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orkney posts
Video: Virtual Tour Of Maeshowe, Scotland
Aug 30th, 2012 at 2:30PM:
I recently had the good fortune to visit the Orkney Islands to the north of Scotland and saw that region's amazing prehistoric archaeology. One of the most impressive monuments was the large vaulted burial chamber of Maeshowe. It was built around 2700 B.C., making it older than the pyramids at Giza, and is a masterpiece of stonework. Maeshowe is also famous for its much later (but still old) ...
Traditional Scottish Music At A Pub In Kirkwall, Orkney
Aug 13th, 2012 at 9:00AM:
I always feel like a trip isn't over until I've stopped writing about it. My wife feels the same way. So we were a bit down when I finished my series on our visit to the Orkney Islands.
To cheer ourselves up, I decided to share a video with all of you of an excellent cafe/pub/music venue in Kirkwall called The Reel. In summers they have three or more concerts a week of traditional Scottish ...
Touring Scotland, A Trip To The Distillery
Aug 12th, 2012 at 12:00PM: No attempt at touring Scotland would be complete without exploring the origin of Scotch whisky. Steeped in tradition and history, a variety of distilleries have been in operation for hundreds of years, exporting bonded and blended Scotches around the world. During a recent visit, we visited Highland Park Distillery and went behind the scenes for a rare look at what goes into making a product that ...Visiting Orkney: The Practicalities
Aug 6th, 2012 at 1:00PM:
A week in Orkney was not enough. These 70+ islands just north of Scotland have a rich history and vibrant natural life. In a week my family and I explored stone circles, spotted seals on the beach, climbed cliffs to see nesting birds, and walked on uninhabited islands. Despite a very full seven days, we saw less than a tenth of the Orkney Islands and I have a feeling less than one percent of ...My First Experience Driving On The Left Side Of The Road
Aug 4th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
The best way to see the Orkney Islands in Scotland is by car. The buses don't go to many of the most important attractions and don't correspond well to the ferry schedule. On the other hand, distances are fairly short, so I decided to rent a car for a couple of days.
The only problem was, I had never driven on the left side of the road.
That fact and my Arizona driver's license didn't faze ...Touring Scotland: Rent This Castle Please
Aug 1st, 2012 at 5:30PM:
Travelers touring Scotland are often drawn to Kirkwall, home to a variety of attractions including the famous great stone circles of Stenness and Brodgar, a UNESCO world heritage site. Also popular is Balfour Castle on the island of Shapinsay, which is available for rent.
A quick 25-minute ferry ride from Kirkwall, the principal city and capital of the 70 or so Orkney Islands, Balfour ...A Look Inside A Scotch Whisky Distillery
Aug 1st, 2012 at 10:00AM: I must admit that despite my name I've never been much into whiskey. Rum? Yes. Beer? Yes. Wine? Yes. Absinthe? Yes. Mead? Oh yes! But whiskey has never really been on my radar.
A taste of 25-year-old Scapa whiskey changed all that.
Scapa prides itself as being the second northernmost Scotch whisky distillery in the world. Highland Park Distillery beats it by less than a mile. There are more ...Beauty In Wartime: The Italian Chapel In Orkney
Jul 30th, 2012 at 11:30AM:
The remote Orkney Islands north of Scotland became important during both world wars. With German U-boats prowling the Atlantic, shipping between the United Kingdom and North America was diverted as far north as possible and passed by Orkney. The islands were protected by a series of bunkers and forts that can still be seen today.
The remote islands also proved to be a good place to put ...Eynhallow: Visiting Orkney's Haunted Isle
Jul 29th, 2012 at 9:00AM:
Orkney is an ancient land where prehistoric monuments still dominate the landscape, along with the wide sky and surrounding sea. Plenty of strange stories have grown up about certain places. Some of the strangest have to do with a little island called Eynhallow.
Eynhallow has been deserted since 1851. Considering that it's a little less than 200 acres of treeless grass and rocky cliffs ...Shapinsay: Visiting A Wee Scottish Island
Jul 27th, 2012 at 2:00PM:
No trip to Orkney is complete without seeing some of the smaller islands. They offer plenty of natural and historic sights as well as peaceful solitude.
Little Shapinsay can be seen from the main harbor at Kirkwall, but visitors often overlook it. Even though it only measures six miles long at its longest and has only about 300 residents, it's served by a regular car ferry from Kirkwall. My ...Prehistoric Tombs And Viking Graffiti In Orkney, Scotland
Jul 26th, 2012 at 11:30AM:
There's something about death.
Graveyards, war memorials, mummified monks, Purgatory Museums ... if there's dead people involved, I'm there. That's why my 6-year-old son found himself crawling through prehistoric tombs with his dad on remote Scottish islands for his summer vacation.
He loved it, of course. He still has that wonderful sense of adventure children should keep into adulthood. ...The Heart Of Neolithic Orkney
Jul 25th, 2012 at 12:00PM:
For reasons that aren't very clear, the Orkney Islands just north of Scotland were the happening place to be 5000 years ago.
The temperature was warmer in Orkney back then, with forest and deer in addition to the abundant bird and marine life that still mark Orkney out as a natural wonderland. The Neolithic (Late Stone Age) people farmed the land and hunted game. They also built some of the ...Exploring Orkney: Scotland's Rugged Northern Isles
Jul 24th, 2012 at 1:00PM:
In my school library in Canada, there was a curious old volume printed in 1909 called "The Orkney Book." It was written for schoolchildren living in the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland and told them about their land, culture and history.
This book fascinated me with its stories of Viking warriors and mysterious stone circles. I studied the grainy black and white photos of those ...Orkney Islands Serendipity: Discovering The Best Place I Never Wanted to See
Apr 19th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
"You'll need to catch the bus to Stromness," says the lady at the tourist information office. She's the cheery sort you'd expect to find working here -- that rare employee who genuinely seems to love her job.
I arrived in Kirkwall, the largest town in the Orkney Islands, less than an hour ago. I've come to ask the best mode of transportation to the Orkney Folk Festival, three nights of ...Brochs: the prehistoric castles of Scotland
Aug 5th, 2011 at 12:00PM:
In Scotland, the past is still very much present. In rural areas you can hear people speaking Scots Gaelic or Lowland Scots like their forefathers did. There are castles and stone circles all over the region. The most enigmatic remains from the past are the brochs.
Brochs are mysterious drystone towers dating to around two thousand years ago. Built without mortar or nails, they're ...Photo of the Day (8.28.2010)
Aug 28th, 2010 at 1:00PM:
A peaceful and powerful scene from Orkney Island, Scotland. When I look at these rocks and think about how long they've been there, I picture them with roots connecting them to each other while keeping them grounded. I mean, really. They've been there a long, long time. Thanks to Flickr user localsurfer for adding this to Gadling's Flickr pool.
Have any travel photos that prompt whimsical ...Five stunning stone circles (besides Stonehenge)
Jul 30th, 2010 at 9:00AM:
Every year thousands of tourists flock to Stonehenge, the iconic stone circle on Salisbury Plain, England. While so much attention is focused on this site, especially with the recent discovery of another monument near Stonehenge, people often forget there's more than a thousand stone circles in the British Isles and Continental Europe. Built during the Neolithic starting about 5,000 years ago, ...
