Kirkwall

This morning we went into the town of Kirkwall, on the main Island of the Orkneys.  A shuttle bus from the port to the centre of town was provided as the distance was a bit too far too walk, around four miles.  

Our main aim was to see the cathedral of St Magnus as when we came here before we had not been able to do that.  Robin did not find it very appealing but I rather liked it. It has some lovely stained glass windows and we found the memorial stones let into the walls rather intriguing as they always included  a skull and bones motif. 

From there we went into the Bishops and the Earls palace's, which are just ruins overlooking the cathedral. The town is quite pleasant, geared towards tourists but obviously has a vibrant life of its own. One of the many notices posted around town had a talk I would have liked - it was called Meet the Neighbours and was a talk on the Faroe Islands.  I had noticed that Invergordon had a lot of notices up of meetings, talks etc.  The Scots must still have a love of learning. In the 1600's the Scots were better educated than the English - maybe they still are. 

We are now slowly heading up to the Faroe Islands, which will be our first new point of call for us this holiday.