Faroe Islands - 2

FÆRØERNE - 2

FAROE ISLANDS - 2

Monday 10th - Wednesday 19th June 2017

More of Lucy's adventures on the Faroe Islands

For the second part of the Faroe adventure I bought a   travel card so that I could hop on and off public transport and explore further afield. In total Lucy visited eleven of the eighteen island travelling  on buses, ferries, small boats and on foot,  She sat on the  most northerly point knowing that there was nothing between her and the Arctic. Minibuses on the smaller islands connect with the two main bus routes and ferries and the driver phones through to say you are on board and waits until the bus or ferry arrives. The Faroese have an obsession with tunnel building and aim to link all the islands. Some of them are wide new tunnels over 6 km long on the sea bed between islands and others are dark single track ones with passing places cutting through the mountains. They are currently building a new one under the sea from Streymoy to Esturoy which will have a roundabout in the middle of it. One day Lucy had the front seat on a bus and this was her view as we went through one of the new tunnels. 

Lucy went for a Hike

All the guide books give details of hikes across the islands  to look at birds, light houses,  coves, cliffs, little villages or historical sites and I did two or three of the easier ones. One day I got the bus to Kirkjubøur, the site of St Magnus Cathedral built around 1300 from rock and stone, and then walked back across the hillside climbing to a height of 600 metres from sea level and back down to Tórshavn. Lucy went on ahead while I looked at the ruins of the church and the village. She waited for me on a chair made of rocks that  has marked a meeting place for national speeches and patriotic songs since the 1800s.

It was about ten miles and the path was very steep and rocky and quite difficult to find at times. Although it was listed as an easy hike, it was just about my limit, but the views were fabulous and well worth the effort. 

The English invade Tórshavn 

I had only met five or six English people since I arrived here, so it was a surprise when I walked through the Tinganes to find it swarming with English as there was a cruise ship in town. I chatted to a couple of sisters and learnt that they were only here for two or three hours and this was their second stop since they had left Tilbury Docks and they were going to Iceland that night. As it was a Sunday most places were shut, so they were crowded in one of the few cafes that was open. The restaurants open at four on a Sunday but they were well gone by then. It was a bit embarrassing as a lot of them were moaning about the prices and one man said, "I usually do. Mediterranean Cruises, this isn't the same is it?" Someone else asked how far it was to the art gallery and the reply was that as the town buses don't run on Sundays they would just have time to get there, run  round it and back before their ship left.

Listasavn Fóroya (Art Gallery)

I spent a very wet Saturday in  the Art Gallery. Because the Islands are so isolated the artists were not influenced by other European schools of art and developed independently, mainly painting local scenes, portraits and the islands. 

Nólsoy painted by Stefan Danielsen ((1922-97) who spent most of his life on this island where he was born.

Churches and Church Art

The Lutheran church is very strong and powerful on the islands and the churches are in perfect condition. There are small ones  in every village, often on a headland overlooking the sea that have been rebuilt on the same spot over hundreds of years, 

This church is on the most northerly point at Viðareiði om the island of Viðoy and contains a collection of altar silverware donated by the British government to thank islanders for their hospitality after a British brig was wrecked in 1847. 

There are also several  beautiful modern churches in the towns like the Vesturkirkja in Tórshavn with a copper tower built in the form of a pyramid, which caused much controversy when it was built in 1975. Being Lutheran they are very plain inside mostly painted white with a fabulous altar painting and often a boat hanging from the ceiling to remember lives lost in sea tradgedies. I chatted to someone from the church in Klalsvik and he invited me to look at the wonderful circular, wood relief plaques in a meeting room downstairs. There were ten in all telling the story of Christ. 

More church art was on display in the National Museum and the fabulous very early carved pew ends were described as the 'jewels' of the islands. I took so many photos of these and it is difficult to decide which one to include here. But I have chosen the meeting of the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth. 

The cliffs at Vestmanna

I had to wear a hard hat but Lucy sailed around and into the vertical free-standing cliffs wearing her Viking helmet and imagining that she was one of the first people to see these 600 metre high cliffs which are the nesting place for thousands of birds. As we sailed along the base of the cliffs we saw puffins and razorbills and went behind the cliffs and into dark grottos. 

It was a two hour boat trip and was fairly choppy when we returned across open water to Vestmanna. The woman next to me threw up over the side of the boat but luckily it didn't blow onto me. 

Krígssavnið (War Museum)

When Lucy visited the Krígssavnið on Vágar she met Robert Shrive, who was visiting from England. His father was stationed on the island during WW2 and married a Faroese bride. Robert was with his Faroese cousin and although he grew up in England he spent his holidays on the Islands and kept in contact with his Faroese relatives. I had a coffee with the two men and they told me some interesting stories about their family. The photograph below shows Robert"s father and grandfather during the war.

The Faroes were occupied by Britain from 1940 after Germany invaded Denmark and at one point there were 8,000 British troops on Vágar and 2,000 local inhabitants. While they were there the British troops  drove on the left and built an airport. This is still the International airport which is about 30 miles from Tórshavn and on a different island. Until the new tunnel was built everyone arriving from overseas had to make a ferry crossing to get to the capital.

Noðlandahúsid, The Nordic Centre

This was a great place to spend a wet day, to have lunch (they do a really good buffet brunch, brunj) and catch up on emails as there was good wifi coverage.  It is an arts centre, a bit like the mac in Birmingham, with a gallery, cafe, theatre, dance studio and activity rooms. The stone entrance is Norwegian, the chairs are Finnish, the wooden walls are Swedish, the glass and steel are Danish, the roof construction is Icelandic and the grass roof is Faroese.

Lucy's last day in Tórshavn 

I spent the day walking around Tórshavn and  climbed up to the Western side of the town where there are some fabulous houses dating from the late 1800s. 

There is also a little botanical garden with 148 species of flora found on the Islands including viviparous sheeps fescue. Although there are no native trees on the Faroes the islanders,especially in Tórshavn, plant trees in the town and are very proud of their gardens. Tora who owned the annex where I stayed frequently watered her garden with a hose, even after a day of rain.

While I was doing this Lucy gathered up herFaroese  memorabilia and went off to post it home. She was very pleased that she found the budget shop (sheep) and bought envelopes and other things at a fraction of the price that I had previously paid. 

So Lucy's three week stay on these amazing Islands came  to an end and she sailed to Iceland  to start another stage of her Grand Viking Tour.