Travel with Rick Steves · Saturday, September 26, 2026
Kinley Francis highlights Orkney's significance as a base for the British Grand Fleet in Scapa Flow during WWI and the Home Fleet in WWII. He also points to its ancient past, with megalithic sites like the Ring of Brodgar and the Neolithic village of Skara Brae predating Stonehenge and showcasing a population density 5,000 years ago that was greater than today.
“Uh, first and foremost, our most social history, our history at the moment that most people in Orkney relate to is the First World War and the Second World War.”
“It was named by the Vikings, it means sword water.”
“And it was a very important community in the megalithic times, and you've got some quite impressive structures that go back older than the Egyptian pyramids.”