A Record of a Lifetime of Wanderlust
Kirkwall, Scotland A very Scandinavian cathedral in Scotland can mean only one thing: the heavy influence of the Vikings. The Orkney Islands were part of the Kingdom of Norway for hundreds of years, first colonized in 875 A.D. and remaining Norwegian until 1472, when King Christian I failed to pay the dowry for his daughter…
Holm, Scotland We were on the interior waters of a large Northern Hemisphere ocean, with long but mostly cool summer days. It seemed natural to see a totem pole, until I remembered I was not in the Pacific Northwest but in Scotland. The Totem Pole is easy to visit, as it sits across from the…
Lamb Holm, Scotland and Yesnaby, Scotland Growing up, one of my favorite authors was Lewis Grizzard. I remember digging through my grandparents’ Winston-Salem Journal for Lewis Grizzard’s syndicated column. Beyond his column, I checked out Grizzard’s books from the North Stokes School Library or the Danbury Library. The stories that Grizzard wrote about included either…
Burray, Scotland I’m always a fan of unexpected travel finds. These are places that are not on the itinerary or listed as must-visits in guidebooks, but they offer a positive story, insight, or memory that makes them worth remembering when you reflect on the trip. In the Orkney Islands, a travel find for us was…
Holm, Scotland to St. Margaret’s Hope, Scotland October 14, 1939, was a very dark day for the Royal Navy and the Orkney Islands. At the beginning of World War II, the HMS Royal Oak, a World War I battleship, was at anchor in Scapa Flow, the large natural harbor located in the Orkney Islands. Although…
Lamb Holm, Scotland I’ve been fortunate to visit many places of worship in my travels. These places have included large cathedrals, small chapels, churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples. However, out of all of the places of worship that I have visited, few have been as moving as the Italian Chapel of the Orkney Islands. Italian…
Forres, Scotland and Holm, Scotland When we checked into our second Airbnb in Forres, we found ITV Quiz, a channel that aired repeats of British Quiz shows such as ‘Tipping Point’ and ‘Lingo.’ While it was fun to stumble across a British version of the Game Show Network, the oddest occurrence was some of the…
Stromness, Scotland The Orkney Islands have a treasure trove of prehistoric sites. Many of these are preserved in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney UNESCO World Heritage Site. We spent a day in the Orkney Islands visiting a few of these sites, including Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar, and finishing at the Stones of…
Stromness, Scotland Stone Circles are found all over the British Isles. I’ve written about the world-famous but somewhat overrated Stonehenge, the rediscovered and rebuilt Woodhenge, the town of Avebury, and the incomplete but very accessible Clava Cairns. However, the Ring of Brodgar might be the stone circle set in the most iconic location. The Ring…
Yesnaby, Scotland Awe-inspiring. It’s not often that I use this adjective to describe a destination, but it might be an understatement with the Yesnaby Cliffs. Orkney.com describes the Yesnaby Cliffs as “one of the most spectacular stretches of coastline in Orkney.” The description of the cliffs may be understated, as they are easily accessible yet…