After a lovely and relaxing day at sea we docked this morning in Tórshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands. The Faroes are an archipelago consisting of 17 islands, 15 of which are populated, most very sparsely. The total population is only about 55,000. Tórshavn lies at 62° N 7°W, so not quite in the Arctic Circle but close enough that in the summer it’s never totally dark and winter nights are very long. The Faroes are an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. While Frederik X of Denmark is their titular head of state, the Faroese are essentially self-governing. Over the years there have been efforts to secede from Denmark which are so far unsuccessful. I found it interesting that even though Denmark is part of the EU, Faroes aren’t. Therefore they are not subject to the same rules regarding things like fishing that the Irish are. Following Russia’s takeover of Crimea in 2014 when the EU placed embargos on trade with that country, the Faroes negotiated deals with Putin, and Russia was one of the Faroes biggest importers of fish from the islands. That arrangement evidently ended when Russia invaded Ukraine and has put a real dent in their trade.
Evidence has been found of settlement on the islands dating back to as early as the mid 4th century. I didn’t know this, but apparently Scandinavians didn’t begin using sails on their boats until around the mid-8th century. Archaeologists believe the earlier settlers to have been people from Ireland and Scotland which are closer. I learned a bunch of random facts from our very interesting guide Jakob, a retired chemical engineer, and which I want to remember if they ever come up in a trivia game so here goes. The Faroes’ weather is affected by the Gulf Stream (that old Gulf Stream affects a large part of the Earth). Because of it the average year-round temperature is 48° F. The lowest ever recorded is -11° F. Tórshavn gets rain about 250 days per year. The climate is classified as sub-polar. This was one of the most interesting facts he told us. The Faroes have one of the highest birth rates in the world. It’s about 2.6 children per couple whereas ours in the US is down to less than 2.
Enough data, what did I do in the Faroes? I took what was described as a panoramic drive through the city and countryside. It was absolutely stunning! Tórshavn, the capital, has a population of about 22,000 in the city and its immediate surroundings. In the downtown area near the waterfront the architecture looks very much like that I’ve seen in other Scandinavian cities. There are row houses with steep pitched roofs and many painted with bright colors. As we drove out of the city we began to see houses with thatched roofs. Jakob explained that while those roofs are quite a bit more expensive than tile ones, they provide better insulation than tiles and they are much quieter than tiles.
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| Downtown To2rshavn |
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| Outside the city housing was more this pre-fab modular stuff |
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| A view of Tórshavn |
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| They have a big football stadium |
Tórshavn is on the island of Streymoy and as we drove out into the countryside the volcanic origins of the island group became evident. Apparently a series of three eruptive events created the island. The landscape consists of steep mountains interspersed with deep fjords (or sunds as they are called in Danish). As I looked at the mountains I drove by I could see three distinct layers or terraces of very black basalt rocks covered to some extent by grasses and moss. In places not covered by grass I could see vertical columns where erosion has caused some of the lava and basalt to crumble and begin to wash away. Here and there were clefts caused by the frequent rain which formed waterfalls. These looked really dramatic to me because the rock walls of the falls are very black basalt. The countryside was dotted with sheep, many of them also black, grazing on the steep hillsides. We stopped at a couple of overlooks where we could take some photos. Down at the shoreline there were a few little villages at the edge of a fjord. Near one such village there was a small sandy beach which Jakob called the Faroes “Copacabana.”
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| "Copacabana" Faroes version |
At another viewpoint we stopped just above a very large group of thatched roof buildings. These turned out to be the islands' prison. The Faroes have a very low crime rate and what few criminals they have are sent to this place which didn’t even have a fence topped with barbed wire around it. Jakob said there’s no place for the prisoners to go anyway.
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| That's the prison from afar |
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| The prison up close |
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| Baa, baa, black sheep |
Surprisingly, to me anyway, salmon were not native to the Faroes originally, but some entrepreneurs brought in salmon eggs, built salmon ladders for the fish to swim upstream and spawn at the appropriate time and now there is a thriving salmon fishing industry.
Along our drive we passed a very large basalt rock quarry and atop one of the mountains we saw some big radar domes which are apparently a big US/NATO station, part of an early warning system monitoring traffic in the ocean between Scandinavia and Iceland. For all of us fans of Hunt for Red October I think that must be the zone where the Soviet subs made their way from polar ports into the Atlantic. In the book it was called"Red Route One."
After a nice ride we made it back to the port just before it was time to sail. I really liked this place! I had expected to see a flat island covered with tundra permafrost. Instead, it was a place with dramatic landscape, green with the marvelous contrast of dark black rocks. I forgot to mention that except for a few in the city there are absolutely no trees. Because of the lack of wood, fish and meat are aged by hanging and drying or by smoking over, wait for this, dried manure or peat. I did taste some locally bought smoked salmon and it was really very good.
In summary, I found the Faroes fascinating. I think it’s a hard place to get to except by ship, but I would come here again. Next we have a day at sea and then we’ll be in Iceland. So bye for now.
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