Lerwick is Shetland’s capital and only town, its stone waterfront lined with lodberries — old merchants’ houses and jetties built straight out into the harbour. Behind them run the flagstones of Commercial Street and the 17th-century Fort Charlotte. It’s at its liveliest in late January for Up Helly Aa, the fire festival that ends with a burning Viking galley. The NorthLink ferry from Aberdeen docks right in the heart of town.
