Lerwick (Shetland) Scotland - September 12, 2014

Today we arrived bright and early to the island of Shetland, Scotland. Here the streets are named after Viking warlords, the houses have a Scandinavian air and the people speak differently then they do on the mainland. The dialect has both Nordic and Scottish roots and I'm quite sure we won't be able to understand a word of it! Before it was the 19th century herring capital of the north, Lerwick served as a 17th century trading post. Here, as in many of our other ports, there is an "old town" along the waterfront and a Victorian-style "new town". Shetland is home to tens of thousands of birds - gannets, puffins, razorbills and more. We will be taking a tour to a settlement that goes back to the Stone Age where we'll see the traditions of Shetland weaving and see the island's namesake shaggy-coated ponies. We'll visit Jarlshof, a remarkable 4,000 year sequence of layered settlements that includes a Norse longhouse and a 16th century "laird's house".

The Jrlshof ruins pictured above go back 6000 years from the stone, bronze and iron ages.
It was interesting to see how each home was laid out with a fire pit central to the other very tiny rooms.

Of couse the highlight of the tour for me was the Shetland Ponies.

At one point, our bus had to stop so a plane could cross the road!

The seas have been unbelievably calm. We were prepared for some rough seas, but except for our first day at sea, it has been like a lake.

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