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Published: October 8th 2022
Me, Puffins
Mykines IslandDear All
Greetings! I am writing this blog entry on my first few days in my week-long stay in the magical, mystical and really quite incredible Faroe Islands. This former volcanic island archipelago lies only 500 miles north of the UK, but felt a complete world away - they are dark, brooding and majestic, rising suddenly out of the cold North Sea waters, with vertiginous cliff edges and diagonal green, grassy slopes, often shrouded in cloud, mist and fog, and have been described as the Hawaii of the North Atlantic. The landscape is just breathtaking, the people very friendly and welcoming, and there are some really spectacular sights to see. I'm surprised that there aren't more visitors, it still remains off the tourist radar, but to my mind this of course added to their charm - it is a place where the traveller can feel he is treading new lands and exploring new places. The country is actually part of the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark itself and Greenland, yet despite its close geographical proximity to the UK and Europe, it felt unexplored and new. There is no Lonely Planet guide to the islands, called "Føroyar" locally, meaning "sheep
Puffin
Mykines Island islands", not even a chapter in its Denmark or Europe publications. Instead I bought the Bradt guide to the country - you know when you are off-the-beaten traveller's track when you need to buy a Bradt guide for a place! I was excited to visit, and looking forward very much to my time there.
Even the journey to the Faroe Islands was an adventure. You can either fly there with their own national airline "Atlantic Airways", direct from a select number of European destinations in Scandinavia, Edinburgh, Paris or Spain, or take the Islands' very own Smyril Line ferry direct from Hirtshals, Denmark. I opted for the latter, called the M.S.Norröna - I prefer travelling overland (or over sea), and I felt that to truly gain a Viking experience in these lands, I wanted to experience my very own North Sea crossing. Hence, my visit to the northern tip of Denmark to catch the twice-weekly ferry to these wondrous sea-faring islands. The adventure for me was very much in making the rough sea crossing, as well as being on such a long ferry ride - I don't think I've ever been on a 31-hour one before, and have certainly
View from the Top
Eiðiskollur Mountain never had my own ferry cabin to myself. I was excited!
After a lovely and cute few days in Denmark, I awoke on a Tuesday morning, packed my bags, and took the local train back to the Danish sea port of Hirtshals once more. As I had predicted, it was a 30-minute walk from the train station to the foot passenger check-in terminal. Clearly, whoever designed the logistics to Hirtshals port did not have the foot passenger in mind. Fair enough, there was an erratic bus service whose timetable was displayed at the train station, but this only coincided with Fjord Line departures to Norway, there was nothing for the Smyril Line to the Faroes. After a serious "bag drag" (to quote my fellow travellers MJ and Dave!), I ended up a bit weary at check in. My mood lifted having met there with a cool, contemplative Norwegian Christian on his way back to Norway after camping in the Dolomites, and then contemplating the exciting journey ahead of me - to the Faroes and Iceland!
Indeed, the Smyril Line first travels from Denmark to the Faroes, and then continues onto Iceland from there. I was pretty much doing
a week-long layover on the Faroe Islands, before picking up the same ferry again to take me further north and on to the Land of Fire and Ice. The Smyril Line appears to be the Faroese lifeline to the outside world, and it appeared to be as much a cargo-carrier as a people- and car-carrier. The ferry also features in the highly gripping and intense Icelandic Nordic Noir series called "Trapped", after a murder is carried out on the ferry as it docks in the east Icelandic village of Seyðisfjörður, a place to be visited later on my travels. In fact, I've also just finished watching the Faroe Islands' very own Nordic Noir series called "Trom" - another intense show displaying the dark and brooding Faroese landscape perfectly. I recognised a number of the filming locations after my visit there.
