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Faröe – the islands far away
Situated half way between Scotland and Iceland in the Northeast Atlantic, the Faröe Islands (Føroyar, meaning “Sheep Islands”) are an archipelago of 18 mountainous islands, with a total land area of some 1400 Km 2 and a population of just over 47 000.
The language of the Faröe Islands, Faroese, is a Nordic language derived from the language of the Norsemen who settled the islands 1200 years ago.
These include the living marine resources, trade, fiscal, industrial and environmental policies, transport, communications, culture, education and research.
As a self-governing territory under the sovereignty of Denmark, the Faröe Islands legislate and govern a wide range of areas.
The currency of the Faröe Islands is called the Krona (pl. Kronur). The Faröe Krona is valued at parity with the Danish Krona.
Sea, green hillsides, sharp cliffs and mountains, strangely shaped islands, turf-roof houses : so are the Faröe.
Tórshavn , the capital
city Pop. 13 000
• Tórshavn lies to the south on the east coast of Streymoy island.
• The city has all that it takes to be a little capital: shopping centre, restaurants, hotels, cinemas, tourist information... Even a camping-site can be found.
Tinganes is the historic location of the Faroese løgting (parliament), and is now part of Tórshavn. The name means "parliament point" in Faroese.
Tinganes is now an area consisting of government offices and residental dwellings .http://www.rgu.ac.uk/sss/research/page.cfm?pge=32685
The Vikings founded the first parliament on Tinganes around year 900.
It is one of the oldest parliamentary meeting places in the world.
The løgting has since moved to the north of the city, but the federal government still sits here.
The island's cathedral is also here .
Houses of the federal government
Tórshavn’s old town
Dried herring in a Tinganes house
Old commercial street
The houses were made of drift wood, since there were no trees on the islands. Driftwood was because of this a precious commodity.
The old town by the water.
Windows of Tinganes
The Faröe art museum , Listasavn Føroya
The H. N. Jacobsen bookstore (founded in 1865)
H. N. Jacobsen was a bookbinder who founded a bookshop in Tórshavn. He supported “the protection and preservation of the Faroese language”
Tórshavn's dome church, the Havnar Kirkja.
Painted white, and roofed with slate, it was established in 1788
Torshavn’s west harbour Vestaravág
Vesteravág in the rain
The east harbour Eystaravág
Tórshavn’s dome behind Vestaravág
Fishing boats in Tórshavn harbour
The east port at dawn
Café Nature, the most well-known restaurant in Tórshavn
Café Natur is an unexpensive pub with very good beer and decent food. Very good for breakfast.
. Tórshavn in Saint Olav's Day - Faroese national holiday. No one uses
umbrellas - due to strong winds it's completely impractical there. The national sheep-wool clothing is waterproof due to quite unusual
content of lanoline. The boy wears such sweater.
The national park at Tórshavn, one of the few places where you can find trees
The Islands
Nólsoy Island
Grønidalur
The village of Nólsoy (pop 40) 20 minutes from Tórshavn by ferry
In recent years many young families have moved from Tórshavn to Nólsoy where the houses are cheaper
Nólsoy harbour
Sheep at Nólsoy island
Nólsoy - church
Nólsoy lighthouse
Eysturoy farm
Eiði pop. 652
House in Eiði, on the north-west tip of Eysturoy island.
THIS is green!
Waterfall near Eiði
‘Risin og Kellingin’ , the giant and the witch, near Eiði in Esturoy island.
Faröe sheep in Esturoy
• Gjógv (pop. 50) is a charming little village located on the north-east tip of the island Eysturoy.
• ‘Gjógv’ is the faroese word for ‘ravine’ because of the natural harbour in a ravine next to the village
The church in Gjógv is from 1929
Gjógv
Turfed roofs
Small watermill at the local Stream.
Gjógv’s small natural port.
The fishing boats are dragged on a ramp from the bottom of the ravine.
A small boat leaves the port.
Cliff near Gjógv
Leirvik (pop. 870) in Esturoy east coast
The Bank in Leirvik – a traditional house with grass covered roof.
Sandøy
Husavik
Husavik (pop. 80) is an old village on Sandøy’s east side .
A farm house near Husavik
Sandur ( = sandy beach) is a village on the south coast of the island of Sandøy (pop. 700)
Houses at Sandur
Church at Sandur
The potato fields by the seaside are lush and green.
This is the only beach on the Faröe Islands with …
… dunes and beach grass.
The largest mailbox in the world, near Sandur.
Vágar island
An island of unbelievable scenary.
Gásadalur
Gásadalur (pop. 14 – endangered village) is located on the west-side of Vágar island. In 1940 a stairway was built from the beach up to the village, that is located high on the cliff.
Bøur (pop. 70) , in west Vágar
Streymoy island
Kirkjubøur (pop. 80), after a legend, was the place where the first settlers - irish monks - arrived in Faröe Islands in 6th century.
