dansk
Today is dedicated to the antiquities of Birsay and surroundings. We start off with a visit to nearby Kirbister Farm Museum which is closed, it turns out, until 2 pm, but we walk around the property which stands as the last owner left it 20 years ago, a monument to small-scale farming in Orkney. Our next stop is the Earl's Palace in Birsay, built by the wicked Earl Robert of Orkney in the 1570s with the surrounding peasants used as virtual slave labour. You have to use your imagination to see in the ruins the splendid Renaissance palace, it was said to be, but the building stones are all there. We find a quiet corner of the outside wall to eat our lunch.