Upon boarding the ferry, I checked into my cabin which was to be my home for the next 31 hours. It was on the top floor of the nine-storey ferry, with a lovely sea view, and minibar too. I had checked the forecast for the North Sea conditions on the UK's Met Office website the day before, and it
Smyril Line Ferry
Denmark to the Faroe Islands was not looking at all good for this journey I'm afraid. For the first six hours of the journey, we'd be passing through the North Sea areas of South and North Utsire, and Viking, hugging the coast of Norway. Out of the whole of the map of the North Sea, it was only these three regions which were marked red on the Met Office's warnings, with a "Gale Warning" predicting gale force 8 winds and waves up to 2.5 metres in height - this was quite significant. The captain confirmed this in his message as the ship was setting off, and certainly for the most part of the afternoon it was seriously bumpy - up and down, side to side, and the occasional shudder. I noticed many of my fellow passengers were being sick, and I felt so grateful that I do not suffer from seasickness myself. I was initially in my cabin, but felt more comfortable being outside in a sheltered part of the deck actually, with other people around me. There were two older ladies on the same bench as me knitting as we weathered the gale-force winds and waves, which felt very soothing actually, and helped calm
My Cabin
Smyril Line Ferry me down. While I don't get seasick, my imagination plays with me in such situations, and at the back of my mind I expect the worst - this wasn't helped by having recently seen the film "Adrift" back in Norway on Netflix. We passed another, much smaller, ship coming in the opposite direction, which was seriously looking swamped with the waves constantly crashing over its deck.
After a few hours, it became less bumpy, and remained that way for the rest of the day. I was able to explore the ferry - it was lovely, with lots of features, and I spent a happy couple of hours walking around and exploring. I also spent a couple of hours in the ferry's small indoor swimming pool, and it felt very strange to be floating on water which was also rocking back and forth violently with the motion of the ferry, itself also on the water. The pool also had an adjoining sauna, and hot and cold tubs, which were mostly empty during my time there - it was wonderful, and very relaxing. I had dinner in the cafeteria, at an all-you-can-eat buffet, so I piled my plates high, and enjoyed
Faroese Flag
Smyril Line Ferry my food. I had two days and one night of this to look forward to - good eating, relaxing, sauna, hot tub - this was certainly the life! I very much enjoyed this wind-down period in the middle of my summer adventures, and may consider factoring in something similar into future trips.
After the initial turbulent waters, the rest of the journey was just a steady up and down generally, with a few rough patches. I slept ok, and felt rested in the morning, but couldn't quite switch off in the night from the up-and-down motion of the boat, and many of my dreams were about boats, and going up and down. The next day was about more relaxation, and I felt I could get used to this! I had an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast, again with plates piled high, a nice mid-morning lie down back in my cabin, and another pool, sauna, hot and cold tub session. This was followed by another lie down, an all-you-can-eat buffet lunch, and an invigorating walk on deck with strong winds which certainly blew away the cobwebs.
Around ten hours from the Faroe Islands, the ferry was due to pass the UK's
Me
Smyril Line Ferry Shetland Islands, but disappointingly I couldn't quite see them - it would have been nice to have gotten a glimpse of home in the middle of my summer travels. Still, I was reminded of just how close the Faroes are to the UK - we are neighbours! We often think of France and Ireland as our neighbours, which of course they are, but going north, there is also Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. I met a couple of Faroese guys in the sauna, and remarked how close we are geographically. The language, however, is really quite different. Faroese is a Scandinavian language, or more accurately "North Germanic", but is really quite different to its neighbour, Danish, with a very complex spelling and pronunciation system, in which the two do not resemble each other, and very complicated grammar. Faroese is in fact more similar to Icelandic, with the two apparently being mutually intelligible, as well as an extinct language once spoken in the Shetland and Orkney Islands called Norn. Norn died out when its last native speakers passed away in the 19th century, and must have come from the time when Shetland and Orkney were once a part of Norway
M.S.Norröna
Smyril Line Ferry until 1472, when they were gifted to Scotland upon the marriage of Margaret of Denmark with James III of Scotland. All three of these languages are also closely related to the language the ancient Vikings spoke around the 8th and 9th centuries, so much so that Icelandic and Faroese people can actually read ancient Viking texts! I find this quite amazing, although I planned not to learn either language aside from a few basic greetings as they seemed so complicated and different to anything I'd learned before. In hindsight, I kind of wished I had to be honest, ah well.
Three hours away from the Faroes, I spotted a group of five puffins flying over the waves, and I realised we were nearly there!
