Day 20: Last Day

My last full day in the Faroes, and last full day of holiday before the 2-day trip home starting tomorrow. Today was also cold and drizzly so I made a short day of touring, even though I drove out to the furthest town possible. Viðareiði is purported to be the prettiest village in the Faroes but I didn't necessarily agree. I took a few snaps through the windshield and turned around and went back home to read the afternoon away with a cup of hot tea - it's the coldest summer anyone here can remember...

Old house foundations from....? Vikings?

There's a 6.5 km subsea tunnel that links the islands of Eysturoy and Bordoy - local artist designed these funky lights. Is it weird that even 152 meters under the sea there's still radio reception? And that I freak out just a little when water drips on the car? :-)

The afternoon turned out to be more pleasant so I went for a long walk, I had no destination in mind but ended up passing the culture center, and walked into Torshavn via a lovely little park.

Called the Nordic House - it's part museum, cafe, concert hall, & exhibition space. Cool architecture.

Art and sculpture found in lots of places

That's it! Till the next adventure - the European Peace Walk, August 5th. 

Day 18: Faroes: Fjords, Fishing, and (water)Falls

My trip to the Faroes is all about viewing - just driving around and seeing all I can. I don't have any big adventures planned here, and based on the mercurial weather I've seen so far - cold, drizzly, with spots of sun, I think I'll be inside behind the wheel most of the time.

Fishing is the dominant industry- with freshly flushed fjords running between all the islands, fish farms proliferate 

Rain fed waterfalls are everywhere 

Turf-roofed buildings also proliferate - churches, homes, even doghouses!

The only octagonal church in the Faroes

Torshavn, the capital. Hundreds of homes but tiny tourist area

Whale jaw-bones, I assume 

Day 19: Cliffs & Caves

Vestmanna harbor - on board yet another bird watching boat

De rigueur gear for tour boats in this area

Captain sneaks right up into tight grottoes

Heading south, waves too bad on usual north coast route

300 days of rain a year produces a lot of waterfalls

Village abandoned in the 60's - no road, no harbor, = no go in modern times

Captain backed whole boat right into this cave!

Few birds but cliffs and sea stacks were amazing 

Looking thru 3 arches at once

Weather: all at once

17 generations of farmers have lived here, the left side is a museum

And the farmer greeted this calf like a pet, he's running here to join the dog on the front porch!

Wonder if they fight over who gets to sleep in the doghouse?

Day 17: Faroe Islands

So the last post: "back again" referred to being back in Reykjavik, but that was just a pit stop. I'm not done traveling yet!

Here I am, not yet 2 kilometers from the airport in the Faroe Islands and I'm already taking photos! This place is green! From the looks of things, I don't expect to see many trees while I'm here, I guess those all disappeared long ago.

The Faroes are made up of 18 islands - the big close together ones connected by bridges and tunnels, the outer islands by ferry and helicopter. They lie between Iceland and Norway, NW of Scotland. Only 49,000 people live here so that means there's lots of wide open space for me to explore. I've rented a car for the time I'm here so I'll 3 full days of driving to check it all out!

I'm staying in student housing on the outskirts of the main town, Torshavn. The students are on summer break, so they open up the housing to tourists for 2 months each summer. They've had problems with my building apparently - flooding that went unnoticed for who knows how long, so the rooms are not in great condition. The manager was very apologetic and offered free dinner (& a beer) for each night I'm here. I'm cool with that. 

No evidence of anything but wear & tear here. I've a private bathroom too but it's one of those shower in the toilet kinda deals :-(

Day 16: Back Again

One last hike out to the icefjord before getting ready for my flight back to Reykjavik. They are 2 hours ahead so I don't land until 7:25pm. Can't imagine there'll be anything else of interest to post about tonight....

Day 15: Kayaking at Oqaatsut

Morning coffee with the icebergs again. It's a constantly changing tableaux, the big one just offshore last night is gone but now there's lots of little ones in its place. They get swept north, then out to the Baffin Strait, where currents then take them east towards Iceland and the Azores, or south as far as New York. 

Today's adventure had a German couple and myself taking a boat 45 mins north to the tiny village of Oqaatsut, aka Rodebay, which means red bay, so named for when they carve up their catch of whales the bay can run red with blood. 

             Oqaatsut- population 37

There we met 2 Americans who had hiked there the day before (16kms) and stayed overnight at a guesthouse, and our 2 Spanish guides who were going to take us kayaking amongst the icebergs for a couple of hours. They guys could not have been nicer - considerate, humorous, instructive, helpful. It was a fantastic day!

Coffee and cake when we arrived in their cute office/gear room

                    Getting our instructions

Amongst the icebergs - the trip included a free stick with all the photos they took of us during the day!

                                    Being silly

Lunch was included - the best fish soup I've ever had 

Tonight I'm going on the Midnight Sun boat cruise. Just a chance to get a bit closer to the big icebergs at the mouth of the icefjord and to see them in a nicer light. 10pm - 12:30am!

     Our guide explained the different types of ice

     And served us some blue ice with vermouth!