For the remainder of Monae's visit we meandered around Edinburgh (though the weather was not very cooperative for it!), but after she left Marc Emily and I took a few days to go and explore Orkney. At the far NE of scotland, the small chain of Isles is beautiful with lots of history to enjoy. The seals breed there, and we saw a few swimming around the coast. It has one of the largest collections of standing stones; they are all over the island. There are two large rings still largely intact. Castles, churches, cathedrals full of history everywhere. And several cairns that you can crawl into and explore. There are also several villages to visit that are amazingly well preserved and full of history, such as skara braewhich was settled during the late Neolithic — inhabited roughly between 3200BC and 2200BC.
It is definitely not the usual tourist season; we were probably the only visitors on the Isle. But that meant we got excellant deals for the places we stayed (we were the only ones in the hotel) and had really great access to most of the sites. A few had closed down for the winter, but for most of them you can just wander the isle alone, and pop into these sites on your own. For the Skara brae we got a personalized tour, and were able to walk in through the village which I am sure we coouldn't do with all the visitors in the summer. The wind was a bit nippy, but we were glad to go and see the beautiful islands off season.
Vacation is over, and back to work now!
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