Day 7 New Digs

After checking out at our Torshavn accomodations, we hit a few shops and a cafe one last time before heading out. We were in no hurry as check in at our next rental wasn't until 3PM. So we took another tunnel - this one long enough to have 2 radio stations and a roundabout. 

We stopped in Runavik to look around. The tourist office let us know that there is a week long culture festival happening right now, with art exhibits, music, WWII history and other events throughout the island. Most things were starting later in the day, but the local library had an exhibit of bird photography, so we hit that. 

In addition to some awesome shots of birds, I also got to see what this small town's library stocks in English. Several speculative fiction options, with a heavy showing from Brandon Sanderson: 

Next up, we took a quick detour to Strendur via the tunnel roundabout. this is where the Snældan factory is, which has been spinning Faroes wool since 1949. They have a store, which had less yarn selection than their store in Torshavn, but far more textiles and much more interesting sweaters. No factory tour on offer, but I got a great price on a wool hoodie and a pile of yarn. 

 After that, we made our way up to Klaksvík, where the other distillery in the country is located. They also have no tours available, but they have a small shop where Bill picked up a variety pack of their beers. After check in, we hit the tourist information center in town, getting some great advise on day trips and ferry usage for the area. They also finally had postcards with actual photographs of the islands, a thing we've been trying to find. We hit a grocery store and had dinner at a steak house where neither of us got a steak. Now we are back enjoying the harbor view from our apartment. I'm sipping the Ocean Truffle Aquavit and he's trying some beers.

It feels like a really long day even though it was far less running around that the last two. Our only plan for tomorrow is to not take a ferry so we don't have to set an alarm. Seems like a great plan.

Klaksvik Ho! (Day 7)

Today is moving day. We decided to divide our time in the Faroe Islands between two cities. The first has been in the capitol and largest city, Torshavn. Torshavn feels properly metropolitan and is the reference point that everyone we encounter uses when they want to mention somewhere crowded and bustling. The population of Torshavn is about 22,000 people. For our second city we are moving to Klaksvik which is the second largest city in the Faroes weighing in at less than 6,000 people. 

We pack up our stuff and are out of our Torshavn apartment by 9:00 am. We hit one of the local cafes for some coffee and breakfast. We also do some final shopping around Torshavn as shops start to open up. One of our stops is a printer who collaborated with artist Tóroddur Poulsen to decorate the ROKS, the restaurant we were at last night. They have several Pulsen prints. I briefly considered buying one but decided that the price was a bit too steep. We also stopped by some knitwear places and eventually made our way to the car to set our sights north. 

One of the highlights of today's driving is we get to use the undersea roundabout! It's another undersea tunnel that connects Streymoy to Eysturoy. Since the tunnel connect to two different peninsulas on Eysturoy there is an actual undersea roundabout! I had read in a tour guide while preparing for the trip that there is even a radio station that broadcasts in the tunnel to provide mood music for the tunnel crossing.  So we tune the radio to the station. Apparently you just have to know this fact, because at no point in using the tunnel is there a sign giving you the secret FM station. All the signs show the standard tunnel information station instead. The secret station plays environmental music by a Faroese composer and sound engineer. I'm glad we got to layer this little bit extra layer of culture to our tunnel experience. 

After the undersea roundabout we spend time checking out Runavik. There are the obligatory knitting and knitwear shops. We also stopped by the Visit Eysturoy tourist office and asked for recommendation. She points out some short hikes we can take and then tells us that their is also a bird photography exposition happening at the local library that we can checkout. We wonder over the library and sure enough there are a bunch of cool prints of Faroese birds hanging up around the library. We say we're here to see the exhibition and are promptly introduced to the photographer, Silas Olofson. I love how charming showing up to random parts of the Earth can be.  Just taking an interest in what's going on somehow always gets us rewarded. 

After the exhibition we walk around their local lake and then return to the tourist info office to ask about pricing for taking the Eysturoy to Eysturoy legs of the undersea roundabout. Dawn has spotted that the Snaeldan factory store is not far away. It's a Faroese yarn and knitwear producer that I'm sure she'll talk about. After that we decided to drive up and down the inlet to make our way to Klaksvik the scenic way. The roads are mercifully two lane for most of the journey. After making our way eastward we take yet another undersea tunnel to the island of Bordoy which is where Klaksvik is located. It takes us a couple of passes but we find parking and locate our Airbnb at just about the time we're supposed to check in. 

