Kirkwall

Initial impressions of KIRKWALL, Orkney's capital, are not always favourable. However, it does have one great redeeming feature - its sandstone cathedral, without doubt the finest medieval building in the north of Scotland. Part of the reason for Kirkwall's disappointing waterfront is that today's harbour is a largely modern invention; in the mid-nineteenth century, the shoreline ran along Junction Road, and before that it was flush with the west side of Broad Street. Nowadays, the town is very much divided into two main focal points: the busy harbour, at the north end of the town, where ferries come and go all year round, and the flagstoned main street, which changes its name four times as it twists its way south from the harbour past the cathedral.

Standing at the very heart of Kirkwall, St Magnus Cathedral (Mon-Sat 8.30am-6.30pm, Sun 1.30-6.30pm) is the town's most compelling sight. This beautiful red sandstone building was begun in 1137 by the Orkney Earl Rognvald, who decided to make full use of a growing cult surrounding the figure of his uncle Magnus, killed on the orders of his cousin Haakon in 1117. When Magnus's body was buried in Birsay a heavenly light was said to have shone overhead, and his grave soon became a place of pilgrimage attributed with miraculous powers that drew pilgrims from far afield. When Rognvald finally took over the earldom he built the cathedral in his uncle's honour, moving the centre of religious and secular power from Birsay to Kirkwall.

The first version of the cathedral, built using yellow sandstone from Eday and red sandstone from the Mainland, was somewhat smaller than today's structure, which has been added to over the centuries, with a new east window in the thirteenth century, the extension of the nave in the fifteenth century and a new west window to mark the building's 850th anniversary in 1987. Today much of the detail in the soft sandstone has worn away - the capitals around the main doors are reduced to gnarled stumps - but it's still an immensely impressive building, its shape and style echoing the great cathedrals of Europe. Inside, the atmosphere is surprisingly intimate, the bulky sandstone columns drawing your eye up to the exposed brickwork arches, while around the walls is a series of mostly seventeenth-century tombstones, many carved with a skull and crossbones and other emblems of mortality, alongside chilling inscriptions calling on the reader to "remember death waits us all, the hour none knows".

To the south of the cathedral are the ruined remains of the Bishop's Palace (April-Sept daily 9.30am-6.30pm; Oct & Nov Mon-Sat 9.30am-4.30pm, Sun 2-4.30pm; £2; HS), residence of the Bishop of Orkney since the twelfth century. Most of what you see now, however, dates from the time of Bishop Robert Reid, the founder of Edinburgh University, in the mid-sixteenth century. The walls still stand, as does the tall round tower in which the bishop had his private chambers; a narrow spiral staircase takes you to the top for a good view of the cathedral and across Kirkwall's rooftops.

The ticket for the Bishop's Palace also covers entry to the neighbouring Earl's Palace, built by the infamous Earl Patrick Stewart around 1600 using forced labour - rather better preserved, and a lot more fun to explore. With its grand entrance, fancy oriel windows, dank dungeons, massive fireplaces and magnificent central hall, it has a confident solidity, and is reckoned to be one of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in Scotland. The roof may be missing, but many domestic details remain, including a set of toilets and the stone shelves used by the clerk to do his filing. Earl Patrick enjoyed his palace for only a very short time before he was imprisoned.

Opposite the cathedral stands the sixteenth-century Tankerness House, now home to the Orkney Museum (Mon-Sat 10.30am-5pm; May-Sept also Sun 2-5pm; free). Among the more unusual artefacts to look out for are a witch's spell box, and a lovely whalebone plaque from a Viking boat grave discovered on Sanday. Further afield, a mile or so south of the town centre on the A961 to South Ronaldsay, is the Highland Park distillery (April-Oct Mon-Fri 10am-5pm; July-Sept also Sat noon-5pm, Sun noon-4pm; Nov-March Mon-Fri tours at 2pm; www.highlandpark.co.uk; £3), billed as "the most northerly legal distillery in Scotland".

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