Wandering in the Faroes

Its a long bank holiday weekend and I am getting more of a danish fix with a visit to Faroe Islands. The Faroes are a self ruled territory of Denmark, with a bustling population of around 55,000 (the same as Greenland but on a lot less space). Subsidised by Denmark, the Faroese have had self rule since 1948, and they have rigorously preserved their culture and their language. They are apparently pretty conservative, alcohol was only allowed to be imported from the 1990s, and even now you can only buy alcohol in six shops in the whole country.
There are no direct flights from London, so we got a bonus breakfast of herrings and cinnamon rolls in Copenhagen airport after our crack of dawn flight from Gatwick. We boarded a ram-packed flight to the islands, which have apparently had a huge uptick in tourism in recent times. Flying in was stunning with views of vertiginous cliffs, improbably waterfalls and luminescent green hills. It’s only about 8 degrees when we land, and yes it’s August, so I suspect it is pretty chilly here in winter.


The bustling capital of Tórshavn (Thor’s harbour)

Driving to Torshavn we admired the amazing waterfalls on every corner – both for their almost perfect form, like well graded steps, – but also as we couldn’t figure out where the water was coming from…. it wasn’t raining and none of the hills are that high or snow covered….hmmm a mystery to be solved on other days. (So it turns out that the soil retains the rain water for a long time, so the waterfalls will run for several days without new rainfall, albeit less energetically than when it is raining)

Parliament buildings


We found our hotel in town… a run down and pretty shabby affair that had seen better days, but still came with an outrageous price tag. We headed out to investigate town. It’s tiny and lovely and takes about three minutes to walk anywhere. We strolled around parliament Tinganes (some red wooden houses with grass on the roof), checked out the black wooden houses that locals still live in, and the lovely harbour at Vagsboten. By this time it was 4pm and we were hungry so we made a beeline to Emilias fast food for one of our favourite Nordic treats – a hot dog with all the fixings! There is nothing quite like fried crunchy onions.

An excellent hot dog
Torshavn Cathedral
Torshavn Harbour

  
An unsuccessful outing to photograph a road 

I’m travelling with the hubby**, which means we have a tripod and a bunch of camera gear. He had done his homework and had four photos he wants to take in the four days we are here. The first is of a particular piece of winding road (really not kidding). The light was lovely at 5.30 so we hopped in the car and went to see it. Half way there the fog rolled in and the rain started, so we made it to the spot and ended up sitting in the car for half an hour waiting unsuccessfully for the fog to clear…. oh, well better luck tomorrow.

Road attempt 1


The oldest cathedral in the Faroes 

We backtracked down to the south of the island and back at sea level there was some visibility, so we went to Kikjubour, to see the Magnus cathedral, which was apparently never completed as it never had a roof. We also visited the cute Olavskirkjan church which was open and had a lovely altar with a row boat. We gave some Romanian hikers a ride back to Torshavn as they weren’t convinced the bus was coming (and it’s good hiker karma as I hitch often when I come off the mountain, so that’s one in the bank). They did tell us they had been here for a week and it had been bucketing every day, but for 15 minutes every day they normally got some visibility, and in those moments the islands were stunning – I guess we better be ready for that 15 minutes. The rain had been pelting down in Kirkjubour, it was cold and we were jet lagged so we beat a retreat for some dinner (in a hilarious restaurant that didn’t have most of the menu available) and an early night


Trying to see the sea stacks through the sheets of rain 

After a robust Nordic breakfast we were off in the pelting rain to explore the islands.  I had planned a bunch of hikes, which neither of us were super enthused about as the rain was coming down in sheets and visibility was poor.  We optimistically headed up to Eioi to see if we could see the sea stacks at Risin and Kellingin off the north of Esturoy island.  The sea stacks are apparently the remains of a couple of Icelandic giants who had come to drag the island away but got turned to stone when the sun came up.  There’s no risk of that today as I doubt the sun will make an appearance.  Hubby is in full photo mode so we sloshed down through the boggy fields with the tripod for a better view.

All the tourists in Gjogv 

We rolled onto Gjogv, with what seemed like every other tourist on the island, the tiny car park packed with well branded rental cars.   The village is named for the natural gorge which is used for a harbour, and the views from the cliffs are quite lovely, probably even lovelier if there is a bit of sun.  After a gentle stroll up a steep cliff with the wind pushing us sideways…. we retreated sensibly to head down to Funningur to see what I think was one of my favourite churches of the trip

Funningur church


A light snack in Klaksvik

Still bucketing down, so we decided to abandon our plan to walk along the ridge of Vidoy to the sea cliffs at Enniberg, which is apparently a bit sketchy on a good day, so we headed over to Klaksvik for food.  We stopped at Fridas for a ‘light snack’ knowing we had a Michelin dinner to eat that night….but both of us were too cheap to turn down the half price offer on the brunch offer so we ended up having a huge lunch! Oops


Tunnels and villages on Kunoy and Bordoy

Then off to Kunoy, traversing another of the Faroes bonkers tunnels, this one 3km and single lane with passing spots.  The Faroes has 18 onshore and two sub sea tunnels.  A third one is being build to connect Stremoy and Esturoy at a different point than the causeway, and another one is being build to Sandoy.  Apparently these will cost Euro 50,000 per inhabitant.  

Kunoy church


For a few brief moments the sun pierced the clouds and we had brief glimpses of the stunning ridge line on the neighbouring island. It really is improbable landscape….. crazy cliffs plunging into the sea, waterfalls galore and a green so bright it almost hurts your eyes. The grass clings to the tiny bit of soil that is on top of the steep black volcanic rock slopes. It’s like the effort of holding on so tightly to the ground makes the grass glow. And there are no trees, unless lovingly cultivated by tenacious human hands. It is also improbable that people eked out an existence here for so long, and continue to do so….its August and it is cold, rainy and windy, you would have to be pretty hardy to survive the winters here.
Not all the villages survive – Muli is now deserted but it was once home to 30 people. The last two elderly couples in their 80s and 90s survived until the road was built and then they moved away. We went to see it and were rewarded with stunning views over neighbouring Vidoy when the sun came out.

