Sand and Castles (St Andrews in General)

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Product:	St Andrews in General
Date:	26/10/00 (11 review reads)
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Advantages: Very attractive, plenty to do

Disadvantages: Small, very studenty - except in the holidays, where it's a bit of a ghost town in comparison!

St. Andrews is very well known, although it is only a very small town, just across the Tay Bridge, over river from Dundee, but actually in the small kingdom of Fife.

St. Andrews has many attractions, for people of all ages, and also has a number of reasons why it is so well known. The most recent of course is that it is the place of choice for Prince William to come and study at the university next year.

St Andrews is an attractive town, and close to the sea. This coupled with the reputation of the university is one of the main reasons why so many people flock to St Andrews to study, holiday, work and live.

The university itself is very well known, being the oldest in Scotland, and the third oldest in the UK. Student life is thriving, and although there are many old traditions and high educational standards, the students seem to be much more easy going than at Oxbridge. It is one of the few universities where you will still see tutors walking around in gowns, and students happy to wear the university "colours" and scarf.

Due to the massive population of students in St. Andrews, the town has a very "young" feel about it. However, in the summer, when most of the students disappear, St. Andrews becomes a peaceful retreat for many older/retired people who return every year for a holiday. If you're used to seeing the town at term time, you'll notice a considerable difference when the students are away.

As well as the university, St. Andrews is also famous for its golf, particularly for holding the British open, and for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club. If you're intersted in the history of the game, you can visit the British Golf Museum, and learn about over 500 years of golfing history through displays, touch screen videos and equipment from past to present.

St. Andrews is extremely small, there is really no need for transport within the town - the beach is a five minute walk from the
centre of town.

The beach itself is very pleasing to the eye. The sand is clean, and the picturesque medaeval castle sits on the edge of the beachfront, overlooking the sea. You can visit the castle - take about three hours to do this properly, and try to catch a guided tour where they take you down to see the terrifying bottle dungeon (you don't actually get to go down, but you really wouldn't want to!)and describe the history of the people and sieges from times past.

St. Andrews Cathedral was once the largest cathedral in Scotland, which meant that St Andrews was a religious centre in Scotland at the time when it was in use. You can still climb up one of the remaining towers to get a grand view of the town and beyond. Unfortunately, this has also been the site of more than one suspected suicide by students, who climbed up after a night on the swally and fell/jumped/flew off. It is because of these and similar incidents which have given St Andrews a name for having a large number of suicides. Many of these have been students falling off high building when drunk. This is one of the sadder sides of the town, which is not well publicised, for obvious reasons.

If you are interested in sealife, visit the Sea Life Aquarium down by the beach. This is especially good for children as you can touch as well as look. The botanic gardens are also worth a visit.

At one time, there was a bicycle loaning system put in place by the council, where anyone could pick up a green council bicycle from the street, and then put it down wherever they were finished with it. Unsurprisingly, this scheme did not last terribly long, as people began to paint the bikes so they were no longer recognisable, and stopped dropping them off again, after they had picked them up...

Many students and St. Andrews locals get around by bike - if you intend to do the same, make sure you have a strong chain, and that you don't take risks with leaving you
r bike outside a building unsecured.

Shopping in St. Andrews is nice and easy - the simple structure of the roads means that they are very easy to navigate. There are three parallel shopping streets. The main one is Market Street and the ones on either side are North and South Street. The shops are adequate with the usual high street stores plus a few odd nick nack shops, and touristy golfing souvenir shops. Prices are aimed at students and very reasonable.

There are many pubs and cafes in St Andrews - try the Tudor Bar, which is cosy, if a little "orange" - the lights are a kind of dim version of street lamps. The Central Bar is heaving during term time, or try Victoria's for the true student scene. There are virtually no clubs in St Andrews itself, so there's no staggered entrance and exit times as there are in places where students go clubbing. This means the streets are heaving at closing time as everyone staggers off to find a party.

St. Andrews is cold - and I mean co-o-old! It rarely rains, surprisingly, which is partly to do with being situated on the coast, but it can be extremely windy and bitterly cold in the winter months. So wrap up warm!

If you want to know more about St Andrews I recommend you try the University website, www.saint-andrews.co.uk

This site has information about the town, surroundings attractions etc, and is useful for anyone, not just students.

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