Wednesday, August 3, 2016

June 28, 2016 - Maeshowe, Lighthouse at Birsay, Skara Brae, Standing Stones

Maeshowe: Wow!

“Stand in awe of one of Europe’s finest chambered tombs, built some 5,000 years ago. Incredibly, the entrance passage to Maeshowe is aligned with the setting of the midwinter sun, so that the light illuminates the tomb’s interior.  Norse crusaders broke into Maeshowe in the mid-1100s, long after it had fallen from use. They too left their mark on the site: this time as graffiti carved in runes all over the main chamber’s walls.”

Moira, our guide, was a delightful lady and loves her job. I wasn't enthusiastic about entering the cave but once we got in, it was really interesting. There are a bunch of these spaces/homes around the area. Inside the cave, there are cut-outs in the walls with a sort of mini-cave on three sides, cut about 18 inches above the floor level. Apparently on December 21st, if the sun can be seen at sunset, as it sets, its light shines through the cave opening and hits the back wall up to the height of the bottom the opening on the back wall. There are hieroglyphics on the walls - apparently some are the equivalent to Susie Loves Chatchi. I can't imagine carving that into a wall!

Light House at Birsay: We had to cross from the mainland during low tide to see the fantastic remains of a Viking settlement. If you get stuck, you call the Coastguard at 999 and let them know you will be there until the next low tide. There was apparently a very scenic walk of several miles over cliffs and such to possibly see puffins but they didn't interest me enough to want to hike that far. I really wandered around the settlement and once again wondered why anyone would want to settle right there - what does drive people from their homes to search for new lands?

Brough of Birsay:  Saw the remains of the Earl's palace - the place was huge. We also saw the outside of St. Magnus Church which was established in 1064!

Kirkbuster: Saw an interesting house as it would have been in the about 1920. The kitchen had what appeared to be a sleeping ledge for the hired hand but the rest of the house had good china, reasonably nice furniture - it was quite a contrast. The yard and garden were very peaceful.

Yesnaby: Very daunting cliffs and desolate landscape the day we were there.

Skara Brae: Such a remote and desolate place - hard to believe this was better than wherever the first settlers came from. The sea was so cold and this is just short of the longest day of the year. The whole area was fascinating in its design - can't imagine what it would have looked like when it was occupied - maybe it was quite comfy with the winding tunnel type structure - who knows.

We then went up to the farmer's house who had discovered the village after a terrific windstorm blew away the sand which had covered it for years. It would appear that he was quite an affluent farmer/land owner. on the walls of the house were some samplers done in the early 1800s (photo 1889, 1890) as well as a  child's invalid chair (photo 1894).

Ring of Brogan: Apparently these stones have been around since before Stonehenge. A part of it was being repaired but the rest were available to touch or get photographed against. According to Wikipedia, the ring originally comprised up to 60 stones, of which only 27 remained standing now. There was a foreign language tour on the site and I got the feeling they were not impressed. I was fascinated by the idea of the stones and wonder what these were designed for - what purpose did they serve and how did they get there?

Standing Stones at SternnessAnother set of standing stones but not as commercialized as Brognar. No tourists besides us. David was saying that the farmers wanted to basically bulldoze these because they take up valuable grazing land but Heritage Scotland or whoever said no way!

We drove through Twatt then stopped so I got a selfie with their sign. 

We returned to Kirkwall for the night.

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