I had an amazing first few days on the Faroe Islands - I can't think of enough adjectives to describe them, but I'll continue with magical and mystical, along with enchanting and beguiling. They were so beautiful and just begging to be explored. I walked off the ferry into the islands' capital of Torshavn (meaning "Thor's Harbour", and pronounced "Tor-shauwn") with my backpacks to head to a nearby bus stop, and pretty much every
Faroese person I passed gave me a cheery smile - how welcoming! It seems that tourism has not touched the country so much so that tourists just blend into the scenery - I felt I stood out there. After a short bus ride up the side of a hill on the edge of town, I checked into a quaint little Air BnB accommodation - a cosy cabin in the back garden of a beautiful lady who must surely have been a model in her younger days - she had a real air of grace and elegance. The garden cabin became a cosy place to come back to after a day's hiking around the islands, and there was certainly lots of that! I headed out to a local supermarket to stock up, and was just in awe at everything around me whilst walking there - there were amazing views out over the town and sea below, and onto distant mountains and islands beyond. It felt other-worldly, barren and stark, yet beautiful. I went to sleep that night still feeling like I was on a boat, moving up and down with the motion of an imaginary sea.
On my first full
Faroese day, I first headed to the bus station, giving myself an hour in town before my first bus journey for the day. I spent the time exploring some of Torshavn's central streets, and seeing my first turf-roofed houses - I was excited, as the Faroe Islands are notably famous for these dwellings with their traditional insulation methods. I also wandered up to and around the Skansin hill fort, which once provided military protection for Torshavn against pirates when it was built in the 16th century, and subsequently served as a British naval base during World War Two.
When the time came, I took a bus to a small road junction called Oyrarbakki, and then another much smaller bus to the village of Eiði. I had four hours there until my next bus again. I was impressed with the public transport system on the islands. With a tiny population of 50,000, spread out over 18 significant islands, the road system was really quite good, and buses and boats seemed to serve most locations with surprisingly good regularity - admittedly this was sometimes only two buses a day or so, but I thought this pretty good given the remote locations
Smyril Line Ferry
Denmark to the Faroe Islands throughout. The capital city (town, village...) of Torshavn is home to a mere 13,000 people, although it does feel metropolis-like after spending time in the interior. It is located on the main island of Streymoy. My destination for the day was the northern part of Streymoy's easterly neighbour, the island of Eysturoy. There were a few other tourists on the bus ride out, and I got the feeling that apart from myself and the gentleman in front of me, the others had already travelled around the islands a bit. The reason for this is that virtually every viewpoint throughout the hour-and-a-half journey was stunning - brooding dark fjord waters and hulking great ex-volcanic landmasses spilling down into them. I just couldn't stop taking photos, and neither could the gentleman in front of me. After a while on the Faroes, such viewpoints and journeys become the norm, and I became like the other passengers, just looking out the window without taking photos, as if all of this intense beauty was just normal.
Upon arriving in Eiði, I disembarked alone as the handful of remaining other passengers were on their way to my second destination for the day - more on
Smyril Line Ferry
Denmark to the Faroe Islands that below. It thus seemed I had the lovely village of Eiði spectacularly located at the head of a fjord on the north coast of Eysturoy, population 669, and surrounds to myself! I first stopped in the lovely village church, which also sported a hanging ship just like back in Norway. It seems as though the Faroe Islands also partake in this sea-faring Christian nation tradition of praying for divine protection on the open waters. I then headed to a nearby hike, which was my main purpose for being there - a hike up the nearby Eiðiskollur mountain. Mountains on the Faroe Islands are ubiquitous, amazing, and so unique. They all pretty much take the form of a flat-topped plateau, surrounded on all sides by a steep drop off, layered on the way down by a number of rock platforms cutting slices through the mountain like a layer cake, and dropping down steeply and abruptly into a dark black-blue pristine fjord below. Imagine a view surrounded on all sides by such mountains and fjords, and you probably imagine a view found throughout these amazing islands. Eiðiskollur mountain was such a mountain, the peak of which is 352 metres directly above
Smyril Line Ferry
Denmark to the Faroe Islands the sea and fjord below. It was a normal uphill climb to start with, followed by a walk through flat bog land which was difficult to cross. This was then followed by an intensely steep part with foot steps worn into the side. It was no use using these foot steps to go up though, as they were muddy and slippery, so I instead used the steep grassy slope surrounding them. I tried twice to get past a particularly steep part of this, but couldn't do it. Fortunately, a Spanish couple who were a little behind me came along, and they found a different route up, which I followed. I was so glad I stuck it out, and plucked up the courage for the steep bit - if anything was worth conquering fears over, it was this! The climb was indeed tough, though a signpost at the beginning called it a "moderate hike" and "suitable for children" - I can't imagine what a tough adult hike in this part of the world would be like! I reached the plateau at the top, and was rewarded with incredible 360 degree views all round, back to the fjord behind me, onto the
The Rough North Sea
This ship looks in trouble, but I think it was alright... ocean in front, with sheer precipitous cliffs rising up from crashing waves below, and a 300-metre vertical drop right below me into the ocean, overlooking the Risin and Kellingin sea stacks below - more on those in a bit. It was literally awesome, a place of wonder and awe!
