The Scottish Hebrides

Friday I arrived in Stornoway. I'm staying in Hebhostel; a very nice hostel near the harbor. Stornoway is  the main town of Lewis. Lewis is one of the isles of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. 

The "Hebrides" is an archipelago in Scotland  consisting of the Inner and Outer Hebrides. The Outer Hebrides are the Western isles. The largests are -from North to South- Lewis and Harris; which is one isle, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Barra. St. Kilda belongs to the Outer Hebrides.

The Outer Hebrides have long been influenced by the Norwegians. Until 1266 they belonged to Norway. In contrast to the Inner Hebrides - of which the larger, more well known isles are Skye, Mull, Raasay - here is relatively little tourism.
The real Scotland is found on the Outer Hebrides. Here is the last stronghold of the Scottish-Gaellic language. The official name of the Western Isles is Na h-Eileanan Siar. 

I visited the Outer Hebrides in 2009. In my first post of this blog (of november 2013) I explained my fascination for St. Kilda dates from that time.

There is not much to do in Stornoway, but it has a pretty colorfull harbor, and there are good opportunities to make long walks in the park surrounding the castle.

Saturday I went by bus to Callanish Standing Stones; an impressive stone cirkel of more than 4000 years old. Older than Stonehenge but just as impressive.

In the evening it was very agreeable in town with the pubs playing live music, but today it is Sunday, and almost everything is closed. There are even no buses going anywhere.  

I made a run and a hike in the park, and I went up to war memorial site for the soldiers of World War I.