With World Heritage exploits on top of two unmissable distillery visits, the day we spent on Mainland Orkney had more designated activities than any other day of the trip. In between those, taking advantage of a relatively bright day, I caught a few nice perspectives around the island. Probably the most quintessential one involves the Stones of Stenness that we have seen from closer vantage points in the previous post.
Sparsely populated, deceptively vast, generally inhospitable, austerely beautiful – what else can you say about the place!?
Remnants of a prehistoric society can be found in many places on Orkney beyond the aforementioned World Heritage property. This small site discovered relatively recently (in 1980s), is called the Barnhouse Settlement.
Chambered cairns number over two dozen on Orkney, many free to explore, most quite challenging to enter – you have to literally either go on all fours or attempt a duck walk.
The Unstan Cairn, just down the road from the Maeshowe visitor center, is among the most well-known ones, curiously located behind a private house, so you park your car essentially in someone’s backyard – the signs suggest that it is all legal and not trespassing. The main interior chamber is actually wider than at Maeshowe, more suited to photographing with the normal focal length.
Kirkwall, the archipelago capital, got a bit of short shrift from us. We stayed at a hotel on its waterfront, drove through it to other points of interest and back, but barely walked around it. Specifically stopping by to see the Saint Magnus Cathedral gave us the only real point of exploration.
The interior of the cathedral holds a number of interesting details, including stained-glass windows and wood carvings throughout…
… as well as the somewhat uncommon adherence to the symbols of death.
The parting shot, from the upper deck of the departing ferry, is of a comparatively densely populated village of St Margaret’s Hope.
