When you pull back the layers in the Shetland Islands, you never know what treasures you might unearth. Dig through the peat that blankets the rugged landscape and you may come across ancient ruins, such as those at the impressive archeological site of Jarlshof. Peel open the layers of paper surrounding the meal you just ordered at Lerwick's best chip shop, and you may uncover haggis, black pudding or hamburger, deep fried and dripping with grease...a guilty pleasure if ever there was one.
Given the rough tight we experienced the night before as we traveled from Norway to the Shetlands, it’s a wonder our stomachs could handle such a daunting task. But never ones to avoid a challenge, we devoured our fried delicacies with gusto and washed them down with ample amounts of Irn Bru, Scotland's infamous bubble gum flavored soda.
It was a slightly overcast day in Lerwick, and that, combined with the old stone buildings that line its streets, gave the town a grey pallor. A young girl dressed in a bright blue kilt provided a spark of color as she performed Highland dances in a square along to a recording of bagpipes. While neither this style of competitive dance nor the Highland bagpipes are typical to Shetland, both have become recognized expressions of Scottish culture around the world. In Shetland, country dances are more common. A relative of American square dances, groups spin and change partners to standard steps. The folk music of the Shetland Islands is usually played on fiddles with a Nordic style that reflects the Norwegian heritage of these islands.
While some of our group explored the town, including a visit to the recently built Shetland Museum, others took buses across the countryside to some of the island's archeological sites. Jarlshof offers a fascinating, multi-layered vision of Shetland's history as successive communities were built from the ruins of their forgotten predecessors. Primitive bronze-age stone houses provided the foundations for a Viking village, which was in turn built over by a 17th century mansion. It wasn't until the 1800s when the ocean washed away a sea wall and revealed the hidden ruins that the complexity of this site was discovered.
Our brief visit to Scotland ended, appropriately enough, with a whiskey tasting in the lounge, accompanied by a playlist of Scottish folk music. The rich flavors of the different whiskeys, ranging from sweet to smoky, embodied the complex layers of history and heritage that make up this fascinating part of the world.