Road to Muli


20 amazing courses of blubber and hearts at Koks 

After a quick change at the hotel we headed up to Koks, a two Michelin starred restaurant in the middle of the island. The directions were a bit cryptic, and we were told to park our car and meet at the fermenting house after which we would be driven to the restaurant. The fermenting house was a lovely sauna smelling room where a friendly young local gave us a Kombucha, and then we were bundled into 4wds and driven across the foreshore of a lake, veering well into the water and then up a lively river bed to a beautiful wooden house with a turf roof where all the staff were waiting outside for us. Dinner was an exceptional 20 courses which ranged from whale blubber and local roots, raw sea urchin, raw clams with herbs, raw langoustine brains accompanied by steamed langoustine tails, tartar of halibut with cavier, fried gills with cod liver mousse, and bacalao with parsley sauce and smoked mussels with a sandwich made with fried cod skin and a terrine of cod brains. Then onto the fermented part of the menu with dried cured lamb, crackers and lamb stomach fat, roasted fermented lamb with onion mousse and pickled onions, chopped pilot whale heart on sheep’s blood cracker (pilot whales are not endangered and are caught in the Faroes in traditional whale drives), and lambs brains and tail with celery. Then we ended with sorbet and rosehip gel, thyme mousse with caramel and frozen blueberries, salad of foraged flowers with compressed rhubarb and charcoal cream, and then waffles with rhubarb jam, whipped cream and chocolates! Yup we will be waddling tomorrow


Seeing the bird cliffs of Vestmanna

I am not a huge fan of group tours, but the only way to get to Vestmanna is on a boat, so we hopped on board and chuntedout into sea.  It’s quite a sedate trip, and the photos don’t do it justice, but watching the birds dive bomb from the 350m seacliffs is fabulous, and it was almost equally amusing to see all the sheep blithely going about their lives on the sides of the improbably slopes.  Some of the farmers come and get them from the top of the cliff sides, others get dropped off by boat and climb up to get them.  It was a nice way to spend a couple of hours.


Bour and Gasadalur

We headed back to the island of Vagar (home of the airport) to go check out Mulafossur waterfall, and stopped for an eye wateringly expensive lunch £35 for two coffees out of a thermos, one meat platter and a tiny piece of cake.  And then we meandered around the sweet village of Bour taking photos.  

Mulafossur


Refusing to pay to hike 

We had planned to hike around the lake at Sorvagsvatn to the Bosdalafossur waterfall, but the local farmer had recently started charging people about €25 for the privilege, and neither hubby or I could fathom that, so instead we headed out to see the houses at Saksun. It was obvious too in Saksun that there is some tension between the locals and the tourists. A hike in Saksun which was previously free on the info board has had an €8 charge instituted. Elsewhere, there was an angry note telling tourists not to trespass (It sounds like there is quite a backstory, check it out here). It feels like there should be a happy medium. Charging a reasonable fee for a one hour hike of €5 makes sense to me, but these prices seem exorbitant. I am perhaps biased coming from a country richly endowed with national parks


The road revisited

On our way back to Tórshavn we thought we would give hubby’s road another go. Today was the only day that there was no rain forecast, so of course it was worth a shot. And unsurprisingly the heavens opened up about ten minutes before we got there and it was a total white out. Perhaps third time lucky tomorrow. We headed out for another huge, delicious and eye-waveringly expensive meal at Futastova…., and had an early night

And one more go

We awoke in Tórshavn to yet more rain, and after a final wander around the shops, we optimistically went back to the road for one more look en route to the airport. Still a total white out. For those of you wondering what the fuss was about, here is someone else’s picture of the road. images.app.goo.gl/egZcZAM2zT6UEG9h6. Hubby is still quite keen on the photo so perhaps will come again, but his plan is to wait to book a ticket until he sees a rock solid weather forecast.

Net, the Faroes are quite lovely, but also quite pricey….. I made the foolish error of totting up the bill for a long weekend and I could have bought a very nice new racing bike for the same amount. It just doesn’t seem great value for money, so while I am glad I went, I wouldn’t go back, ironically Greenland was a better deal in terms of joy per £.

Sørvágur, August 26, 2019

Additional notes

  • stayed at the Hotel Torshavn, which was pricey and not super clean. I would try somewhere else
  • booked months in advance to get a table at Koks, which had a Michelin star. Honestly you need to book all your dinners in advance if you want to eat anywhere decent. The day we arrived we were surprised by how few places had a table. We also ate at Futustova. Failing that emilias fast food in Tórshavn makes an exceptional hot dog
  • we rented a car from 62N, it was expensive (£100 a day), but worth it
  • fly to CPH or Edinburgh with any low cost carrier and then buy separate flights with Atlantic Airways – it will work out cheaper
  • book the boat tour here
  • bring lots of warm and wet weather gear (hat and gloves even in August
  • EU roaming plans don’t work in the Faroes (as it isn’t in the EU), but you can buy a SIM card with 2gb of data and 25 mins of calls for 89 kr
  • and an amusing blog here

** for new readers, ‘hubby’ does have a name, and he is pretty lovely, but he has no social media presence and doesn’t want any, so he is always incognito on the blog, but at least he allows the odd photo of him. Also note he takes brilliant photos, but he takes an age to edit them to his perfecting standards, so when he is happy with them, I will post a link (in about 18 months I reckon :-))

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