This is one of the oldest villages in the Faröes.
Kirkjubøur is the southernmost village on Streymoy island.
View from the small port
The Roykstovan Farmhouse, in Kirkjubøur. This is the oldest inhabited wooden house in Europe.
Red-painted door of Roykstovan
The Roykstovan Farmhouse at night
This old timber house is partly turned into a private museum by it's owners.
The ‘Olavskirkjan’ is the oldest of the three churches in Kirkjubøur. It was built in the 12th century and is the only church from the middle ages still in use in the Islands.
Another residence house of the Kirkjubøur farm
The old episcopal residence.
Winter in Kirkjubøur
Kvivik (pop. 370) is a very small village on the Streymoy Island.
Some trees in Kvivik !.
Houses in Kvivik built on the slope down to the sea
Toy horse found in the excavation of the Viking Age settlement in Kvívík.
(Stamp from 1989)
Water cascades near Kvivik
BoatHouses
Leynar,Kvivik
Hvalvik (pop. 210) is a village on a valley on Streymoy’s east Coast.
The church in Hvalvík is a traditional wooden church from 1829. It is the oldest one of its kind in the Faröe Islands
The church is built with wood bought from a ship that ran aground in Saksun.
The pulpit dates back to 1609.
One of the biggest attractions in Northern Streymoy is between Hvalvík and Haldarsvík, the highest waterfall in the Faroes.
The river cascades some 140 metres over several rocky ledges into the sea.
This mountain river is fed by several smaller streams and connects to a lake on top of the mountain.
Fossá waterfall
Saksun was once an inlet surrounded by high mountains. The inlet formed a deep and good natural harbour. However a storm blocked the inlet with sand. So now there is a lake below the village where there was an inlet in the old day.
Saksun is a picturesque village in the bottom of what was once an inlet surrounded by high mountains.
The local farm and tipical grass rooftops.
Dúvugarðar farm museum (stone church just below)The old turf-roofed farm house is now a museum, a well-preserved example of a Faroese farmhouse of the 19th century. On display here are many old domestic utensils and household objects and furniture, which displayed in their original context help to give a lively impression of traditional life in the Faroes.
Repairing the grass roof…
Church in Saksun
The church in Saksun was built in 1858
Holiday cottages in Saksun :Summer
Same holiday cottages in Saksun :Winter
Borðoy island
Klaksvík (pop. 4670) is the second largest town of the Faröe Islands.
Klaksvik is located on both rivers of a small fjord
Klaskvik harbour
A smoky pub, as you'd expect busiest on Friday and Saturday nights.
If you want to meet locals you can do no better than spend an evening here, everyone is very friendly and after a few drinks eager to chat about what you think of Klaksvík and the Faröes.
Roykstovan pub (smoke room)
in Klaksvik
Klaksvik in winter
Mykines
Mykines is the western-most of the main 18 islands in the Faröe Islands. There is one settlement on the island: Mykines (pop. 20)
Mykines is hard to reach by bad weather, so it often remains isolated. In winter there is no ferry, you can reach the island only by helicopter.
Turfed roof covering house in Mykines
Church of Mykines
Traditional faroese boat in the small port of Mykines
The Mykines lighthouse
Koltur island
This small island in front of Kirkjubøur has no harbor because of the coastline. The only way on and off is by helicopter from Mykines.
In the year 1989/90 the island was abandoned and stayed uninhabited for some years.
In 1994 a family of Kirkjubøur moved to Koltur. Still there is only this couple living on the island. They are farmers and have 160 sheep.
This side is 478 m high
Koltur (pop. 2 !) is also the name of the village – a farm – on the island.
Koltur has a peculiar shape
• Lítla Dímun
Lítla Dímun island
It is the smallest of the 18 islands, being less than 1 km2 in area, and is the only uninhabited one.
Its shore is cliffs all around, preventing any boat from landing there.
The birds
Puffins (Lindú) (Fratercula arctica )
Gannet (Súla) ( Morus serrator )
Faröe oyster catcher (tjaldur) (Haematopus ostralegus)
Driving on Faröe roads
The Faröe Islands have good roads and many tunnels. The roads are mainly asphalted dual track carriageways and bridges connect some islands.
Inter-islands ferries operate on all major routes.
Winding road
Tunnels (13 presently) and bridges are an important part of the Faroese transportation net
Leaving…
Sources:Photos and text excerpts fromhttp://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Denmark/Other/Greenland/http://www.faroeislands.dk/pages/index.htmhttp://www.pbase.com/world/faroe_islandshttp://www.markovits.com/nordic/faroe.shtmlhttp://www.panoramio.com/http://www.flickr.com/
Selection and slideshow by Mario Ricca , 2008
Published athttp://www.slideshare.net/marioricca/fare-islands-presentation/
The Faröe islands – A land far away
