Kirkwall, Scotland

This port is on Orkney Island and was yet another new port for us.

It was a tender port. We loved all the flags along the dock to shore.

The Kirkwall Hotel was typical of the old stone buildings here.
The first visit, we were on our own and took a public bus to some of the more famous sites.

Some had lovely slate roofs.

The building is dated 1866. This museum is more recent.

The Masonic Lodge

St. Magnus Cathedral is the oldest cathedral in Scotland. Building began in 1137 and was finished 300 years later.
It's an example of Romanesque architecture. We went inside on our 2nd visit here.

 
Arched doorways are all different.

Also in town was a gift shop called The Longship.
I included this in honor of Hans & Alma Stibolt who had a gift shop on Martha's Vineyard with the same name.

We took a public bus to the The Ring of Brodgar, the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, a series of important domestic and ritual monuments built 5000 years ago. 36 of the original 60 stones are still standing.

The path inside the circle was blocked off, so we could not walk close to the rocks.

We also walked along the shoreline.

 
The causeway out to the island was narrow and was marked by a stone at the end.

There was another site off that island with more stones of that era. Note all the tourist buses.

But near these stones there was the outline of what used to be a house inside a circular berm fence.

Sheep graze around an ancient stone that's been fenced off.

This was another site on our map: Maeshowe, one of the largest earthen tombs in Orkney.

But it was locked and one of the guides on the other side of the road said only guided tours are available for paying clients.

We waited for a bus across the street from this farm. We liked the sign.

Back in town...

Some impressive gardens were in this alley between houses.

And so we called it a day.

The next time we were there, Dean escorted a Stone-age tour in the morning.

There were interweaving sites that were the living quarters for ancient peoples here.

 
Inside one of the underground abodes.

Next to the stone-age site, was this collection of old farm buildings. A visit to the great house was part of the tour.

The vertical stones on top of the dry-stacked stone walls around the farm.

After Dean's tour, we strolled around the city together.

 
This time, St. Magnus Cathedral was open.

 
As with many ancient cathedrals it was shaped like a cross.

We visted the ruins of The Earl's Palace. It was built from 1601-1606 by Patrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney.

The Victoria Road Garden is a community garden.

We passed this public space that looked like it was used for community events.

 
On our way back to the ship, we found this 4-leaf clover just to remind us of how lucky we are!