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| Overlooking the port at Edinburgh from the Castle |
The next port was Lerwick, in the Shetland Islands. Founded by Dutch fishermen in the 17th century, Lerwick was a pretty busy town with lodberries lining the harbor. During the 17th and 18th centuries, they provided loading bays for goods, some of them illegal. Hmmmm.
This was a tender port, which really went pretty smoothly. Foreboding, am I.
We had time to walk around the small town before our extremely overpriced tour of Scalaway Castle and the Shetland Ponies would start. We visited Fort Charlotte, did not see the inside of the famed Town Hall, which was closed for rennonvations (seriously? It's like the most important attraction in the city!), visited a very small church, St. Margaret and the Sacred Heart, and took a walk to the Broch of Clickimin, type of stone-built round house found only in Scotland. The earliest occupation of the site was a small Late Bronze Age farmstead of the 7th or 6th centuries BC. Whoa. We had time to return to the port and rest for a bit before the tour.
We boarded the bus for the three hour tour, and first stop, you guessed it, was the Broch. It wasn't even on the itinerary, but the bus just stopped on the side of the road, whereas we walked in and around the site.
During short drive across the island (like you can cross the island in 20 minutes) to Scallaway, we encountered rain for the first time, but it was pretty light.
Scallaway Castle (also closed for rennovation) was built in 1600 under direction of Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney (known as "Black Patie"). Earl Patrick used local forced labor and heavy taxation to build the tower house from local stone. It served as his administrative center, residence, and courthouse, where witch trials and harsh judgments took place. He was later charged with treason and tyranny, and was beheaded in Edinburgh in 1615. Yeow.
Right next to the Castle was the Scallaway Museum, where we learned about the Shetland Bus, an undercover special operations naval link between the Shetland Islands and German-occupied Norway during World War II. Operated by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the Norwegian military-in-exile, it functioned as a vital pipeline for resistance forces from 1941 until the war's end in 1945. The operation smuggled radio operators, British agents, saboteurs, and tons of ammunition and supplies into Norway. On return legs, the boats evacuated hundreds of refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. I had never heard of it before! I don't have many photos from inside the museum, but here is a story from the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87p55pg13po.
There were two Shetland ponies outside the museum that seemed to like attention, and then we wandered the streets of Scalloway for a few minutes, then boarded for our next stop.
After meandering through the countryside which can be a bit nerve-wracking while in a bus on roads designed for tiny vehicles, we arrived at our next stop, a farm raising Shetland Ponies. THIS is what I wanted to see! After a brief background on the breed and how they raise them, we took our photos, attempted to pet some ponies (they're not exactly affectionate), and boarded the bus back to the port.
Newhaven/Edinburgh
Newhaven is a district in the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, between Leith and Granton and about 2 miles north of the city centre, just north of the Victoria Park district. Formerly a village and harbour on the Firth of Forth. I love saying that. The Firth of Fourth. The red bridge in the photos below and the area north of the Fourth are in a Calm Sleep story. I swear they build these stories by looking at where we're going.
Other than Reykjavik, this is what I was looking forward to the most. I had purchased tickets for the Edinburgh Castle weeks ahead of time, and had a dozen or so places picked out to see.
I first sighted the bridge as we manuevered the bay outside of Newhaven. Super cool.
This was a tender port and this time it did not go so smooth. The lines to get a ticket (which determined your tender group) went down the entire ship, then reformed as lines down the entire ship waiting to get off. Lines that never moved. Finally we asked about this and the fact that we had tickets to an event, and the NCL rep at the head of the line said "just get in line". Nobody ever checked our ticket number. Two hours to get off. The plan was to take a tram to city center. No tram. We then waited for a taxi. Waited. And waited. We decided to take things into our own hands and walk, possibly grab a taxi along the way. Walk and walk and walk. But if there's anything we know how to do - it's walk. We walked about an hour and never found an empty taxi. Did I mention the Festival Fringe was happening? The world's largest performance event?
The first sight of the Castle was amazing, and although we were two hours late for our ticket window, they let us in. Now with almost four hours of our day gone, we had to edit our plans. Castle main sites, check. There is a larger building that looks like a church, it's actually a war museum. Sombering. The oldest building is St. Margaret's Chapel, built in 1130 by King David I to honor his mother. Some of the glass is newer but the main structure is almost 900 years old. I mean it would take a day to really honor this site. There was a line to go inside the main area where people lived, and I just couldn't take another line.
Our edited itinerary included fish & chips in Grassmarket. Hard Rock Cafe to get a beer and guitar pin. You can't get a pin without at least drinking a pint. That's the rule. We did see some acts including a juggler, interesting architecture and of course a few traffic cones. We were going to try for a brewery, but by then time was ticking and we decided to head back to port. On foot. Oh which way? Got a little lost, found our way, only to find the LINE for the tenders. Again, not really moving. Is it really that hard to figure out?
That just means Edinburgh and northern Scotland just made our Travel Wish List.
One more day at Sea, where we still got our steps in (four loops around the deck are a mile!), visited with our cruise friends from Chester, UK and Sweden, and actually soaked up quite a bit of sun!
On to Southampton, and a few days in Salisbury. What's in Salisbury you ask?
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