Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The Faroe Islands (My 1000th Post!)


Sage on the top deck of the ship
This is my 1000th post.  I started this blog in 2004 and I had no idea I’d still be writing in it eight and a half years later.  Over the years I have written a variety of posts:  memoirs, adventures, trips, poetry, satire, political commentary and book reviews.  In 2011, I took a break from this blog to start a new blog (riding rails) which highlighted my sabbatical journey from Indonesia to Europe and on back to the United States via ship.  After getting back, I never finished the story (the last post, I was leaving Dover on a ship.  This is one of the missing stories as I tell about visiting the Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic.

A map "borrowed' from the internet
I take breakfast at the buffet on the promenade deck, sitting strategically where I can see out both sides of the ship.  Off starboard, to the east, a cloud bank lies over the ocean, obscuring the sunrise.  The skies are clear to port.   Savoring my coffee, I alternate between reading Simon Winchester’s The Atlantic and starring out across the water.  I’m surprised when land appears off port, one of the outward islands of the Faroe archipelago, our destination for the morning.  

The Faroe Islands are rocky series of volcanic rock that rise like fingers above the Atlantic halfway between Norway and Iceland.  The islands tend to be long, running from the southwest to the northeast.   They are narrow enough that there is no place on the islands that one is more than three miles from the sea.   There are few trees on the islands, mostly just thick grass and rock.  People have lived on the island for at least 1200 years, maybe more.  Legend is that the first settlers were monks from Ireland who sailed there in 461 AD, but there is some question as to the validity of such claims.  It is known the Vikings settled here late in the first millennium of the modern era.  Since then, the population on the island has been somewhat stable as they make a living from fishing and raising sheep.   

Torshavn
We sail past the islands of Suduroy and Sandoy and a few smaller ones.  The sun rises over the fog as we sail into the port of Torshavn, capital of the Faroes.  The city is beautiful, with its neat houses nestled between the water and the mountains alive in the morning light.  Soon we’re docking, the deckhands handing the heavy ropes to moor the ship the bulkhead.  I head back to my cabin and pack a bag for a day of sightseeing.  We’ll have a little over seven hours before we sail and, as I did not arrange for a tour, I’m not sure what I’ll see.  But we’ve been informed there is a lot of shopping and exploring in the capital city.  The only commercial tour available was to see puffins.  Those signing up for this, at an additional cost of $250, would not have time to see the city at all as they’d spend the day on a boat around the cliffs of the island.  The price seemed steep and when I later learned they only saw a couple of puffins as the rest of the birds had already migrated, I was even more glad that I skipped out on the tour.

Getting off the boat, I head with a group of people to the tourist office to pick up a map and to get the local scoop on the trip.  There, someone tells us about the bus service in the Faroes.  In a few minutes, there’ d be a bus leaving for Kloksvik, some 90 km away in the northern islands and we were promised a wonderful ride that will show off the best of the islands.  It’s only 90 Krones (about $15), but we have to exchange money into the local currency as the driver won’t accept pounds, euros or dollars.  The Faroes have independent home rule but are a part of the Kingdom of Denmark and depend on their mother country for defense, judicial proceedings and currency.  Over the centuries, the islands have been a political football that’s been kicked back and forth between Norway and Denmark.  During World War II, after the fall of Denmark, the British “invaded” the islands, in a friendly take-over that kept Germany from claiming the islands and having an outpost in the North Atlantic.  
A local billboard advertising Facebook
 Having obtained some local currency from ATM, about a dozen of us from the ship get on the bus along with a couple of locals.  The group from the ship include an extended Chinese family, from Hong Kong and Vancouver, who have become with my daughter and a few other stragglers.  We take off, climbing up the steep hills behind Torshavn, the hairpin turns providing a grea view of the view of the city below.  The roads in the Faroes are surprisingly good.  The islands are warmed by the Atlantic current which keeps the temperature moderate.  It’s never hot, nor is it very cold.   Winter temperatures are generally above freezing and they only occasionally have a dusting of snow.  Summers are warmer, but temperatures seldom rise above the low 60s (10-12 C).  It is often rainy or foggy, giving the island s a mysterious appearance.   Soon after we leave on the bus, the morning sun disappears and t he rain begins.  Throughout the day, it’ll be rainy or foggy or sunny, all subject to change on a moment’s notice.   
 
