Dad came with us to the Shetland Islands and took much nicer photos of the puffins than I did so I thought I’d share his photos as they’re really terrific.
He also took some nice ones of Shetland Ponies:
And some of the beach:
Seals (that’s Lerwick in the background):
A photo of Scalloway:
And I took this one of the local dialect:
There’s a visible Viking influence in Shetland which is left over from when the Vikings arrived in the 8th and 9th centuries. Every year they celebrate Up Helly Aa, some kind of fire festival which celebrates the end of Yule. Some of the place names and words they use also have Nordic origins like Eid which is apparently old Norse for isthmus. The museum we visited next to Scalloway Castle was also opened by the Prime Minister of Norway. There is quite a lot about Norway and the wartime resistance movement known as the Shetland Bus in the museum. Up until about 6 or 7 years ago you could even catch the ferry from Lerwick to Bergen in Norway, a trip of similar distance to the one we made from Aberdeen to Lerwick. I wish that ferry was still going as I’d have loved to try it. I guess it would be similar to the trip the Vikings made on their boats but without the mod cons! I took this photo of a model of one of their boats in the ferry terminal (I don’t think they had an onboard cinema):
I have to say I’m very keen to return to The Shetland Islands so perhaps we’ll go back sooner rather than later. I’m already dreaming about where to go next. Any suggestions? It has to be near enough for a day trip or a one- or two-nighter since we all have work and school commitments.
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