Thursday 2 June 2011

A pearl hidden underneath a silver blanket of fog

The Faroese Islands had their beautiful green mountainsides, picturesque fishing villages and fluffy sheep hidden under layer of fog and clouds.
Luckily for us it cleared a little as we went ashore and started the visit on the islands by exploring the capitol Torshavn.

The size of Torshavn was surprising. It is stretched over a large area along the mountainsides of the sheltered bay. One could nearly get lost in the jumble of short streets dotted with grass covered roofs, which is one of the characteristics of the Faroese Islands.

After a short tour around the town center most of us went on our excursions to discover some of the many sights of the islands.

The trip to the island of Vagar gave a good impression of how varied the Faroese Islands are and how easily one can get around due to the extended road connexions and the many tunnels securing the contact between neighboring villages.
Some settlements are only 4 to 5 kilometers away from each other but separated by steep mountainsides that meant it could stop contact for months.
Despite of the windy weather and occasional showers the boat trip near the village of Vestmanna was carried through and some of us had the most spectacular close encounter with the steep cliffs and flying birds.

We left the beautiful islands in the late afternoon and Captain Rune Andreassen made the announcement that we will have some stormy weather. After taking the pills against sea sickness everybody was in a good mood ready for a full day at sea on our way to Iceland.