Don't you love the feeling you finally visit a place that's been on your bucket list for years?
I had that feeling recently when we visited the Orkney islands for a the first time and we had the chance to see the Italian Chapel on Lamb Holm. For years, I've been looking at pictures online of this little chapel on a small island and dreaming of the day when I'll get a chance to see it for ourselves.
We visited Orkney in the middle of October, during a particularly windy few days. This meant that a lot of the ferries were cancelled the week we visited and most major visitor attractions on Orkney were pretty quiet. I was so excited when we drove up to the Italian Chapel to find that there were only a handful of other cars in the carpark. We spent a good few minutes completely alone in the Chapel
The Italian Chapel was built during the 1940s when Italian Prisoners of War were living on the tiny Orkney island Lamb Holm. They wanted to built somewhere to worship on the island, so turned some old Nissan shelters into a small chapel to worship in. Needless to say they did an amazing job. It is absolutely stunning, we were both completely blown away. Part of the beauty of the place is the fact it is built from such simple components, what looks like a shelter with a concrete front on the outside is hiding such detail and exquisite painting on the inside. The paintings on the walls and ceilings were intricate and full of colour. This is a place full of beauty and attention to detail.
We paid £3 each to enter the Italian Chapel and I felt this was really worth it for all the information we read about the Chapel. We probably spent a good 15 minutes reading all the information boards in and around the chapel and learning about all the history of the chapel over the last 70 or so years.
There is such a sense of achievement that comes from visiting somewhere that's been on your bucket list for so long. Seeing the Italian Chapel with my own eyes was truly so wonderful. I'm also so glad we visited Orkney when we did because it meant that we missed the busiest times of year during the summer months.
Opmerkingen