Viking Vela In Search of the Northern Lights and British Isles Explorer Cruise Day 24/32 – Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, Scotland, and another itinerary change
First off, two things from yesterday that I forgot to write about last night.
First, as we were sitting in the Explorers Bar yesterday morning, watching the approach to Ullapool, I overheard a couple behind us say, "The Villages". I asked, and yes, they are also Villagers, Joe and Karen from the Village of Charlotte, about 14 miles south of us. Once again, we meet Villagers on a ship somewhere in the world.
Second, last night, also at the Explorers Bar (is there a theme here?), we overheard someone talking about a crash on a tender yesterday. It turns out that the tender that they were on crashed into four sailboats in the harbor. The boats were either moored or docked, and nobody was injured, but it sounds like Viking will be writing a few checks to some Ullapool residents.
This morning, we docked in Kirkwall, the capital of the Orkney Islands.
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| Salmon traps |
We departed on Viking's included tour, Highlights of Historic Orkney. The Orkney Islands are an archipelago of 70 islands, of which only 20 are inhabited. Orkney has a population of around 20,000 people, with about 10,000 of them living in and around Kirkwall. There are, however, more than 70,000 sheep, giving Orkney the highest ratio of livestock to people in Europe
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| We saw lots of sheep |
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| Stenness Parish Church |
Our first stop was at the
Standing Stones of Stenness, dating from 3100–2900 BC.
The Stones of Stenness today consist of four upright stones, up to 6m in height, arranged in a circle that originally held 12 stones. The focus of the interior was a large hearth. The stones were encircled by a large ditch and bank, the form of which has been lost over time by ploughing.
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| A few swans were nesting nearby |
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| Lots more swans were swimming |
We continued on to our next stop at the Ring of Brodgar. The Ring of Brodgar Stone Circle and Henge is an enormous ceremonial site dating back to the 3rd millennium BC, predating Stonehenge by 1,000 years.
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| This photo is from the website I linked above |
The Ring of Brodgar is a massive stone circle, originally consisting of 60 stones – 36 survive today. Predating Stonehenge by 1,000 years, it is also large enough that the stone circle at Stonehenge could fit within the circle. It is surrounded by a large rock-cut ditch and at least 13 prehistoric burial mounds.
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| One of the collapsed stones remains here |
Our next stop was in the small town of Stromness. Stromness is the second-most populous town in Orkney with about 2,500 residents. We had about 30 minutes to just walk around.
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| A Masonic Temple and a townhouse, with construction dating back to 1889 |
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| The Stromness Hotel from 1901 |
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| A former church and now the Town Hall |
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| Stromness Parish Church, a Church of Scotland institution |
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| Dr. John Rae, a notable Scottish surgeon, Arctic explorer, and local legend |
We started making our way back to Kirkwall.
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| Hoy Hills |
We passed by the bay known as Scapa Flow. It is widely regarded as one of the great natural anchorages in the world and is frequently cited as the largest natural harbour in the Northern Hemisphere.
When we arrived back at the ship, we hopped the free shuttle to the Kirkwall town center and wandered around the city.
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| St Magnus Cathedral |
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| This archway led to the cemetery that wraps around the building |
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| The inside was stunning in its lack of lavish finishes |
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| St. Olaf |
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| The main building was built in 1137 |
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| The "new" entry was completed in the 1400s, 300 years later |
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| Pretty impressive for a building that is nearly 900 years old |
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| Kirkwall Town Hall from 1884 |
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| Bishop's Palace from the 12th century |
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| It served as a base for King Haakon IV in 1263AD |
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| Earl's Palace |
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| It was built between 1601 and 1607 for Patrick Stewart, the Earl of Orkney. |
We continued our walk through the quaint town before taking the shuttle back to the Vela.
We watched from the Explorers Bar as we sailed away from the Orkney Islands.
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| We passed the 1848 Balfour Castle, located on the island of Shapinsay, known as the Calendar House for its seven turrets (days in a week), 12 exterior doors (months in a year), and 52 rooms (weeks in a year) |
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| Helliar Holm Lighthouse |
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| Built in 1893, it includes a keeper's cottage behind it |
Shortly after we sailed, we heard the distinctive bong-bong-bong of an incoming loudspeaker announcement from either the captain or cruise director. This time, it was Captain Olav, and at a time like this, that usually means bad news.
The gist of his announcement was that due to incoming weather, we would be abandoning our planned stop in Scotland's Shetland Islands on Saturday and instead would call on Stavanger, Norway. Of course, another itinerary change is a disappointment, but Viking is making a good pivot and providing another outstanding port of call with Stavanger.
We spoke to the captain later about it, and the long and short of it is that a huge low-pressure system off the south coast of Greenland will be bringing up to 70MPH winds that would be extremely dangerous for the Vela to try to navigate. He also told us that the weather that took us to Liverpool a day early had its way with local ferries, breaking their mooring lines. We absolutely trust their decisions that have to do with ship and guest safety. In the end, we went from three more Scottish ports and one Norwegian port to two more Scottish ports and two Norwegian ports to round out this journey. We are disappointed not to see the Shetlands, but completely understand and agree with avoiding what is looking like 50MPH or better winds hitting the Shetlands early Saturday morning when we would be attempting ot dock.
We had that conversation with the Captain in the World Café after we finished dinner. Tonight was officer visit night as we had chats or said hello to Captain Olav, General Manager Debassious, Restaurant Manager Joan, Associate General Manager Andrej, Health and Safety Officer Beatriz, Executive Chef Arthur, Assistant Restaurant Manager Rakesh, and Head Waiter Aman as we finished our meal. It was all about sharing input and information, and we appreciated all the personal attention and the fact that everyone cares deeply about the overall guest experience. I can't emphasize strongly enough the quality of the crew on Viking, from leadership all the way down the ladder. The entire crew is amazing.
After dinner, we returned to the room and watched the port talk about tomorrow's port, Edinburgh, Scotland. We took advantage of Viking streaming performances in the rooms and watched tonight's musical theater performance called Stage Door.
It will be an early morning tomorrow as we will anchor and tender into Edinburgh, and our meeting time is 8:15. Ugh.
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