Because of the steep mountains, there are a number of tunnels on the islands, both between mountains and under the sea that separates them.  Our bus takes us to the center of the island of Streymoy, then down through Kollafjerour and along the south bank of Sundini, a fjord separating Streymoy and Eysturoy.   We pass a couple of small fishing villages and a waterfall that tumbles down over the side of the cliffs rising up from the fjord.  Although most of the homes are modern, we see a few traditional houses with sod roofs.  There’s a little farming, mostly hay, but lots of sheep.  The word Faroe comes from the Norwegian word for sheep.  
 
We are surprised to see a small bridge at the narrow part of the fjord, which the driver brags that it crosses the ocean (which it does as both ends of the fjord are open).  We cross over to a new island and stop in the rain to drop off and pick up a few passengers.  Leaving the village of Tordskali, there’s a long tunnel cuts through the mountain.  On the other side, it’s dry and the sun is shining (for a few minutes anyway.  The road runs to the southeast, along the northwest bank of Skalafijordur (another fjord), before cutting over a peninsula of land and by a few more villages.  At Leitvik, we drop into a longer tunnel that runs under the sea to the Island of Bordoy.  Coming out of this tunnel, it’s just a short distance to the town of Kloksvik, our destination.  We have an hour to explore this small fishing community, before the bus returns.  The highlight of the town is a Lutheran Church with a Viking boat hanging in the rafters.  About 85% of the population is Lutheran, with the next largest religious group being members of the Plymouth Brethren.  We walk around looking at boats and stopping in a few stores, picking up some snacks to eat on the way.   
 
Kloksvik
As we make our way back to the bus station, the rain returns.  Our return trip is just the reverse, except that it’s raining even more.  As we wait, I strike up a conversation with a young Dutch couple who are backpacking.   They’re spending a few weeks in the Faroes, hiking around (and taking the bus through the tunnels).  Sometimes they camp, other times they stay in hostels or hotels.  They take the bus to the next island and then get off and we see them head up into the hills as we drive away.  As we enter Torshavn, with a few hours to spare before boarding, the driver suggests a shopping mall and we all get out and eat.  Afterwards, most everyone shops for wool yarn or handiwork, but I decide to walk to the lighthouse and an old fort that guards the port.  We meet up later on the ship.

Eurodam at port
 
sailing through the fjords

As the ship leave Torshavn, we still not done with the Faroes.  The captain sails around the southern point of the island of Streymoy, then steams north through Hestsfjordur, Vagafjordur, and Vestmannasund, a series of fjords that will allow us to pass through the Faroes, between Streymoy and Vagar.  I head up to top deck on the ship.  It’s cold and exposed, but the views are incredible as we sail by small villages and remote homes, watching sheep graze on the steep hills.  On the intercom, our resident geologist (he got on the ship in Ireland and will sail with us to Nova Scotia), tells us about the islands and explains their geology as well as their history and culture.  We see where another tunnel under the ocean, that connects Vagar to Streymoy, descends below the depths.  Two hours after leaving Torshavn, we leave the fjord and are
back on the open ocean, sailing to toward Iceland.    
waterfall

30 comments:

  1. first, congrats on 1000...that is awesome...i am def enjoying going along on your journeys...sad to say i did not know this place though i am fascinated by them...and the connecting of them with bridges and tunnels...seperate yet together...a facebook billboard too...that is rather blach...ha...

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  2. Sage: Congratulations on the 1,000th post. Other than a friend of mine who is an airline pilot overseas, I've never known anyone to travel to so many places as you have. What a fascinating adventure! Here's to the next 1,000 posts!

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  3. Fantastic post. And congrats on the 1000th!

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  4. Incredible views from that ship and I liked hearing about the tunnels. Very cool.

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  5. Wow. Double wow. Wow squared! 1000 posts. Such adventure, and such an eye for detail. My compliments,Sage.

