Orkney

Going to Orkney is real treat.  Bo had been wanted to go for weeks, but I held off for my company.  There are two ways to go.  You can get on a bus that will take the ferry over and then they will show you around and provide commentary as you go.   All the feedback from those that had gone was that this is a must do for the first time.  But when Dave and Charlie arrived, we agreed we would go it alone, which means we drove to Gills Bay and took the Ferry over to St. Margaret's Hope at South Ronaldsay Island.  


This island is connected to the mainland island by some causeways that were built by Italian prisoners of war by throwing rocks in the ocean and then placing concrete blocks.  This was to protect the British fleet that often anchored in Scapa Flow.  It also makes it a lot easier to get from one place to another.


Orkney is one giant history lessons.  We started out at Scara Brae, which is a 5000 year old stone age village.  It was discovered in the 1800s after a major storm.  There are two villages underneath Scara Brae, which they believe means people lived in this particular location for 700+ years.  There were a couple of things that struck me:  each dwelling was exactly like the other in size and layout; each home had a door for privacy and a places to display their possessions; and there were no real common areas.

Scara Brae: dresser for storage, fire pit in the middle of the house and bed with storage nook

After Scara Brae, we hit the Ring of Brogar and Standing Stones of Stenness.  These two sites are so close that you can see one from another, and they are really early versions of stonehenge - like 2000 years older.  They are about the same age as Scara Brae - you can imagine that the people of Scara Brae could maybe come here occasionally - solstices - for rituals or whatever - even though it would have been a long long walk.

Ring of Brogar - with some pretty fantastic cloudage

With mom and dad, we were able to hit some of the craft places on the island.  It seems like Orkney is populated by nothing but artists and farmers.   There are all sorts of jewelers, weavers, painters and wood workers - this is the birthplace of the Orkney chair.  

We also went to Kirkwall, which is the biggest town in Orkney.  St. Magnus Cathedral is in the center of town and it has to be in my top 5 cathedrals of all time.  It is very narrow and retains it medieval feel better than most.  St. Magnus had this cousin, and they never got along.  They agreed to meet on an island and try and work out their difference, but the cousin brought a lot of backup.  Magnus tried to spare the cousin from killing him by offering these other alternatives like banishment or blinding and maiming him, but in the end the cousin had the cook chop off his head.  

All these miracles occurred when people visited his bones, so they built a cathedral in Kirkwall in his honor in the 12th century.  His bones are in a main pillar of the church.  Photos of St. Magnus really don't do it justice, so I am not even going to try.

St. Olaf in St. Magnus Cathedral - a gift from the Norwegians for the cathedral's 800 year old birthday - St. Olaf was a pagan!!

Much of Orkney history is related to Norway as St. Magnus and his cousin were Norwegian.  Many places still maintain their Norwegian heritage and apparently Thorfin is still a popular name in Orkney - can you imagine?  There are also some ruined 'palaces' right next to the cathedral, that must have been fairly impressive in their time.

Earl Patrick's Palace - Can you see Charlie in the 'window'?

The final stop on our way back to the ferry was the Italian chapel built by the prisoners that made the causeways.  It is very touching for a whole bunch of reasons that they were given the time to create the chapel; that having a place to worship was so important to them; that the Orcadians are committed to maintaining it and have maintained a relationship with the men that built it, even though they were prisoners.  

Inside the Italian Chapel

Orkney is places you could come back to time and time again because so much of it is hard to wrap your feeble mind around. How lucky for me that it is only a ferry ride away...