… a last look around Lerwick.
Travelling by ferry is very civilised. For the 7p.m. sailing, foot passengers check in at any time from 5. Just right for a last cup of coffee and a wander up and down Commercial Street – the hub of Lerwick. The ferry terminal is a short stroll from the centre of town, and you can leave your luggage there while you pay a last visit to the museum café.
I think it fair to say that some aspects of Lerwick are a little old-fashioned: for example, it still has several banks and two Post Offices. There is a shoe shop. It is undoubtedly picturesque. The town seems to have maintained the internationalism of a port without overt multi-nationalism.
And here’s another old-fashioned thing: it still is a working port, and the port and the town are inseparable. Wherever you walk in the old town, you are within sight or sound of the harbour; men in deep sea waterproofs and yellow wellingtons are walking down the street; there are no high walls separating road and footpath from the docks, and there are houses right down to the water’s edge. Mostly it is well tended, and I found the nearest thing to Yves Klein Blue I have seen outside a gallery.
