Dundee

From Imakoopedia

Dundee is in North East Scotland and is Scotland's 4th city. The city is just over 800 years old. It is located, on the banks of the River Tay, which flows out into the North Sea, on the East Coast.

Table of contents
1 Understand
2 Get in

2.1 By plane
2.2 By train
2.3 By bus

3 Get around
4 See
5 Do
6 Learn
7 Work
8 Buy
9 Eat
10 Drink
11 Nightlife
12 Sleep
13 Contact
14 Stay safe
15 Cope
16 Get out
17 External links
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Understand

Dundee, City of Discovery

  • Locality Map (http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?client=public&X=340000&Y=730000&gride=&gridn=&scale=100000&coordsys=gb&mapsize=big).
  • Map of Scotland (http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?X=300000&Y=725000&width=700&height=400&client=public&gride=&gridn=&keepicon=false&coordsys=gb&addr1=&addr2=&addr3=&pc=&advanced=&out.x=7&out.y=4&scale=500000).

Relative to other Scottish cities, Dundee's location is:

Historically, it is famous for the three J's. Jute, Jam and Journalism.

  • Jute - The boats, laden with Jute from the Indian Sub-Continent used to arrive at Dundee. Where the Jute would be unladen and processed in the many Jute mills around the City. Due to these Jute factories, there was a lot of immigrant labour, during this time. The last textile factory closed down a few of years ago. circa 2001. A Lot of the old Jute factory buildings have now been converted into Apartments and offices.
  • Jam - Dundee is famous for it's Jam. The farms around Dundee grew (some still do) berries. This was used to make the Jam. Also the Keillor Sweet Factory was famous for it's sweets, although this is now shut down.
  • Journalism - Dundee is home to the famous Dandy and the Beano comics. D C Thomson are the publishers of these and other print titles.

The people of Dundee, a.k.a. Dundonians, are generally a friendly bunch. The majority of people in Dundee are either retired, students or un-employed. The student population is very high.

Dundee is a City with a village feel.

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Get in

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By plane

Dundee has it's own airport (http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/airport/main.htm), with flights direct to Manchester and London City Airport. ScotAirways (http://www.scotairways.com/) runs the flights.


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By train

There is a mainline train station, located in the City Centre, called Dundee Station. connections and timetables (http://www.thetrainline.com/) can be checked on-line. There are frequent services, almost every hour to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Average Cost for single ticket is approx £18, and return is £24. Check before you travel.


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By bus

Dundee Bus Station, also located in the city centre serves National Express (http://www.gobycopach.com/) coaches and Scottish Citylink (http://www.citylink.co.uk/). There are frequent services, almost every hour to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Be wary, if you take a non-direct Coach / Bus, your journey time may double to up to 2hrs !! Average Cost for a single ticket is approx £8. Check before you travel.

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Get around

To get around Dundee, you will need a car, or the local Bus service, Travel Dundee (http://www.traveldundee.co.uk/) which is quite good. All the local buses converge into the city centre are are relatively cheap. You can buy a 10 journey pass or an all day travel pass.

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See

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Do

  • Dundee Rep Theatre (http://www.dundeereptheatre.co.uk/)
  • Ice Arena (http://www.dundeeicearena.com/)
  • Sensation (http://www.sensation-dundee.co.uk/)
  • Flower and Food Show (http://www.dundeeflowerandfoodfestival.com/)
  • Golf (http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/golf/main.htm)
  • Swimming (http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/olympia/main.htm)
  • Eat, Drink & Shop (http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/citymap/main.htm)
  • Go Hill Walking in the Highlands, e.g. Glen Clova (http://www.angusglens.co.uk/web/site/GlenClova/GlenClova.asp)

For more entertainment suggestions (and details of when things are happening) check out What's going on in....Dundee (http://www.dundee.com/)

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Learn

Dundee has high student population, because it has two universities and one college located in the city centre !!!

Collectively, the Academia in Dundee are strong in the following fields:

  • Software Engineering
  • Computer Games Development
  • Medicine
  • Dentistry
  • MBA
  • Civil Engineering
  • waste water Technology

It is very well worthwhile just walking around the campuses, as some of the architecture of the buildings are worth seeing. e.g. the new library in Bell St.

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Work

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Buy

There are two Indoor shopping centres in the city centre, namely, The Wellgate and The Overgate. There are also plenty of outdoor shopping in the surrounding streets.

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Eat

In recent years a cafe culture has flourished in Dundee City Centre. There are plenty of places to eat both from fast food take away, cafes and restaurants. You can't miss them. Recommended ones:

  • Cafe Buongiorno, off the reform street.
  • The Balaka on Perth road
  • Jahangir on the Hawkhill
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Drink

There is no shortage of pubs. If you want to do a pub crawl then head to the Hawkhill, where there are plenty of pubs line up in the street! There are a mixture of independent, theme and Irish pubs.

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Nightlife

All the night clubs cluster around the city centre. Ones that come to mind are:

  • Mardi Gras (http://www.mardi-gras.co.uk/)
  • The Cotton Club (Formerly The Colloseum)
  • Fat Sams (http://www.fatsams.co.uk/)
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Sleep

  • Apex City Quay (http://www.apexhotels.co.uk/dundee_hotels_cityquay/index.html)
  • The Hilton (http://www.hilton.co.uk/Dundee)
  • Travel Inn (http://www.travelinn.co.uk/TI/index.jsp)
  • During the summer, the majority of student accommodations are empty, it may be worthwhile contacting the local Universities to see if they have anything to offer
  • See TripAdvisor's Dundee Hotels (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g186518-Dundee_Scotland-Hotels.html) page for further hotels suggestions (or to rate any you have stayed in)
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Contact

Dundee Tourist Information & Orientation Centre 21 Castle Street Dundee DD1 3AA

Cellular network coverage is provided by the normal UK carriers. There were Internet cafes but they have shut down, leaving only one, in The Overgate Centre, inside Debenhams department store.

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Stay safe

Dundonians are pretty friendly, but students have been known to be attacked by local yobs in and around the campuses. The local police is Tayside Police (http://www.taysidepolice.police.uk/) and the head office is in the town centre at the end of Bell St. Although in the UK, '999' is the number to call the emergency services, you may also want to take note of the direct phone number to the Tayside Police HQ : +44138223200

Dundee has a Dual Carriageway going through it which almost splits the city in half.

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Cope

Dundonians have their own slang, a quick crash course:

  • What like ? = How are you ?
  • Burn = child
  • Tatties = potatoes
  • Ken = Know
  • Dinnae = Don't
  • Wee = small
  • Brun = Brown
  • Bridie = A Meat filled Pastry, in the shape of a semi-circle
  • Irn Bru = A soft drink, extremely popular in Scotland
  • Bru = Jobcentre / unemployed

If you are self-catering, then you can get your supplies from Tesco (http://www.tesco.co.uk/). There is a branch in the city centre, one next to the Railway Station by the river-side and another on the Kingsway (the main road running through Dundee). The last of these is a large Tesco Extra superstore.

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Get out

If you want to visit the Glens and the Highlands then the best way to do it is by car. Enterprise Car hire is located next the Bus / Coach station. (131 Seagate, Dundee, DD1 2HW)

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External links

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