Ambassador, Ambience - Faroe Islands

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Faroe Islands

Journey up to Tilbury was uneventful and we arrived about 2.30pm. Parked in JustPark and then got an Uber taxi to the docks (£13.50 roughly) Smooth boarding and first impression of the ship was good. Smallish- similar to the Holland America ship. 3 pin plug which makes the ship very English although the Captain said there were 28 Nationalities aboard! ( whether he was counting the crew as well I don’t know!!) They have ORCA on board looking for whales situated on Deck 10 (which has been locked by the Captain every time we have been down) otherwise they are on Deck 12. I especially like the Observatory on Deck 14.

Anyway, the first two days were spent at sea and apart from going through the Pentland Frith (between Scotland mainland and the Orkneys I think!) we didn’t see land until we docked in the Faroe Islands. We experienced a Force 11 Tropical storm one afternoon but other than that, we passed the days pleasantly enough, mainly eating, lectures and the gym!!

We arrived in the Faroe Islands on the Friday 15^th September, which are situated in the North Atlantic about 300km northeast of Scotland. They consist of 18 islands, 16 of which are inhabited. The population is 50,000 ruled by the oldest known parliament in Europe – The Tinganes. I was glad to have wifi in a coffee shop, and to pick up the WhatsApp because our Dad who fell over in May and broke his hip, pushed from hospital to a home, was due to go home on the Thursday. I had a series of WhatsApp’s and learnt that he had fallen over the first night he was home and now back in hospital.

Anyway, we had booked a trip from Torshavn on Streymoy Island ( the World’s smallest Capital) to the top of the island – Saksun with a stop off in Hvalvic. The scenery is very dramatic with volcanic mountains, fiords and loads of waterfalls and sheep!! Went through a volcanic tunnel and then went along the Sundini, one of the bands of water that separated the islands of Streymoy and Eysturoy (which looked exactly the same!!) Apparently, four of the main islands are now connected by under-sea toll tunnels and road causeways that connect another three. The other main islands in the south are connected by car ferries!

Went to the little grass roofed black church in the village of Hvalvic, went inside to the mainly wooden interior dating back to the 1600’s (part of it!!) All churches and cathedrals have ships dangling from the roofs as the Faroe Islands are a fishing nation. It started to rain quite heavily now as we went into the mountains in the North along a single track road with a river running by it! Loads of waterfalls and gorges made for quite dramatic scenery, as well as meeting the occasional car or bus! Reached Saksun where the farmhouse/museum was shut – but soon rectified and we got out of the rain into a very small ‘smokeroom’ which was the main kitchen, living quarters of the farmhouse. The ’smokeroom’ was the hub of the farmhouse, with small bedrooms off of it and also a room for the animals, as well as spinning wheels for spinning the sheeps’ wool. It had no windows – the smoke going out of a hole cut in the roof (which has since been glassed over!!)

The traditional farmhouse had been added on to, but the original small rooms were left as they were, including rooms for the priest who stayed there on a regular basis. Duly admired all the grass roofed outbuildings, the lake, church and obligatory waterfalls and then black, cream, and brown sheep! It was raining quite heavily by now, so we made a hasty retreat to the coach!!

Onwards and upwards!! We had driven to Saksun via the coastal road but went back on the scenic mountain road. Stopped at a viewpoint, by the prison, (There is very little crime on Faroe Islands) where men are sent to contemplate and play crazy golf!!) to take photos! Carried on, past the wind farms and dropped down into Torshavn. This was the end of a trip!!

Decided to Explore Torshavn so got to the (free!!) shuttle bus and walked along the harbour to the old town and Tinganes, housing the oldest Parliament buildings that date back about 900 years to the Viking Period! The Old Town is made up of Red or black traditional wooden buildings with grass roofs. The oldest house dates back 500 years!!

After calling in the Tourist Information, we walked to Vioarlundin Park where we wandered about, following a stream with ducks until we came to The National Gallery with its statues and a war memorial. Turned round and walked back into town wandering through the pedestrianised area( Niels Finsens gota) to the Cathedral, which unfortunately was shut. Continued walking down, though the old town again, (to see how much difference the sun made!!) around the harbour, to the Skansin Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1850 to protect the town, specifically from pirate raids and to provide landfall light on Torshavn for oncoming boats.

Back to the ship where, after a bit of looking for whales, we discovered that the Northern Lights were seen as far down as Scotland and Derbyshire last night, and that tonight was the optimum time to see them. As we had a sea day tomorrow and the clocks go back an hour, we thought we would stay up until 2.00am to see if we could see them! We didn’t them, but we did see a brilliant sunset over the sea!! Spotted today: Whales, dolphins, porpoises – 0. Northern Lights – 0.

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