The walk back down again was steep, but I felt going down was more manageable than coming up. Back in Eiði again, I walked around nearby Niðara Vatn lake to an unusual place - a football pitch surrounded by mountain and sea, which was being used as a caravan site, but with no-one around it was completely deserted and forlorn, and a little creepy. I passed a couple of locals on the way, and one of them replied to my friendly greeting "hello, how are you", with "I have Covid, stay away" - I got the impression he didn't really have the c-word, he was just being incredibly rude and was a bit of a yokel. I think this was the only place in the Faroe Islands that I didn't like.
Back in Eiði again, I warmed up in the church after the breezy and blustery walk, which had
The North Sea
Denmark to the Faroe Islands a smattering of rain a few times, to await my onward bus to nearby Gjógv, pronounced "Dyegv".
I was the only passenger on the bus to Gjógv, and the bus driver was very friendly. He stopped at three locations for me to take photos, and gave me lots of interesting local information, so he became more like my own personal tour guide for a very good price! We first stopped for views towards the Risin and Kellingin sea stacks at the foot of the afore-mentioned Eiðiskollur mountain, which I had seen from above earlier in the day. According to local legend, these massive rock formations, 71m and 68m high respectively, were said to have been ancient troll giants who one night had hooked a rope onto Eiðiskollur mountain to try to drag the Faroe Islands across the ocean to join with Iceland. It took them longer than they had expected though, and they ended up cracking a part off the mountain - indeed there is a huge crack visible on the side of the mountain. While they were trying to sort out the dilemma, they hadn't noticed that the sun had already risen, and being trolls they were immediately
Smyril Line Ferry
Denmark to the Faroe Islands turned to stone, and are still standing there to this day. I loved this legend! Next we stopped at the foot of the Faroes' highest mountain, 880m high Slættaratindur, whose summit we unfortunately couldn't see as it was covered in cloud. Finally, we stopped at the top of a spectacular zig-zag road which headed down to Funningur village on the fjordside 300 metres below.
At Gjógv, I bade farewell to my friendly bus driver, and enjoyed a couple of hours exploring this lovely village of just 49 people, another spectacularly-located Faroese one. The name Gjógv means "wedge", and refers to the village's tiny harbour which is located in a natural wedge cut into the cliff face just above the settlement. The views down to the steep-sided harbour below were amazing, as were those over the fjord below and onto neighbouring Kalsoy island in the distance. A mountaintop visible on nearby Kalsoy island is apparently home to James Bond's gravestone in the latest Bond film, which I'm afraid I haven't seen and thus the bus driver who explained it to me let off a serious spoiler for me, as probably I have also done just now to anyone reading this
Smyril Line Ferry
Denmark to the Faroe Islands who has also not seen the film (!). For the main part of my time in Gjógv, I climbed up a nearby cliff which the bus driver recommended. This was not just any cliff, it was a precipitously high cliff, with awesome views over Gjógv below and beyond - I also spotted a couple of puffins in the cliff face on the way up, a nice taster for the following day. The cliff edge was to my right and had a completely vertical drop down to the sea below, which fortunately had a fence there for safety. To the left was a very very steep grass slope which you just would not want to fall down. The weather was a little windy, and the grass wet and potentially slippery. It was a steep and scary climb, again with foot steps wedged into the slope which were again not very helpful as again they were muddy. I probably made it about 90% of the way to the top, but I just couldn't face the final 10% - it really did get too steep for me this time, and I felt quite nervous carrying on. I looked behind me and saw a
Smyril Line Ferry
Denmark to the Faroe Islands rainbow in the distance, and felt this was a sign to indeed call it a day there and head back down again - I was glad I did. Back in Gjógv, I headed to the village church, hoping to warm up and dry off a bit as I had done back in Eiði, but unfortunately this one was closed. Instead, I headed through the drizzle to a nearby moving memorial there to the lives of the many men of the village lost at sea, depicting a mother and two children looking longingly over the distant ocean and horizon. I came to learn that such memorials are common throughout Faroese villages, as War Memorials are common throughout England, the islanders' lives being very much connected to their fates on the sea.
