Scotland - Kirkwall - Thursday 12 Nov 2015

Thursday early we took a taxi to the airport for our flight to Kirkwall.  This small city of about 10,000, is one of the the largest in the Orkney Islands and is on the largest Island called by the residents the Mainland

Waiting in Edinburgh airport for the flight to Kirkwall

This Saab 340 is rugged and can take off and land in strong winds, common in the Orkneys

The firth (estuary) of Forth - (I love saying that!) is a fjord bounded by Fife to the north (and Edinburgh/Lothian to the South)

 Kirkwall airport!  Actually, Kirkwall is popular as a destination since Mainland has many sights to see and birds to watch. It is one of the cruise ship stops during the season.  There are no cruise ships in November!

This chapel was built by Italian prisoners of war.  The facade hides that it is two Nissen (aka Quonset) huts end to end.

The inside is amazing and reflects true artistry

Kinlay Francis was our guide and was very personable and knowledgeable!  The "brick" wall behind him is painted. You have to touch it to convince yourself it is not brick.

The metal for the communion rail and lattice work came from therailings from one of the barrier ships sunk nearby (more on the barrier ships in a bit)

The prisoners made very handsome items from scraps which they used to barter with the local folks for paint and other scarce items.

The entry and baptismal

This little heart hold the locking pin for the communion rail gate

This candle holder is made from ration tins!

The candelabra on the left is made from and old spent artillery shell casing while the one on the right is from the railing from the barrier ship

The Stations of the Cross are carved from wood scrounged by the prisoners - usually form crates and the like

This crucifix survives outside - when the last Italian left some months after the end of the war, he secured a promise from the locals that they would maintain the chapel

This piece of foundation is all that remains of the many barracks used to house the prisoners.

This statue of St George is made from reinforced concrete - barbed wire forming the reinforcement!

A family photo in front of the chapel

These coastal guns protected the entrance to Skapa Flow, one of the largest natural harbors in the world and home to the British Fleet during World War I

This view gives a little idea how big Skapa Flow is!

Following the sinking of the Battleship HMS Ark Royal by a German U-Boat, they decided to block off most of the harbor entrances using these "causeways" (they had to be causeways because Italian POW's could not be made to work on anything of military importance!)

As an interim measure, these harbor entrances were blocked using old ships towed into place and sunk. This is one of these "barrier" ships and is the one where the POW's were allowed to remove the exposed hand rails to ornament the chapel

Seems they didn't think it all the way through and they allowed no flow through these "Churchill barriers" resulting in great imbalances during tidal changes. You can see the water level on the right is 5-6 feet below that on the left of the barrier

This green marker buoy marks the resting place of the HMS Ark Royal, lost with nearly all hands

We then drove to the other side of the island to see some sights that predate Stonehenge by several centuries!

The Standing Stones of Stenness have a henge (ditch) around them and no one is certain how they were used. 

Many of the stones have been removed or destroyed by farmers who wanted to discourage people from walking through their land!  It was windy and brisk the day we visited!

Just down the road a mile or so is The Ring of Bodgar.  Again, many of the stones have been removed. Archaeologists speculate that the stones may have formed a defensive ring.  The henge (ditch) is much more well preserved here

This nearby burial mound dates to 3 millennia BC!

Not too far away is Skar Brae - one of the oldest neolithic villages in the world.

This village sits on the North Sea but at one time, this bay is believed to have been closed off forming a loch (lake)

This reproduction shows what we will see in the village was like when it was occupied.

The fire pit surrounded by living area - much like a North American Teepee, only made form stone and underground

This gate leads to the site some 250 yards down a path . . .

. . .  with markers along the way noting certain significant moments in history - right inside the gate are these two noting first man in space and the lunar landing

The fall of Rome

The Birth of Christ

The Temple of Solomon

Stonehenge (2100 BC)

The Pyramids of Giza (2500 BC)

Skara Brae (3100 BC!)

I'm glad we had the reproduction to help imagine what we are seeing.

This large bay is believed to have been a large fresh water lake. When it eroded away and became salt water, the village was probably abandoned

This display is one of many on the visitor's center that help tremendously to understand the complexity of the society that built this village - they even had central plumbing!

Back in Kirkwall, we checked into Mrs Delday's Lerona B&B and walked the short 5 blocks to this little pub for a nice dinner and a couple of pints!

 Tomorrow - Explore Kirkwall on foot and catch the evening ferry to Stronsay!