Travel: 48 hours in Lerwick

By Robin McKelvie
Published on 22/07/2012 14:38

Friday, 2pm Check into the Queen’s Hotel (rooms from £112.50, www.kgqhotels.co.uk), right on the waterfront. Book a sea view room and check out the boats bobbing and the Isle of Bressay blinking back.

3pm Head for the Shetland Museum (Hay’s Dock,
Lerwick, tel: [phone]), a brilliantly conceived gem that tells the story of the isles from prehistoric and Viking times, through to the recent oil and gas boom and on to the current cultural renaissance.

7pm Hay’s Dock Café at the museum is a great place to try Shetland’s bountiful produce. Try locally sourced smoked salmon or a steaming bowl of blueshell mussels, with a wee Valhalla ale to wash them down.

8pm As it is the ‘Year of Creative Scotland’, visit the Mareel centre (www.shetlandarts.org/about/venues/mareel). This much-delayed arts space is working hard to bring an array of live music and other performance arts to Shetland.

Saturday, 9am Hire a car and spend the morning checking out the superb new Craft Trail (www.shetlandartsandcrafts.co.uk/crafttrail). Highlights include Ruth Brownlee and her mighty local landscapes in Sandwick and Wendy Inkster and her now famous Burra Bears.

1:30pm End the Craft Trail drive at arguably Scotland’s finest chippy. Enjoy moules mariniere or scallops and chips at Frankie’s (Brae, tel: [phone]).

3pm Continue the Craft Trail in Lerwick itself. The old streets are alive with small galleries and craft shops, with cosy cafes and hearty pubs on hand too.

8pm Dine in at the Queen’s. Splash out on sirloin steak laced with fresh off the boat langoustines and king scallops.

Sunday, 10am Keep an eye out for a new pop-up gallery or an artist-led event somewhere in town. Lerwick is that sort of creative place.

Robin McKelvie

THE FACTS Return flights to Sumburgh from Edinburgh and Glasgow with Flybe (www.flybe.com) start from £161.99; www.shetland.org