Orkney Island Adventure Part 3
Late in the day but not too late to have a nice pastry and coffee at one of Orkney’s finest cafes, Sheila Fleet’s Café. This is an old church that has been reconditioned and renovated to be a showroom for jewelry and crafts made in Orkney, as well as a very nice café / restaurant. Even though the place was really remodeled nicely, it’s the pastry that tells the tale. According to Collette, great carrot cake so I guess that’s the measure.
“Mummy” gingerbread man cupcake
Oh so good carrot cake
Finished with our break so back on the road to Stromness where we’ll spend the night before catching the ferry early tomorrow morning. Still have a couple of sites to see, and some shopping in Kirkwall before heading north. St. Magnus cathedral is first on our list.
Yellow and red sandstone entry
St. Magnus cathedral
The cathedral was built in 1137 by Viking Earl Rognvald in honor of his uncle St Magnus who was martyred in Orkney. The cathedral, also known as the “Light in the North”, is an excellent example of Norman Romanesque style architecture with a vast archway leading into the nave and also on both aisles.
The Nave
An aisle
Beautiful stained glass
The Pulpit
Before Magnus was canonized, he shared the earldom of Orkney with his cousin, Haakon Paulsson. All was good until Haakon decided he wanted all of Orkney and that meant he had to get rid of Magnus. Easy enough, Haakon tricked Magnus into a meeting where they captured Magnus and offered him exile or prison. But, before Magnus could answer, the chieftains that helped capture Magnus said one of the two earls had to die. They hadn’t come this far just to see someone go to prison, no sir. Haakon certainly couldn’t kill his cousin so he convinced his cook to take an ax and hit Magnus in the head. That seemed to satisfy the chieftains. Few years go by and a couple of miracles occur, bingo, St Magnus.
The cathedral also contains numerous crypts of prominent people throughout life in Kirkwall.
John Rae – Arctic Explorer
George Sinclar of Rapnes (died 1643) and his Grandson, James (Died 1661)
Paplay Family
Across the street from St. Magnus cathedral are two of the cities most famous ruins, the Earl’s Palace and the Bishop’s Palace. The Earl’s Palace was built by Patrick, Earl of Orkney, around 1600 using mostly slave labor and reflects the Renaissance style of that period. He was known for having been a bit tyrannical which is why he had the nickname, “Black Patie”. Eventually the people got fed up with Black Patie and he was tried then executed but not before he could complete his palace. Sad part is that he enlisted the help of his illegitimate son to try to get him out of prison which resulted in his son being hanged as well.
Earl’s Palace
Guest Bedroom ruins
Mom-bear in a cupboard
12-foot wide fireplace!
The Bishop’s Palace, built around the time of St. Magnus cathedral, 12th century, by Bishop William “the Old”, crusader and friend of Earl Rognvald, St. Magnus’s nephew. By the 1500’s, the palace had fallen into ruin but was restored by Bishop Robert Reid, the last of Orkney’s medieval bishops, who founded the University of Edinburgh and added a Moosie Toor to the palace.
Colorful spiral staircase
Moosie Toor
Great Room ruins
End of the day, now time for the short drive back to Stromness where this adventure on Orkney island began. Beginning to rain a bit, good thing the drive isn’t long. Found another church for sale along the way, but Mom-bear said no. Yes, that is the name of the town.
Made it back to Stromness and our hotel for the night, the Royal Hotel. Raining like hell!!! The desk clerk was super, she waited outside in the rain, standing in a parking spot for us. Now that’s customer service! Had a great meal, fish and chips (the best so far) for me, Collette had scallops and soup. Off tomorrow to continue the road trip.
Scallops
Haddock and chips