The Shetland Islands once belonged to Norway, but later became part of a marriage agreement between a Scottish king and a Norwegian princess. Located about halfway between the two former kingdoms, there are over 100 islands with more than 900 miles of coastline. Come join me for a quick pictorial tour.

First, I apologize that there was such a long break between my posts on Norway and Scotland, but life gets in the way.

After touring on the Flam Railway, we crossed the North Sea to the Shetland Islands, which are part of Scotland. The islands are located at the northern tip of the United Kingdom.

We sailed into the port at Lerwick. They tell us that much of these port scenes are in the television series called “Shetland”.

First, we toured the islands by bus.

The islands are beautifully green as this is May. It is sparsely populated.

The road followed a ridge with sweeping views of the land to the sea below.

Agriculture appears to be their primary economy.

We did finally get to see their most famous residents, the Shetland ponies. If you’ve ever owned one, then you know that they are not the most pleasant horse species.

We stopped at an overlook to view this cove.

It was a cove with sunning seals.

The Celtic language is a language all its own. For example, a tower is called a broch.

There are many brochs in Scotland.

The temperature today, even in the sun, did not rise over 53°. The morning was quite cool, especially with the cloud cover and wind. Layered clothing helped.

In the afternoon we visited a site called Jarlshof. Jarlshof is a 4000 year old village by the sea.

We first toured the oldest part, which was about 4000 years old. Their houses were round.

There were even pathways between their homes.

Then we toured a newer part of the settlement that the Vikings left behind.

The Viking homes were rectangular in shape.

Also built at this site was a more up-to-date Laird’s home.

All ruins though as each settlement was built on top of the last.

Can you imagine what it was like when someone looked out this window and saw a Viking ship? Actually, this is a door. I guess they were a much shorter people.