Faroe Islands
Ahh, Faroe Islands, a land many of you probably haven’t heard of but hopefully all will have on your bucket list after reading. This small set of 18 islands is located approximately half way between Iceland and the continental Europe. Much like Nebraska, where we are from, this destination to most is considered a “fly over” spot. But unlike Nebraska you should actually stop and see the beauty that the Faroe Islands has to offer! Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves however as this journey starts as we are trying to leave Iceland. As we are waiting in line we realize that the sign stopped saying Vagar (the airport in the Faroe Islands) and instead started to read Vagar/Oslo. Not to be too concerned because at least our destination is still listed.
However this is followed up with a text saying that our flight is cancelled due to weather. Well this is odd given both where we are and where we are going is completely sunny. At this point you start to get this sinking feeling that your plans may not be going according to plan. As we start to overhear people in line, it seems that our flight was just magically cancelled and we were heading to Oslo first and then onward to the Faroe Islands. Now I know we only recently learned where the Faroe’s are located but for those of you who still don’t know- Oslo is WAY out of the way. In fact, it is going to take us twice as long to get there and then it would to go to the Faroe’s directly. It would actually save time to stop and drop us off first.
Either way here we are on a plane bound for Norway, turning our two hour travel day into something like 8 hours. Thankfully this didn’t stop Bre from making a new friend on the flight over, Jane, from New York who is an actress. Meanwhile I am still stewing with the fact we are flying over the destination we are suppose to be stopping in. Thankfully we made money on the fact that we were delayed, in fact we made more money than the ticket was even worth. If you want to know how see the blog titled “EU 261.”
Now back to the journey. After a brief stop in Norway we finally slammed down on the runway in Vagar, literally, because the runway is so short and it gets so cloudy, you must land with enough speed to take off again if need be . This is most likely the smallest airport to date that we have seen. After barely missing the first bus, we paid and got on the second bus bound towards Torshavn, the capital and where we were staying the night. This drive was spectacular, although it was raining the views simply couldn’t be beat. Everything was so luscious and green. The cliffs went straight up out of the water.
As our bus neared Torshavn we were about to find out why winging it may not always work out in your favor. Unlike most more commonly traveled places, there was almost no information on the busses and their routes online. Since we were staying a bit outside of the city in a suburb called Hoyvik we pressed the stop button as it looked like the bus was going to go in the opposite direction. We hopped off at the junction where the bus was heading left and it seemed that we needed to go right. Thankfully it was pouring down rain and in the middle of nowhere. This meant that we had to walk with all of our bags almost 5 kilometers to our Airbnb.
Sadly it wasn’t until we arrived at where we were staying that we realized our host had offered to pick us up but we didn’t get his texts since we didn’t have service. Thankfully though after an hour walk in the rain we were greeted by Yosi and his family. He was the nicest host I believe we have had to date. He is Israeli and his wife is Faroese. They have three of the most beautiful children, the oldest of which can speak 3 of the most unique languages, Hebrew, Faroese, and English and she isn’t even 5 years old! Anyways after drying off our kind host took us into Hoyvik for some food from Tasty Hoyvik. He dropped us there and went to get groceries. After we had a great pizza and burger, we stopped for some groceries ourselves to save money since just about everything there was so expensive. We gathered our items from the store and walked the few blocks back, again in the rain.
The next morning was an early one as we had to try and make the most of our limited time here with a tour of as much of the island as we could possibly see. Elsa, our lovely guide, took us around to several spots in the country. It was quite a unique group of travelers, a gal named Jen from our flight the day before, she was from Perth. Then is a couple from Zimbabwe who knew some similar people that Bre also knew. Followed by an odd, but very nice photographer Paul, and his wife. Rounding out the group was a very shy girl from Italy.
It was a great tour hitting most of the highlights the Faroe’s had to offer. The funny thing was how quickly the weather changed there. They had cameras all over the island so you could know what parts of the country were going to be nice and what parts were rainy and foggy. 16 of the 18 islands were inhabited and connected by either tunnels or bridges. We saw more homes with grass roofs and fish drying than I care to count. We also saw several waterfalls, old churches, and even a bunch of puffins nestled in the cliffs. There was much we didn’t see because of fog and weather but thankfully, the iconic rock formations cleared up for just a moment as we were driving and we were able to catch a glimpse of them.
After the tour concluded we went for coffee with the girl from Italy and Paul and his wife. After saying our good byes we walked around for awhile before hopping on one of the buses in town that we just learned were free. Sadly though we did not learn direction because in the panic of catching the bus we hopped on the wrong one dropping us a bit closer but still 3 kilometers away from our place. Hopefully we will learn one of these days!
Our next and final full day in the Faroe’s we decided to try and adventure out on our own to see one of the other iconic spots here, the lake by the ocean. Thankfully this time we grabbed the correct bus and hopped off at the correct point. As we got off the bus we introduced ourselves to the other person getting off there, her name was Karen, a doctor from Hong Kong and also probably a good friend to have as out of shape me decides to climb around on these cliffs. After paying $30 per person to enter this hike, we were given instructions by the local farmer running it on where to go.
We made our way along the edge of the cliff and as we climbed the fog began to lift and we were greeted with amazing views of the oceans and other islands just off in the distance. At the end of this hike you climb a pretty vertical cliff up out over the ocean. Here you can look down, if you can fight the strong wind, and see the waves crashing against the cliffs some 200 feet below. As we continued to walk we found the iconic spot where the lake runs into the ocean off the edge of a cliff. Easily one of the most beautiful locations I have ever seen. In the distance there is also a sharp rock jutting out from the water that looks as if someone has taken a slice off of the rock face.
We sat with our new friend Karen and enjoyed the snacks we had brought. Minus the bread that we used for sandwiches. We tried to save money by buying the cheapest bread they had called rug bread. Sadly though the name was far too fitting as the bread quite literally tasted like a rug. After toughing my way though our attempt to save money we hiked the some 45 minutes back to the entrance. Right before we left the gate however we were greeted with two of the largest Scottish cows I have ever seen and with giant horns. Better yet they were on our side of the fence!
After mindfully making our way past them and somehow going 2 for 2 by catching the correct bus again we were back in Torshavn. Here we said goodbye to Karen and hello to Jane, our actress friend from NYC. We met here at an Irish pub to get a quick bite to eat before calling it a night. The next morning before we left our kind host had us upstairs for some cake and coffee and then took us to a beautiful dock area where some crazy people swim in the arctic water. Although we had said we weren’t going to join them, I almost did accidentally as I slipped on the mossy ramp and ended up just a few inches from being soaked. After saying our goodbyes we walked downtown and worked for awhile in the Paname Café, the coffee shop from the other day, before making our way by bus back to the airport. It was a great few days here in the Faroe Islands but what comes next is about as crazy as a travel schedule can get, so stay tuned.
