And then there were four . . .: Orkney Highlights!!

This past weekend we took Aunt Karin (visiting from Toronto) up to Orkney - a group of islands just north of Scotland. We stayed on the main island and enjoyed many pre-historic sights. We had FANTASTIC weather the day we did the sightseeing and patchy-rainy weather the day we were popping in and out of shops, couldn't have planned it any better!

Here are just a few highlights from our sightseeing day.

RING OF BRODGAR

Constructed between 2000 and 2500 BC it orignally consisted of 60 standing stones in a perfect circle, 104m wide. There are now 27 standing stones remaining.

MAESHOWE TOMB

A neolithic tomb built 5ooo years ago (so 500-1000 years older than the stones). It was broken into by vikings and contains the best collection of viking runes outside of Scandinavia (Orkney did belong to Norway for many many years and the ties between them are still strong). For pictures of the inside of the tomb visit: http://www.maeshowe.co.uk/

Here we are ready to go into the tomb.

SKARA BRAE

Also dating back 5000 years is the settlement of Skara Brae. It was discovered in 1850 when violent winds uncovered the settlement. You aren't allowed to walk around the village anymore in efforts to preserve it for the future but because it was covered over by ground you can look down into it very easily.

This shows a bed on the left which would have been filled with something soft and top right is a 'dresser' where household items were kept/displayed.

One of the houses was very well preserved and they built a scale model of it for people to enter and examine in person. That's the hearth in the centre of the room and the dresser behind us. On the walls to either side of us were beds (one per wall) and we're facing the door.