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Board your motorcoach and travel the short distance from Kirkwall to the 'Heart of Neolithic Orkney,' A UNESCO World Heritage Site. Orkney is rich in Neolithic ceremonial sites including burial cairns and henges. Pass by the Standing Stones of Stenness, a circular henge some 100 feet in diameter. Only four stones remain out of the original circle of 12. Like the nearby Ring of Brodgar, the Stones at Stenness appear to align with the sun and moon at the solstices and on equinoxes.

We make our way to Orkney's second main town of Stromness which nestles beneath the hill of Brinkies Brae and stretches around Hamnavoe, an inlet of the great natural harbour of Scapa Flow which was the main fleet base for the Royal Navy in World War I and II. We pause for a photo stop at the town's lovely harbour .

Continue along Scapa Flow, the base for the Royal Navy's Home fleet during two world wars. In 1918 the German High Sea Fleet surrendered, was interned in Scapa Flow, and then scuttled its ships. In 1939, a German U-boat penetrated the harbor defenses to torpedo the British battleship, HMS Royal Oak.

Cross the first Churchill Barrier and visit the Italian chapel, built by Italian prisoners during World War II. The prisoners were brought to Scapa Flow to assist with construction of the Churchill Barriers, harbor defenses. During their sojourn, they built this exquisite chapel out of two leftover Nissen huts. The chapel features delicate wrought-iron tracery and frescoes painted by artist Dominico Chiocchetti. (Chiochetti returned later to restore his improvised fresco work.) The Chapel remains one of most visited spots in the Orkney Islands.