The smallest city I've ever found (Elgin in General)

Member Name: casarka

Product:	Elgin in General
Date:	05/07/01 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small and friendly, Shopping much improved, Interesting places to visit in and around

Disadvantages: Not very exciting

Elgin is a small city in the North East of Scotland in the district of Moray.

Shopping
I came back to live here 4 years ago after a spell in Aberdeen and was surprised to find a shopping centre had been built, it's called the St Giles shopping centre and there are around 20 shops in it. Most of them are well known like WH Smith, Superdrug and Dorothy Perkins. The centre of the town centre has been pedestrianised to make shopping a more pleasant experience. There are lots of shops outwith the St Giles Centre and they've spread up the side streets and back streets. South Street which runs parallel to the High Street has lots of shops too. One thing Elgin doesn't have a shortage of is Second Hand shops. The are 9 that I can think of without even trying.

Cathedral
Elgin gets to be called a city (even though it's smaller than lots of towns) because there is a Cathedral here. The fact that it burned down many moons ago and is now just a ruin doesn't seem to bother anyone and we get masses of visitors coming to see it. They've rebuilt parts of it and you can go inside and upstairs to a look out station type bit at the top. I bet the view is amazing, I'm terrified of heights so I wouldn't know. It's really very picturesque, for a ruin.

Biblical Gardens
Within 100 yards of the Cathedral is The Biblical Gardens. This is a really peaceful place to go. There are, as you would imagine, lots of flowers and trees (all of them mentioned at some point in the bible) and it's quite a colourful display. Kids love it, mine hates to go past without a quick look in. There are also statues of biblical characters including the prodigal son with his arms out to his father. Whole coachloads of people show up to see this garden yet it always seems serene and peaceful cos pretty much everyone walks about with their voices lowered.

Pubs
Lots of 'em in the centre of town, most used are The
Thunderton, High Spirits, Downtown USA, Sam Malone's and the newest one is the Muckle Cross (cheap drinks and a really big bar). There are also lots of little pubs but they're usually full of old men so my advice is avoid them if you can. You won't run short of a pub or 2 if you want a pub crawl. As for nightclubs you get Joanna's and the Lido. That's it. Most people go to Joanna's and it's just been refurbished so it's worth a look, the Lido is not really a classy establishment but there's music and a dancefloor and it can be fun if you're with a crowd of folk.

So if you're looking to see the sights, go shopping or hit the pub you'll find you can do all of those in Elgin just a little more quietly than in most cities.

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