It was then time for my return to Torshavn, and when the first minibus to Oyrarbakki came, the same friendly bus driver was driving, and gave me once more my own personal tour ride. We were a little early for my onward bus connection, so while we were waiting he showed me on his mobile phone a YouTube video clip of a Faroese ferry getting caught in a serious
Smyril Line Ferry
Old photo of Icelandic people - this picture intrigued me. The woman looks like she has experienced a lot in life, the man looks cosy and friendly, but his eyes also have a look that you wouldn't want to get on his bad side. storm which made my own North Sea crossing seem like a mill pond. A YouTube search of "Passenger Ship Smyril in Bad Weather" should find it. This was in fact the same ferry I was planning to take a few days later to the island of Suðuroy, so I really shouldn't have watched it beforehand! I kept my fingers crossed for a millpond. My onward bus back to Torshavn arrived on time, and I enjoyed a lovely evening back in my cosy garden cabin again.
My second full day on the Faroes was just, again, amazing! It was filled with puffins, puffins and more puffins! In the morning, I again gave myself another hour to explore more of central Torshavn before my onward bus journey. This time I took in its beautiful little harbour with colourful wooden harbourside buildings and pretty boats and yachts, and then had a lovely wander through the central government area called Tinganes. This is a small collection of buildings and streets on a small peninsula jutting out into Torshavn Harbour, made up of very humble-looking turf-roofed houses, which amazingly make up the country's government - compared to the grandeur and mansions of most country's
government headquarters, this felt simple and homely, and was testament to the cute nature of this cute little country itself.
After my wander, I took a bus to Sørvágur, past the country's airport on the western island of Vágar, and on to the village's harbour, to take an onward ferry to the amazing island of Mykines (pronounced Michines). This island is perhaps the Faroes' number one tourist destination, although there were some seriously choppy seas on the way there - I had come to accept that rough waters were to become a theme of my journey on these islands, and also subsequently onto Iceland, but it still didn't get any less scary for me. The journey there did pass the amazing sights of Drangarnir Island and Tindhólmur Island and sea arch though, which are two seriously stunning sights. Upon arrival on Mykines, the sun came out in all its glory, and stayed out during the entirety of my five hours there - what a blessing, as I think it would have been pretty miserable if it was a wet and windy day. I spent most of my amazing time on this island observing its most famed inhabitants, the delightful
Salmon Farming
Approaching the Faroe Islands little puffin! Since my visit to Scotland the previous year, where I had seen these beautiful little birds for the first time, they had become my favourite bird. In Scotland I probably saw around six of them, and fell in love. On Mykines, I saw hundreds, and I was in seventh heaven! It was spectacular, they were gorgeous. The tourist crowd from the ferry headed up the first hill to the cliff-edge where the birds are visible. I avoided them, and went the reverse circular route, having much of the walk to myself. My walk took me through the island's tiny village, also called Mykines, home to all 10 of the island's population, and through a sheep farm where the sheep were being rounded up and inoculated with something. From here, it was a steep climb up to the island's northern sheer vertical cliff edge, where it was very easy to observe these remarkable creatures as they nested in the grassy tops of the cliffs. They were just so cute, and you could get to around two metres away from them - back in Scotland, I was lucky to see them at around 20 metres' distance from a boat -
Torshavn
The Faroese Capital here, they were in small groups, literally two metres away. The tourist information advised not to get any closer than that, and I completely respected that. I particularly loved the puffins with fish in their beaks, they were especially photogenic. I came to adore the way they fly - they have a very flappy way of flying, looking like they are losing control particularly when they come into land, but they are clearly very much in control. And as they land they are hilarious - their webbed feet are splayed and wings are all over the place! I was sad to see that there was not much protection against visitors, and it was unfortunately far too easy to inadvertently walk over a puffin nest. I feel there should certainly have been fencing up there. One time I unwittingly blocked the entrance to a puffin's nest. One was watching me with fish in its mouth, and I could quickly tell it wanted something - I stepped back as soon as I realised, and it quickly went into the nest just centimetres in front of where I had been standing - poor thing. I imagine they spend their whole day doing this,
Torshavn
Faroe Islands waiting patiently for foolish tourists like myself to move on, before entering their nests and feeding their little pufflings.