Our new accommodations are less swanky than our Torshavn apartment, but we got the essentials and a harbor view to boot. Looks like we'll be watching the water for our entire Faroese stay! After getting settled in we head out for the Visit the Northern Islands tourist information office to get our map and the lowdown on the local attractions. The exciting discovery at this tourist kiosk is the postcards. For the last week, whenever we've seen postcards they've all been from the same company and focus on airbrushed scenes of folklore. And, sure, I'm happy for those postcards to exist, but given how drop-dead gorgeous the scenery is around the islands I've been baffled, absolutely baffled, by the lack of any kind of photographic image on a Faroe Island postcard. Today we finally found some postcards with beautiful pictures on them. We've only have to search for a week on five different islands to find them. 

After the tourist info, we walk to Bonus which is a grocery store chain to stock up on some breakfast and snack foods. Lastly, we decide on where to eat dinner. Compared to Torshavn, the rest of the Faroe Islands do not have as much to offer when it comes to dining out. Each village might have a cafe or a takeaway, but fine dining really doesn't exist outside of the capitol. Being the second largest city Kalksvik offers more than most, but it seems likely that we're going to end up with some takeaway pizza or burgers before I our time here is done. 

We hit the Angus Steakhouse which is, as far as I can tell, the swankiest restaurant in Klaskvik. We actually recognize the name because there is also one in Torshavn. This is a restaurant that knows what it's about. It wants to sear you a piece of meat, put a sauce on it, and give you a side of potatoes. That's their deal. I go against my rule of not leaning into what a restaurant wants to do, because I didn't travel to sheep island to eat cows, even if that is a novelty for this corner of the world. Instead I order the lamb and Dawn orders the salmon - both of which are plentiful in the Faroe Islands. We each get a different sauce and a side of French fries. And besides wishing there was an attractive vegetable offering, I got no complaints. This place knows how to execute their vision.

Day 6 Tunnel Vision

Today's adventure was also to another island, but one accessible via tunnel. The tunnel to Sandoy has several light based art exhibits. Not entirely sure we're supposed to stop, but as they are at cutouts, we stopped to take a better look: 

This was a day of scenic drives with breathtaking views. Best weather we've had the whole trip, so we really got to enjoy the day. Except for the narrow scenic routes, which only I enjoyed while Bill kept us from plummeting to our deaths. We started the day in Sandur, the largest town. Everything is closed today, which we expected. We take a walk to the harbor and then follow a footpath around to do some sightseeing along the coast. 

Next up, we drive down a narrow road to a stone beach. There is a boulder that gets covered in knitting part of the year, but we are just a little too early to see it. At the end of the scenic route is Søltuvik and a memorial to a capsized ship: 

We then head to the southernmost town on the island, Dalur, which is just an excuse for more scenic roads. They are working on a tunnel for more direct, less possibly fall off a cliff on a one lane road, but it's not an option yet. 

Next up is the northern most town, Skopun, which has a very cool looking spinnery that was not open. But we did get to stop at this park and walk around a bit: 

 After a day of driving and gawking, it was time to head back to Torshavn to unwind at a cafe before heading to ROKS for dinner. This was yet another amazing menu, to which we added a bonus snow crab dish. The restaurant was mostly empty, but the neighboring table was a couple from Tennessee and Florida. The art was also pretty great, and the artist does prints through a print shop we'd briefly visited earlier.

Under the Sea! (Day 6)

After yesterday's long day we treated ourselves to a lazy morning. We drank two pots of coffee and did some laundry before setting out for the day. Today's mission was exploring Sandoy which is an island south of Streymoy (we sailed past it on our way to Suduroy yesterday). 

Until fairly recently this island was only accessible by ferry, but in 2023 they opened a tunnel between Streymoy and Sandoy. It's a 6km long undersea tunnel. This is actually the tunnel they were digging when they discovered the sub-ocean freshwater that is now being used for the Faer Island's vodka. 

This is the second undersea tunnel that we've used in the Faroe Islands, but it won't be our last. This is the newest tunnel and is an easy drive. As you are driving through the tunnel there periodic art installations that look like glowing cave paintings. We pulled over at one of the pull off spots to investigate and Dawn confirmed the art was projected on the walls. 

