Shetland is a Scottish archipelago located between Orkney and Norway. It lies on the route of the Vikings from Norse territory to Iceland. The early sailors might first have sighted the giant rocks sculptured by sea.
Standing (and lying) stones prove early population long before the Vikings arrived.
Brochs, complex roundhouses, provided shelter against rough climate and potential enemies. However, perhaps they were only designed to impress the visitors.
Later settlements were built on top of the ancient structures.
Castles as Scalloway Castle replaced the Brochs.
Museums show replicas of the old buildings and how they may have looked like.
Always having been seafarers the people lived with and from the sea.
Shetland’s seascape provides abundant natural bays (so called voes) and beaches to go ashore.
Today’s visitors by boat usually arrive in Lerwick, the capital of Shetland. Lerwick’s shore is seamed by the so called Lodberries, former merchant’s private jetties and warehouses.
Lighthouses lead the navigators through stormy weather and foggy skies.
Halfway south to Orkney lies Fair Isle reachable by boat or plane. This strategic position always made the island an important military destination as well as a stopover for migratory birds. The Fair Isle Bird Observatory does continuous scientific research into seabirds and bird migration since 1948.
All over Shetland one sights sheep, Shetland ponies and seals besides birds.
