One of the many highlights of our trip to the Outer Hebrides in the summer was visiting the famous Callanish Standing Stones. Situated on the west coast of the Lewis these amazing standing stones are 5000 years old and predate Stonehenge in England by 2000 years! They were erected in the late Neolithic era.
The standing stones are in a cross shape, but with a giant circle near the top of the cross. The stones are made from Lewisian Gneiss, which is one of the oldest rocks in Britain. Historians and scientists are not able to say exactly what they mean, the most probable reason is an ancient type of astronomical observatory.
Just thinking about how these huge stones were transported here and erected is completely mind boggling. There are other Callanish standing stone sites nearby but we just visited the main one which has a visitor centre with an exhibition. Here is a wonderful photo essay about the region, which may make you want to visit this area!
There is another standing stone site called Stenness Stones in Orkney and definitely would love to visit them.
Talking about Scotland, Alessio and I are off tomorrow for the Christmas holidays and looking forward to it!
Happy Christmas and Happy New Year!!
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