This section has not got away to a good start, in that the photos have not down loaded in order. Must be the fact that the internet on the Ship has suddenly decided to work super fast. In a matter of 45 seconds, 30 photos downloaded where normally that would take anything between 10-30 minutes.
From the town of Kirkwall in the Orkneys we took a tour to the Unesco World heritage site of the Neolithic village of Skara Brae. The 5,000 year old settlement features numerous well preserved dwellings linked together by covered passages that were only discovered following a storm in 1850 by the owner of Skaill House (above ) the islands first mansion.
Long before Stonehenge or Egypt's pyramids were built, people on Orkney built a number of sophisticated structures including stone houses, tombs and monumental ceremonial sites. The eight prehistoric houses unearthed at Skara Brae still contain stone dressers and box beds as well as a central fireplace.
Skara Brae was mind blowing and totally amazing to think that something this old has been preserved as well as it has for 5000 years. It is now under the care of the Scottish National Trust who seem to be doing an excellent job in keeping it in the condition that it is today.
The Capital of the Shetland Islands is Lerwick and Britains northern-most town. A nice 'homely' little seaside town and known for its hand crafted woollen clothing, artisan chocolates and nature inspired skin and body products. However we will remember it for a very basic cafe we stumbled across where we had the best fish and chips. Haddock is the local fish caught here and was the freshest of fresh. The staff were very friendly and the cup of tea we had to follow was in thick 'railway' crockery cups but beautiful and just what you need on a cold day with a tummy full of fish and chips!!! As we left the cafe there were people queuing for tables.
After lunch we needed to walk and encountered this very steep walkway between buildings to get up to the next street level. Thank goodness for this handrail as we needed it to go up and down as it was so steep.
Lerwick's Commercial Street.
Foula Island in the Shetlands.
As we were leaving Foula Island the sun came out, just as it was setting. The change of colours was incredible and reminded us of Ayers Rock in Australia.
The Fair Isle in the Shetlands.
This giant armchair was a beautiful sight.
The sheep were an interesting breed. They seemed to shed their coat and looked quite comical in various stages of the shedding.
We loved this island and had a wonderful long and scenic walk. Nice to be able to take walks on our own now after Norway with the possibility of encountering a Polar bear and the guides needing to be armed.
These photos are back on the Orkneys. Above are the huge standing stones at Stennes.
A replica of the entrance to underground pre historic houses in Skara Brae.
Stone walls are everywhere in the Scottish Islands.
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