You know you are in Scotland when the least attractive parts of an animal’s body are celebrated with the fanfare of bagpipes. But things are taken down a notch in Orkney, a cluster of 70 islands (two-thirds of which are uninhabited) just 16km off the northern coastline where its residents, Orcadians, view cultural tokens such as kilts and “the pipes” as an affectation.
Savour the spirit of Orkney, an island off Scotland’s northeast, that charms with art, neolithic Unesco sites and award-winning whiskies steeped in Viking roots
Whispers of breath were rising in the air on a cold night in June. A waitress was filling our wine glasses with such luxuriant slowness that we were afforded a great moment to ponder the burning ball of plasma outside the window. The Northern Hemisphere was about to enter the summer solstice, and the sun was working overtime. So it was not a surprise to see mounds of haggis — browned and sliced from an engorged parcel of offal boiled inside a sheep’s stomach — still making their rounds in a bar at 10pm to satisfy one’s wayward cravings.
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