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  6. Great photo of you too, for this most delightful and amazing post # 1000! You did it up just right too, interesting and the best of the best with spectacular photos of places, I'll probably only see in pictures! I hope to follow you into the next what 1000 more right?!

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  7. There's something very cool about islands. A little microcosm. I love the concept of it, though I've never spent much time on one.

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    1. It'd be a great place to write and I would enjoy hiking across the islands

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  8. Congrats on the thousand posts.

    Lovely photos. Difficult to catch just how vertiginous those slopes actually are. Goodly numbers of Irish go there for the soccer a few time a year.
    Oh, those tunnels were built because of the cold war. The islands were seen as being of such strategic importance that's hard to credit now. In a way the Mercator projector we have in our heads is vastly different to the one your kid holds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIUK_gap

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    1. Vince, thanks for the link to GAP--it is an interesting concept that may have helped a small nation like Britain to maintain such a significant navy. I remember learning that the first thing the British did when the "occupied" the Faroes in WW2 was to build an airfield--although it was probably used to ferry in supplies, it was also probably used to for anti-submarine flights.

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  9. Detroit is an island but it looks nothing like that!

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    1. Not at all... Michigan's Isle Royale is wet and rocky like this, but with trees.

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  10. Thanks everyone for all the congratulations!

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  11. Sorry to be late to the 1000th party! I'm playing blog catch up after being away for a few days.

    I love that you posted this final post for your big trip and that you always strike up conversations with people.

    Happy 1000th post!

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    1. Thanks, Lynn. It's not exactly the last post on the trip--I still need to post on Dublin, Greenland, Newfoundland and Nova Scota as well as sailing through an arctic hurricane with 75 knot winds between Greenland and Newfoundland.

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  12. Congratulations on reaching 1000 posts! I enjoyed seeing the photos. That's kind of funny that there was actually a billboard advertising Facebook. I didn't think Facebook needed advertising!

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    1. Sherry, not able to read the language (except for the word Facebook) it might be advertising mobile phones.

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    2. It is advertising free traffic on Facebook if you have a mobile phone from Føroya Tele.

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  13. 1000?!? I'm kind of envious. I need to get back at it. Nice to see that your coat is a non-blue color. :-)

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    1. I forgot to ask...will you be writing about any Nova Scotia/Canada adventures? As an Anne of Green Gables fan, I've been wanting to get to Prince Edward Island.

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    2. Murf, i don't always wear blue (but when I do it's Carolina blue, not Michigan blue). And I'll write more about Nova Scotia, but haven't been to PEI.

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  14. I was thinking I would have paid to see the puffins until I read they already migrated. Still...if it was an addition to the lifelist...

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    1. I'd been upset to have paid that much not to see any, but I would have enjoyed seeing them. I really enjoyed seeing the islands via motorcoach.

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  15. Congrats on your 1000th post. Looks like a simple and close-knit community. And, the island seems to still have some greenery around. Hope that won't disappear in the name of development. Nice read.

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  16. Congratulations, intrepid blogger and world traveler! That was a very interesting post. Looks like a beautiful place.

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  17. Congratulations on your tenure. And thanks for sharing the images. Like most people, the Faroe islands are not real familiar to me.

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  18. It looks like a gorgeous land. Thanks for sharing. I'd never heard of the Faroes until now. Or if I had, I've long since forgotten. How awesome would it have been to be one of the first people to sail to and settle an island! Of course, if I had, I'd be dead by now, so there's always a downside.

    Congrats on one thousand, my friend. Here's to a thousand more.

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  19. 1000 posts! Congratulations! That is a lot of work.
    When we first crossed paths, I didn't even know about this blog. I love "Riding Rails" and spent many hours reading most of it, post by post. You had a truly amazing adventure. I believe there are still posts there for me to read and I will do so. I still have a direct link to that blog on my desktop.

    This post makes gives me a large case of wanderlust and makes me want to hit the road, sea, or rails.

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  20. Oh my goodness I've never even heard of these island but I've added them to my bucket list! Loved the photos and your narrative.

    Congrats on the 1000th post. Hope you keep writing to your next marker. I so enjoy your style and commentary.

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