Since it's Sunday we've set our expectation's pretty low for Sandoy. We know the villages are small and nothing will be open. The weather app told us it would be 5 degrees colder than yesterday, but what we failed to appreciate is that it would not be raining and blue skies were returning to the Faroe Islands! This turned out to be very fortunate because most of the afternoons activities were sightseeing and being able to, you know see things, made it so much more enjoyable. 

Since the island is less populated it has its share of single tracked roads. We took two of them that were quite alarming. I'm not sure we would have made it to the southern-most town if I had to deal with driving a single-track road on the edge of a cliff in the rain. Overall we have an enjoyable afternoon just driving around the island and appreciating the views. 

We get back to Torshavn after 4:00 and have a bit of time to kill before our dinner reservations at 6:30. Fortunately there are multiple coffee shops with in a few minutes walk of our apartment so we have no problem wiling away our afternoon (and typing this). For dinner we have our last planned fine dining experience in the Faroes. 

Tonight its ROKS, which is part of the Raest and Aarstova restaurant group.  ROKS focuses on seafood and wine and doesn't disappoint on either account. We both did the tasting menu and I opted for the wine pairing. Two of the wines were so interesting and paired so well that Dawn ordered a glass for herself. One was a super funky Riesling and the other was a surprisingly fruity Alberino.  Another fun surprise, I had a seafood dish with brown butter that really made the brioche notes in a champagne pop. I need to see if that is repeatable with other champagnes. 

We also opted to add the snow crab dish to our meal. The staff treated this like making us crack and pick our own crab legs was going to be a fun and messy experience. They brough us tools for the jobs and did a bit of explaining. Little did they know that Dawn grew up near the Chesapeake Bay and can fieldstrip a crab blindfolded. She made short work of the crab legs. 

After dinner we decided to spend our last night in Torshavn watching the harbor. The view from this apartment has been very nice and we spend almost every morning and evening watching the lights reflect in the water and the boats come and go.

Day 5 Scenic Routes

I got up at 5, but Bill requested to sleep in to 6 before we headed to the ferry station for a 2 hour ride to Suðuroy. I don't know if the extra hour actually helped. 

The whole day was kind of rough for him being all boat time and driving down narrow "roads" in the rain. Great day for me as we made it to both yarn shops that were open and got to fit in a little hiking along with driving through gorgeous scenery. Though even I thought the ferry ride out, especially the first 30 minutes after we left the harbor, was rough going. Good view though: 

Here's a memorial in the northernmost town on the island: 

Sigmundur Brestisson Memorial, Sandvík

Sandvík Beach

 And a view that was scenic right up until we pulled cameras out: 

Scenic Viewpoint west of Hvalba

 After that, we stopped at a Tóbúðin hjá Gitte, one of the yarn shops on the island. She had 1 skein of a green Snældan wool that I hadn't even seen at the giant Snældan store in Torshavn. I got it and another skein of a natural color from another brand, scheming with what to make from only 50 grams of the green. 

 Our next stop was Vagur, which is where the company that made my hat is based. Almost nothing was open, but the tourist information office was, and the lady was very helpful in suggesting stops around the island for the rest of the day. The first two of her suggestions were just outside of town. She also pointed us to a shop down the street that sells knitwear and souvenirs - and had more of the same green I had just gotten, so I got a few more skeins. 

The first suggested is where the first electric plant in the country was built in order to automate winching ships up the previous harbor: 

The next was a scenic overlook at what was previously a signal station during WWII, which she claimed we could drive right up to via a scenic road. That road turned out to be the equivalent of a poorly maintained golfcart path with steep drops off one side. With just over a kilometer to the top, there was a turnoff large enough to park the car in, and I suggested we just walk the rest of the way, giving Bill a brief respite from driving and getting me a bit of exercise. Of course, fog rolled in just in time for us to get to the top: 

 Fortunately, the sun was back just as we got back to the car, so we didn't have to wait out the weather for reasonable visibility. 

