Tuesday 16 May 2017

Day Two - Kirkwall & Yesnaby

Cuween chambered cairn
5,000 year old neolithic tomb where bones of men, dogs, and oxen were found. https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/cuween-hill-chambered-cairn/
Didn't get to go here as the road was closed for maintenance.  

Yesnaby Cliff Walk
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/orkney/stromness-bay-of-skaill.shtml
Planned on doing this after dinner but the forecast for late afternoon was rain, so I did this first. 





















Kirkwall
First I did gift shopping plus a couple of things for me.  
https://www.visitorkney.com/about/kirkwall
St Magnus Cathedral
The cathedral is a majestic, imposing and absolute 'must see' attraction. It is one of Orkney's
Viking splendours, a glorious example of Romanesque architecture and the most northerly cathedral in Britain.
Known as the 'Light of the North', the cathedral took over 300 years to build and dominates the Kirkwall skyline. It is the best preserved medieval cathedral in Scotland and built in 1137 at a time when Orkney was ruled by the Vikings. A stone minster was founded by Earl Rognvald in memory of his uncle St Magnus who was martyred on the island of Egilsay. His bones were returned to Kirkwall and placed in a shrine, drawing pilgrims to a site where it is said miracles took place!
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/kirkwall/stmagnus/

From the top of the Bishop's Palace























































Bishop's Palace and Earl’s Palace
These palaces near St Magnus Cathedral are regarded as two of the finest examples of architecture in Scotland and highlight Orkney’s strong Norse and ecclesiastical links.
Kirkwall is the capital of Orkney. For centuries it was the capital of the Norse-held Nordreyjar – the Northern Isles. But that ended in 1469 when Christian I of Norway failed to pay the dowry promised to his son-in-law, James III of Scotland; James called in the debt by assuming sovereignty of Orkney and Shetland.

























Orkney Museum
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/kirkwall/orkneymuseum/
I expected this museum to be very sparse but was amazed at how extensive their collection was. Spectacular!


Some woman's bones

Traditional Orkney chair




























































Weather today: gorgeous! It was sunny all day except for 3:30 - 5:30pm when it rained. Then turned sunny again. Temps were 18C+ with a light breeze. It got windier after the rain.

Sunrise/sunset: 4:38/21:39 (9:39pm)






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