Dramatic scenery and awesome greenery!

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Before we go any further into this particular blog entry, an invaluable travel tip is required, when considering a trip to the Faroe Islands - a rental car is an absolute MUST. That does not imply it is physically impossible to get by without one, but trust me, the nature of the scenery demands the kind of freedom which only your own transport will provide. Setting off from Torshavn, the first of the two days of driving roughly speaking involved a drive up to Klaksvik, the nation's second largest settlement, and something in the region of an hour and 20 minutes drive time away. Well, my advice would be to not stick to such a rigid schedule, as that drive time could so very easily be doubled or even trebled due to the necessity to stop off at various points along the route to take in the majestic nature of the surrounding scenery. Please also note that the level of majesty here is about as high-on-the-scale as you're ever likely to experience, certainly in the context of a day's drive time. It is actually a tough task trying to break this down into manageable units, since every rural area of the Faroe Islands appears to be at very least a photo opportunity, if not a reason to thank your lucky stars that you have opted for the Faroe Islands as your travel destination. Mountains, hillsides, lakes, waterfalls, cliffs and greenery fuse effortlessly into one another, creating the kind of rural landscape which is probably best comparable with the most impressive parts of Scotland or New Zealand. If you're driving in the Faroes in season, then it would be folly not to stop off at Vestmanna, and somehow or other go on a tour of the bird cliffs, where the dramatic nature of the cliffs comes into its own, but as this tour was sadly not an option on this traveller's drive, it was included nonetheless to make the Faroese itinerary feel more complete. The aforementioned town of Klaksvik is quite possibly the one Faroese town with the most dramatic backdrop, and although the local population barely exceeds 5000, the town is the hub of the northern Faroe Islands activity, and as such is endowed with an aqua park and a stadium alongside a handful of shops, restaurants and hotels. Quite possibly the nation's most photogenic church is located at the town of Sandvagur, on the island of Vagar, where the country's one and only airport is also located. The island of Vagar is reached by passing through a sub-sea toll tunnel, in the very same way in which you would reach the town of Klaksvik, though in the latter's case, multi-coloured lighting halfway through the tunnel provides a certain element of colourful psychedelia to what is an already world-class drive. It is also worth noting that the very existence of the relatively recently-constructed sub-sea tunnels has accounted for an increase in popularity of caravanning in the Faroes. The town of Runavik appears to be nothing much more than a street best described as an urbanized stretch of road, though the cathedral at nearby Toftir will be the nearest landmark thereto, not to mention the harbour setting, which pretty much characterizes any Faroese coastal settlement. Focusing however on what could easily be considered to be the main crux of the issue here, for my money, the scenery here really is the final word in the realm of the magnetic appeal to the Faroe Islands. Mind-blowing and soul-defining come close, life-affirming and unparallelled seem closer to the mark, and the only advice could be to ditch any notion of a stick-to drive schedule, and allow as many facets of the Faroese nature to seep into your system, and unless you have zero imagination, the experience will no doubt remain within you in the form of indelible memories for as long as your overall memory remains intact.

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