Voyage of the Vikings Redux – Lerwick, Shetland Islands

Cruise Day 16

Sunday, August 6, 2023

Today we are in Lerwick in the Shetland Islands that are part of Scotland.  Here is a quote from Wikipedia about the Shetland Islands: “Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about 80 km to the northeast of Orkney, 170 km from mainland Scotland and 220 km west of Norway.".  Lerwick is the largest town in the Shetland Islands with a population of 7,000.  The total population of the Shetland Islands is only 23,000.

Scotland lies south of the Shetland Islands and Norway is to the east

The Shetland Island.  Lerwick, where we are today, is the red marker.

The alarm went off at six this morning as we had to do our immigration check at 7:00 AM at the World Stage.  We were in the first group because we had an early excursion and needed to get the immigration check done in time for us to leave.

After getting up, we stepped out on the balcony and found the temperature much more comfortable than what we have been used to lately.  It was in the high 50's, and we didn’t even need our jackets.  After a quick bite in the Neptune Lounge, we headed off to the World Stage to do our immigration check.  There was a pretty long line, but it went quickly as all they had to do was look at your passport and make sure it was really you.  On the way out a red dot was put on our ship key cards to show we had completed the immigration check and we were on our way.

The view from our balcony, the town of Lerwick was on the other side of the ship.

Although the ship was able to sail into the harbor, it was too shallow to allow docking, so we had a short tender ride to get into town.  Our tour today is a ship excursion called “Jarlshof & Scenic Mainland Drive” that will visit some ruins dating back to the Vikings and a scenic drive around the island stopping at various viewpoints.

Some pictures taken on the tender ride to Lerwick.

Pictures taken from the bus.

Our first stop was Hoswick where there were shops selling items made out of the famous Shetland wool.  We spent some time looking at the shops, but there were also beautiful views of the coast and surrounding area.

We left Hoswick and continued our drive south making one stop along side the road for a look at a beautiful cove.  The roads in this rural area are very narrow, but the bus found a spot with a enough room to let one lane of traffic pass by, but it didn't matter much as there was very little traffic.

A very narrow road, but the bus driver was able to leave enough room for one vehicle to get by and there was very little traffic anyway.

I think these are sea lions, but they may be seals.

This is heather that is all over the island.  It was not as spectacular as we saw on the Isle of Man on our 2016 cruise, but it was still very beautiful.

We also saw a lot of sheep as drove around the island.

A little further down the road, we made a stop for anyone wanting to use a restroom and I took advantage of it to walk across the road and look at the stone wall.  We had been seeing these all over the island and they are quite sturdy.  There is not much timber for wood, but there are plenty of rocks so you use what you have.

After the "comfort stop" (as they call it), we continued our drive south to the Jarshof Prehistoric and Norse Settlement.  This historic site was first settle in 2700 BC and continued to be used by various groups until the 1600s AD.

As we walked into the site, we passed by a fenced off area of Shetland ponies.  We had been warned not to get too close as they are ill tempered and that was proven by some who did get too close.

A Shetland Pony

There was a hotel just outside the historic site.

After looking at the Shetland Ponies and taking their pictures, we walked the short distance to the Jarshof Visitor's Center and began our tour.  Our guide led us through the ruins explaining what we were seeing, but we also could explore on our own and had two hours to explore.  She was very knowledgeable and explained the different time frames of settlement and the evolution of the dwelling, but I have to admit as I am sitting here writing this, I don't remember the details of what she said, but I do have plenty of pictures of course.

Our guide.

The site was right on the coast/

You can see a metal structure in the picture that we thought was a bit of an eye sore, but there were stairs you could take to get a view of the whole site.

This picture was taken form above.  The building in the middle left of the picture is the visitor's center.

The weather had been very nice, but there were ominous clouds and as Val and I walked back to the bus, the wind started to blow, and the rain started.  We made it to the bus without getting too wet, but it had cooled down.

Jarshof had been very interesting and we enjoyed the visit, but it was time to head back to Lerwick.  Except for one more "comfort stop", we drove straight back.  Although Jarshof was the highlight of this tour, driving through the Shetland countryside was very interesting also; it is a beautiful area.

By the time we got back to Lerwick, the weather had cleared so Val and I decided to walk into town as the central part was right across from the Victoria Pier where the tenders docked.  Unfortunately, today is Sunday and most of the shops and restaurants were closed, but some were open, so we walked around for a while and checked out the shops that were open.  There was one café open, and we thought we would get some fish and chips, but when we walked in, they asked if we had reservations.  Of course, we didn’t, and they said they were so busy today, they couldn’t accommodate us; I guess that’s what happens when you are the only place to eat.  We did find a food stand that was selling fish and chips to go, but there was a long line, so we just decided to return to the ship.

 

This is Victoria Pier where the tenders docked.

We really like Lerwick and the Shetland Islands as it seemed to be a nice place to live.  It is mostly rural with lots of agriculture and Lerwick seemed to be a nice town.  We would definitely like to visit here again.

We were very hungry when we returned to the ship, but it was too late for lunch, so we went to the Neptune Lounge to get some snacks to tide us over until dinner.  At 5:00 I went out on the rear Lido Deck for the sail away, but noticed there was hardly anyone there.  As I walked out onto the open deck I understood why; it had started to rain again.  I returned to our room and watched the sail away from under the cover of our balcony.  The rain moved on fairly quickly and the sun even poked through a bit in places.  It was a beautiful area to sail through as we made our way out of the harbor and past some of the many Shetland Islands.

 

It was soon time for dinner and the casino and then back to our room and an early bedtime.  Not only were we very tired from getting up early this morning, but they announced there was another time change and we would lose another hour of sleep tonight.  I thought we were done with that, but they did say this would be that last one.  Tomorrow is a sea day so we can catch up on our sleep.