Day 2 in Faroe Islands

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Day 2 of the Faroe Islands

It was Saturday 12 July and at about 9.30am we headed west to the village of Eiði, another lovely little willage with multi-coloured houses.

We then drove on every other road on the island of Eysturoy, admiring the multiple harbour towns along the 7 fjords that the island had.....and this was on the very cloudy day.

Several highlights of the day was viewing the 140m waterfall Fossa, on the other island across the fjord. The river cascades over several rocky ledges into the sea. We could hardly see it but fortunately, the last day on Faroe the sun shone and we were able to get some great pics.

Another highlight was seeing Rinkusteinar (the rocking stones) - a strange natural phenomenon at Oyndarfjørður, where two very large boulders which permanently stand rocking in the ocean, just a few metres from the shore. The stones have been rocking as far back as anyone can tell.

We had spoken to a couple from Great Britain that night in one of the villages. They were travelling with the UK Caravan & Camping club. There were 15 caravans and motor homes who had traveled around Iceland for 3 weeks and had arrived in Faroe on the same ferry as us. We learned from this couple that the group had organised a cultural evening in one of the town of Skala. I really wanted to see the Faroe Chain dance which is where the locals move hand in hand in a circular motion, singing some of the song which has 1700 verses (!!!!!). No musical instruments are used. This song was the first words of the local language that was written down in the 1800s so it was very important to the locals preserving their unique culture and language.

The cultural evening that had been organised for this GB group, included the Chain Dance, dinner and a piano-accordion player. With some negotiation, we joined the GB group's evening.

The meal was a traditional one. Oh my gosh, if non-Australians complain about our vegemite, they should all eat a traditional Faroe dinner. It included:

· Skerpikjøt, dried mutton that has been hung for over a year and is eaten raw

· Ræst kjøt, meat that has been hung for a couple of months to mature before cooking

· Ræstur fiskur, dried fish that has been hung in the same way as ræstkjøt

· Turrur fiskur, dried fish

· Grind og spik, whale meat and blubber



Thank goodness roast beef, bread and hard boiled eggs were included. However, why do we travel? It's to experience all the local cultural aspects, so we have done that with the Faroes. The Chain Dance was also a positive cultural experience, with some of the tourists joining in. I didn't as I was filming the event.

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