Stornoway Unique Vacations
Many folk enjoy taking unusual vacations and increasing numbers of visitors are finding the usual seaside vacations increasingly boring. The challenge to find is ever and travel guides are incessantly searching for new and exciting places in which to take a vacation or that offer something unique. Below I examine the town of Stornoway in the Scottish islands of the Western Isles and explain the factors which make this such a great vacation destination.
Lewis
The Isle of Lewis, with Harris, is the largest land mass in the Outer Hebrides. The islands is a fair distance off the west coast of Scotland further out from the island of Skye, needing a flight or ferry journey to reach it. As a result of the extreme remoteness it was only towards the end of the 20th century that ordinary people have been able to access to the islands for a vacation, prior to this it was only the rich who could afford to pay for the journey. The only other way to get to the Western Isles was to arrive on business.
The Town Of Stornoway
A great many years ago the town of stornoway was an extremely busy fishing port. The main quarry of the multitude of fishing boats was herring and during the herring season Stornoway’s population grew from about five or six thousand to well over thirty thousand. A huge quantity of Stornoway Hotels, guesthouses and bed and breakfasts were established to satisfy the needs for lodging the incredible influx of temporary inhabitants created. Currently the town’s population stays at a little over six thousand (excluding tourists).
Unfortunately the herring industry fell into a dramatic decline at the end of the First World War with the collapse of the markets in Germany and Russia. A tiny fishing fleet can still be found in Stornoway however few buildings remain from those times and Stornoway lost a great deal of character during the 1970’s when it was extensively redeveloped.
Recently the local council has sympathetically enhanced Stornoway town centre building a few works of modern sculpture focusing on the association with the herring industry as well as also adding areas of flower beds and even fountains. New architecture are also more beautiful, such as the An Lanntair Arts centre.
Although there are much less Stornoway hotels existing today, just the Royal Hotel dates back to the heyday of the Herring industry, there are still a great many Stornoway bed and breakfasts, as well as guest houses, hostels and inns. You will even discover a camping and caravan park on the outskirts of town.
If you are considering a vacation in the Outer Hebrides/Western Isles of Scotland please take a look at our comprehensive listings of hotels in Stornoway.