Islands We Never Knew
Trip Start
Aug 20, 2008
1
9
15
Trip End
Sep 15, 2008
Faroe Islands,
Faroe Islands
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Our next stop was the Faroe Islands, another place we had never known about before. It is an independent country but with a special relationship with Denmark. (Denmark we were learning is the regional powerhouse with relationships with the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland similar to those the United Kingdom enjoys with some of their former colonies.) We had learned that the Faroe Islands are perhaps one of the rainiest places on the planet. Bad weather is to be expected. We dressed accordingly with rain jackets and rain pants layered over fleeces when we took the tender boat through choppy seas into Torshavn, the country's capital and largest city. As we disembarked it began to rain.
To see a bit of the countryside as well as the city, we took a public bus to a nearby village.
When we got there, the "village" consisted of about a half a dozen houses with sod roofs and a whitewashed church. Since there was little to see and it was now raining quite heavily, we debated whether to skip getting off the bus and taking the next one back and instead just stay on. I asked the driver when the next bus would be around. Turned out the next bus was not until 5 p.m. Well, the ship sailed at 3:30 so needless to say we stayed on.
The Faroe Islands is an archipelago of 19 islands of volcanic origin. They rise steeply from the sea, but are not as cliff-like as the Scottish coast, made from layered sedimentary rocks blocky in nature and forming vertical cliffs. The Faroe Islands coast, having been created by volcanoes, drops sharply to the sea but with a slope that, though very steep, is not vertical, and grass-covered can support grazing. The islanders seemed to have bred animals just for that purpose. We passed many of them as we switchbacked our way down to the village, looking like a cross between a sheep and a goat.
Seafood is the major industry there and accounts for 97% of their foreign income. Near to where our ship was anchored, there were large circles of netting floating several hundred feet off shore, fish pens where they were raising salmon. Whether it is their fishing industry or the support that they receive from Denmark, the country is quite developed and amazingly prosperous for its isolated location and harsh climate.
By the time we got back to Torshavn from our bus ride, it had stopped raining so we set out to explore the town. We walked uphill, away from the harbor. While walking through a residential area, we encountered a group of 4th
or 5th grade school kids crossing the street. Since we were walking randomly, we fell in behind them.
When they veered off the main sidewalk after a couple of blocks, we did too. Soon we were in some kind of park, walking along a path that followed a stream of very clear water rushing down the hillside. We then entered a grove of trees, remarkable on this largely treeless island, which eventually thickened into a small forest.
The kids in their brightly colored jackets and backpacks scampered along in front of us at quite a rapid clip. The main group eventually outpaced us, but we were able to keep up with a little girl with some sort of handicap, who accompanied by a young male teacher was hop/skip/limping for all she was worth to keep up.
Eventually the forest/park ended and we came out on a main road that led further uphill. Across the street were three (!) soccer stadiums, beautifully kept, one of which in addition to the stands had two floors of luxury
boxes.
At this point, we parted with the school group having learned where they were going - to play badminton! For, up the road, they were crossing a parking lot and entering a large red, hanger like building, "Badminton Hall" written in large letters across its side. We crossed between two of the soccer fields to try to reach the top of the hill we were climbing hoping for a view of the harbor. We followed a steep path but at the top encountered a commercial area with no view so we began the trek back down.
After a short walk, we saw what appeared to be an overlook up another hill. To reach the top involved walking through a small suburban development. We discovered that behind the houses were blacktopped trails that wound around connecting the backyards and providing a walking path. It reminded us of Sarah and Jeff's walking trails behind their neighborhood in Encinitas, CA. Coincidentally. we even encountered a little Branson look-alike who greeted us with a big smile and a firm and friendly "Hi!" (The woman he was with was not friendly so after returning his "hi!"we had no further conversation. She probably wondered who the hell we were in her neighborhood.)
Again, we could not find a view so returned to the main road back to town. Just before we reached the downtown harbor area we came on a 3-story enclosed mall. Very attractive and very expensive. Joe priced a whopper meal at a Burger King there. It was just under $13! A food court steak and salad was $32. I bought post cards and stamps. The postcards were $1.40 each and stamps were $2. Then it was back to the boat.
Cruising out to reach the open Atlantic we passed among the green volcanoes of the Faroes rising from the sea. The view in the late afternoon light was almost surreal as the peaks were wreathed in banks of clouds with rays of sunlight like a halo lighting them from behind. A rainbow appeared through the mist draping itself across the face of one small island. Seabirds swooped past the ship, alternately soaring into the sky and skimming across the surface of the water. Could I be seeing a mirage of Brigadoon?
