![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/shetland-1-250x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Our ship departs sunny Norway <\/strong>and heads west into a cold and blustery North Sea<\/strong> to our next port of call, the village of Lerwich<\/strong>, which is the capital of Scotland\u2019s Shetland Islands<\/strong>. Search as I may, I couldn\u2019t find the Shetland Islands anywhere on my bucket list of places I had to see before I kicked the bucket, but here we are licking our Segway<\/strong> wounds and headed for, literally, places unknown. There are approximately 100 Shetland Islands<\/strong>, of which only 16 are inhabited. There is no deep-water port in Lerwich<\/strong> so we \u2018parked\u2019 our ship off shore and took \u2018tenders\u2019 into the city\u2019s main harbor, in a fairly heavy rain.<\/p>\nI must say I really didn\u2019t know what to expect on the Shetland Islands<\/strong>, other than maybe a few Shetland ponies<\/strong>, although I really wasn\u2019t sure that there was any connection between the name of the islands and the ponies. There is. We visited a Shetland pony farm where we learned that these horses were bred to be small so they could fit into mineshafts in order to haul coal carts out of the mine. We also learned that they could live to be 50 years old. Sounds like a great life doesn\u2019t it, hauling coal out of a mine for 50 years! We learned that Lerwich<\/strong> provides more fish than any other port in Scotland and we got to explore a 16th<\/sup> century castle. We also drove by two golf courses on the island where there is not a single tree or sand trap on either course, but the wind was blowing so hard that the flagsticks looked like they were going to snap in two.<\/p>\n One of the most interesting stories about the history of the Shetland Islands occurred during World War II<\/strong>, when the Nazis<\/strong> invaded Norway. \u00a0Many of the heroic Norwegian sea captains became \u2018bus drivers\u2019 by using their fishing boats to take Norwegians away from the bombing to safety on the Shetland Islands<\/strong>.<\/p>\n For all its harsh landscape (there are only about six trees on all of the Shetland Islands) and windy and stormy weather, our tour guide, who had a great sense of humor, was extremely knowledgeable about the area, thus making it a uniquely enjoyable stop.<\/p>\n Our next day was fully at sea so my intention was to cut down on the eating and drinking for a day and get to the gym. I later realized that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions<\/em> as I sat in front of a TV, had a few beers and I watched The Open<\/strong> golf tournament from Royal Birkdale, England<\/strong>. Hey, it\u2019s vacation!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow Our ship departs sunny Norway and heads west into a cold and blustery North Sea to our next port of call, the village of Lerwich, which is the capital of Scotland\u2019s Shetland Islands. Search as I may, … read more