British Isles Explorer: Lerwick, Shetland Islands (4/6/2022)

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

View from our stateroom

View towards the town of Holmsgarth, where we docked

After breakfast, we caught the first shuttle bus into Lerwick, scheduled for 8:30, left at 8:45. We were dropped off on the Esplanade by Harrison Square.

Welcome to Shetland

A former shoe shop sign, which according
to rumor helped a steamship captain
navigate into the dock

Kent with Da Lightsome Buoy
(2016, by Jo Chapman)

Lifeboat Station in the Old Tolbooth (1767)

The shore is lined by the houses, stores and piers, which
are collectively called lodberries (from the Norse,
"hlad berg" meaning flat stone - for dock); the first was built
in 1730 and by 1814 there were 21 of them

Apparently Jimmy Perez lives in one of these at 20 Commercial Street (which we did not know at the time!)

Looking from the harbor up at the town on the hill

Our first view of Fort Charlotte (1781)
that never saw hostile action

Kent with As Above So Below

As Above So Below (2021, by Kenny Hunter)

Mareel (2012, by Gareth Hoskins) is a multi-use venue
and includes the United Kingdom's most northerly
cinema and arts centre

We are learning so many new English words!

HMS Oceanic (1893, Belfast) Propeller Blade
recovered when the ship ran aground off
Shetland's coast in 1914

Former Hays Dock (1820s) is now home to
the Shetland Museum and Archives

Housing on Market Street, with brick
privacy walls between gardens (KSS)

Lerwick Sheriff Court (1875, by David Rhind in Scottish
Baronial style); it is apparently the place of work of Jimmy Perez

Jimmy Perez (in case you are one of the few who don't know and about whom we have since learned), is the main character of the Shetland Island Mysteries series by Ann Cleeves, which has since become a beloved television series, titled simply Shetland.

Lerwick Town Hall (1882-1883, by Alexander Ross
in Scottish Baronial style)

Dolphin on the ornamental lamp standard (KSS)

Lerwick War Memorial (1924, by
Sir Robert Lorimer, with plaques added
for wars after World War I

The Never-Ending Gansey (2021, by Civic Soup)
(hmm, a gansey is a Shetland jumper/sweater)

Former St Ringans Church (1885-1886, by R G Sykes)
is now part of the Shetland Library

View down to the harbor, with a coast guard type ship; it bears
the flag of Shetland, but has the racing stripe of Ukraine? (KSS)

This is a lane with steps

Commercial Street

We went to a post office (a shop), and asked if they had postcards. The clerk pulled out a basket filled with loose postcards. We purchased three, then wrote them out right away. We already had stamps and a couple other postcards ready to mail. When the clerk looked at them, he said the postage had gone up on Monday! We owed 15 pence per postcard!

Next: Mainland, Shetland Islands.