Towards the end of my time on Mykines, I couldn't quite believe that I had just spent four whole hours sitting on the cliff top and watching puffins! But sadly, the time had come when I was to take the ferry once more back to the "mainland" again. I was hoping to be able to take the ferry out to the island, and a helicopter back again. Yes indeed, Atlantic Airways runs a very efficient helicopter service throughout the Faroe Islands as public transport. It is also remarkably very cheap, and the ticket to or from Mykines only costs around £10! You could only book the Mykines helicopter two days before the travel date though, and understandably you can also only book one-way, to prevent this amazing helicopter service getting clogged up with tourists like me, and leaving locals high and dry. I had tried to book my return helicopter journey from Mykines two days earlier at 7am, but with no luck - all tickets were already booked. I met a Norwegian guy on the island who said he had
Torshavn
Faroe Islands stayed up until midnight the day the tickets were made available, but still he could only get 3 out of the 5 tickets that he wanted - the helicopter has room for 12 passengers. If I had taken the helicopter back, I would have had time to walk along nearby Sørvágsvatn lake before the last bus back to Torshavn. This lake is right next to the country's airport, and has a famous waterfall which empties the lake waters out directly into the sea over the 30m high Bøsdalafossur waterfall. This place particularly intrigued me after having read a rather distressing story of how the ancient Vikings who inhabited these islands used to throw their aged slaves over this waterfall, into their sea and their dooms, as they had no more use for them. It particularly distressed me in thinking that having had such a terrible life as a slave, these poor people would then be thrown over the waterfall in their twilight years - horrific really. I didn't get to see this place, nor take the helicopter back again, but if I had, I wouldn't have enjoyed the ferry ride back from Mykines island again, which was really quite amazing.
Although the sea was even rougher than the journey out, the captain took us into a stunning horseshoe-shaped inlet surrounded by vertiginous cliffs on the east of Mykines island, whilst expertly negotiating the seriously high waves on the way in and out of it, and we passed once more the epic Drangarnir and Tindhólmur Islands again. What a seriously beautiful part of the world!
Whilst changing buses back in Torshavn, I checked out the country's one and only shopping centre, the cute little SMS shopping centre, and then headed back to my cosy garden cabin once more. That evening I was able to contemplate my amazing first few days on these amazing islands - such unique places, and such unique travel experiences for a seasoned traveller - it really is quite something to find such new places after having travelled so much already. The next day I was switching accommodations, as this place was only available to book for three nights. My next accommodation for a further four nights was located in a suburb of Torshavn called Hoyvík, right on the other side of town, and should be a different experience in itself. I was so looking forward to
My Accommodation
Torshavn, Faroe Islands more days of island adventures, exploring these amazing Faroe Islands.
I shall write about these in my next one. Until then, thanks for reading, and all the best for now 😊
Alex
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Great pictures...
Your pictures tell the whole story. I doubt if I will ever visit the Faroe Islands...certainly not by ferry because I get seasick very easily...so I am visiting vicariously. As for the Vikings throwing the elderly slaves off the waterfalls, you need to watch the Norsemen...a humorous, politically incorrect TV series made by the Norwegians.