British Isles & Iceland – Day 5 can be found here.
Another day of getting up bright and early. Off to La Terrazza for breakfast. Kids ordered some waffles and pancakes a la carte and we made full use of the breakfast buffet. Back to the room, then down to the Restaurant to wait for our zodiac, which was called on time as usual. Zodiacs have been quite close to all the expected timings – in fact, it was the one day we were berthed that was slower than expected.
We were one of the first zodiacs to the docks – but not the first which had to double back to find the narrow harbour entrance that was tucked around to the right. Beautiful little spot there, and we once more touched down without issue then boarded the bus heading for Skara Brae.
Skara Brae is a neolithic (stone age) village that was discovered in the 1800s. It’s still largely intact, and offers some fascinating insight into one of Europe’s earliest civilizations, and one of the first instances of farming in Europe. It dates to well before both Stonehenge and the pyramids, and there are plenty of details such as hearths, altar-dressers, doors, sleeping locations, and so on. I won’t go into the full details but you can find out more about it here – Overview (historicenvironment.scot)
A replica of what one of the houses would have looked like in Neolithic times.
At the same site, we took in Skaill house – Skaill House | Orkney.com – which is the house of the local Laird who owns the land upon which Skara Brae was found. It’s a beautiful house from the 1600s containing some beautiful details from the family’s own personal history. One of the elements I found quite interesting was that the current Laird’s peerage apparently came as something of a surprise after the death of the previous Laird – it transferred to a distant branch of the family, which is shown in the picture below.
Gardens of Skaill House
The main staircase
Quick stop for a scone and a coffee, then off to Brodgar – Ring of Brodgar: History | Historic Environment Scotland | HES – where we took in one of the oldest and largest henges in Europe. While the exact purpose of the site is not known, it’s location facing east suggests that it might have been used either for rituals involving to sun or as a means of tracking seasons.
It’s also amazing to think of the time and effort that went into digging the massive trench (henge) with Neolithic tools, which they believe were made of bone. We had only about 40 minutes to take in a site that could have taken 4 hours or more, but our guide did a wonderful job of explaining the context while giving us some time to take in the majesty of this site in silence.
We then looped back around through the Bay of Scapa Flow – learning some of its history, and the role it played in both World Wars 1 and 2 – before ending up back in Kirkwall about 30 minutes before our zodiac was due to depart. But I still reckoned I had time for that beer, so I ducked into the St Ola Hotel where I grabbed a Scapa Special ale and chatted with some of the ferry workers before being unceremoniously rammed by a drunk Scot on a mobility scooter. But this is why we travel, isn’t it? For the stories?
A too-quick 15 minutes later, and we were back aboard the zodiac heading for the Cloud. Anchors up a few minutes earlier, and we went poolside so that the kids could have a swim and grab some lunch.
Seems a bit strange, but Silversea really doesn’t seem to expect people to want to each lunch by the pool – we had to ask 3 times before a server came our way. Perhaps understandable given that everyone was just back from excursions and the Grill was slammed, and it still took perhaps 20 minutes before our food arrived (at least the drinks came much faster than that).
Power nap, then off to trivia – there was a three-way tie for second and third place, which I then botched by tragically underestimating the top speed of the Bugatti Chiron. We’ll get them next time…
No time for regrets, though, as I had to move quickly to take in the next expedition briefing. Off to St. Kilda tomorrow which promises to be another adventure-filled day, then we’ll get the chance to slow down a bit for our day at sea.
As for our revised dinner plans, we elected to take All Around Dining in Dolce Vita at 6 pm so the kids could get to bed a bit earlier, and that worked out quite well. Our room steward very kindly made up our room a bit earlier, and we had a tasty meal of pizza, hot dogs, and chargrilled chicken breast followed by creme brulee and New York cheesecake. Very tasty.
Off to bed soon so that we’re ready for our trip to St. Kilda tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s Chronicles:
The sun sets on the Silver Cloud (and the Isle of Lewis):
Continue reading British Isles & Iceland – Day 7 here.