems to exist only as a departure point and
service station for the transient population of some ten to fifteen
thousand who live on the 130 oil platforms out to sea.
Staying in such a prosperous
place has its advantages. There are plenty of good restaurants
and hotels, local transport is efficient and certain sights,
including Aberdeen's splendid Art Gallery and the excellent Maritime
Museum , are free. Furthermore, the fact that the city is the
bright light in a wide hinterland helps it to sustain a lively
nightlife with some decent pubs and a colourful arts and cultural
scene.
Aberdeen divides neatly
into five main areas. The city centre , roughly bounded by Broad
Street, Union Street, Schoolhill and Union Terrace, features
the opulent Marischal College , the colonnaded Art Gallery with
its fine collection, and homes that predate Aberdeen's nineteenth-century
town planning and have been preserved as museums . Union Street
continues west to the comparatively cosmopolitan West End, where
much of the city's decent nightlife can be found amid the tall
grey town houses. To the south, the harbour still heaves with
boats serving the fishing and oil industries, while north of
the centre lies attractive Old Aberdeen , a village neighbourhood
presided over by King's College and St Machar's Cathedral and
influenced by the large student population. The long sandy beach
with its esplanade development, only a mile or so from the heart
of the city, marks Aberdeen's eastern border.
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