 Next up was a trip to Sumba, the southernmost town, and a brief stop at Akraberg Lighthouse, the southernmost point of the island: 

At this point, a cafe with a gallery I'd seen online was finally open, so we headed back up to the town we had started in. Turned out it was actually a gallery that included a small cafe, run by a Dane who had immigrated in the '70's and been running the gallery for longer than either of us has been alive. He served us coffee and told us about the king coming to visit the gallery. He also flipped through an atlas, showing us all the places he'd been as part of a year long sailing trip. He found Copenhagen far too fast a pace, and even thought Torshavn is too much, greatly preferring the slow life way out in this small town (largest town on the island). While it wasn't what I had expected, it was a really interesting stop. I also got a moody postcard and a couple of puffin pins, but managed to avoid buying more art, even this wonderful abstract: 

After that, actual restaurants were starting to open around the island, so we hit a place in Vagur with a pita sandwich the size of my head. The smart play would have been to have a long, slow meal since the weather was getting rainy and we had nothing else planned ahead of the ferry. Instead we tried to get into a museum that turned out to be closed, and then had to find somewhere with a bathroom. But we did make it to the ferry with plenty of time to spare. The ferry actually left 6 minutes ahead of schedule, so I guess they are serious about getting there at least 15 minutes in advance. Forgot to mention yesterday that we heard what clearly sounded like protesters, which a scan of local news showed was a protest about ferry timetables. 

 For the ride back, we sat on a lower deck, and closer to the midline of the boat, which seemed way better for Bill. It was also much calmer weather for that ride. Our seating area had a snack shop that included a gift shop with seaweed options (no ocean truffle, sadly), and more fish leather goods. I spent most of the ride back knitting. 

Once we got back, Bill went for some Thai at a takeaway place and we just chilled for the night. It was a long day to a hard to get to island. I'd like to go back if we are ever here during tourist season, though. There's a wool production tour and a few other things that I could make a few days trip out of. Doubt I'll get Bill back on the ferry, though.

Stress and. Boatification (Day 5)

When we were planning out today I told Dawn that some memories are more fun to have than make. I think today qualified as worth doing, but exacted a certain toll. 

No lazy morning today. We need to get moving an catch a ferry from Streymoy to Suduroy. There is a ferry that makes the round trip a couple of times a day. We book passage for our car and ourselves leaving at 7:00 in the morning. Which means we have need to have our car in the loading queue by 6:30 AM. The crossing takes about 2 hours. The inside of the ship seems very nice, there is a cafeteria a variety of sitting accommodations, a store that sells everything from souvenirs to snacks. Unfortunately it is also a boat. 

My optimism that "hey, maybe this won't be so bad" lasts until we approximately clear the Torshavn harbor and hit the open seas. The next two hours lasts approximately 10 hours according to my personal perception of time. I got sea sick. Very sea sick. Oh so very. 

When we arrive in Suduroy we have to promptly return to our car so we can drive out in an orderly line. I stagger to the car and somehow get us off the boat. This portion of the day is a bit of a blur for me at this point. Eventually, I pull over in a small grocery store parking and have a bit of a come apart. I'm still super nauseous, physically I'm panting, my arms and my legs are shaking, and eventually I just sit in the car and have a bit of a cry. I don't know why I'm crying, but my body is just pulling all the levers to express its displeasure at this point. 

Dawn checks out the grocery store while I try and pull myself together. One of the things I wasn't prepared for is how stressful driving on Suduroy could be. The main roads are fine and not dissimilar to driving around Streymoy. Since the island is less populated and the villages are smaller it's not surprising that single track roads are more common here. What is surprising is a certain wanton disregard for road shoulders and guardrails, what is considered an acceptable incline pitch, and the very loose definition of what paved means. 

For our initial foray of sightseeing in Suduroy we decide to head north to north-most village Sandvik. The weather is low and brooding so we are just catching glimpses of what might be very scenic shoreline. One of the exciting parts of driving to Sandvik is using the tunnel that connects the valley the village is in to the rest of the island. In doing research about the Faroe Islands I had read about such tunnels, but this is the first time encountering one in person. The tunnel is a small single-tracked tunnel through the mountain. Every 50 meters are so there is a small pull over to help you and any on coming traffic, should you encounter it, work out a passing. The tunnel is not illuminated, so it's headlights only and the dark mountain surrounding you. Fortunately, we did not encounter any on coming traffic while using the tunnel in either direction. 

After visiting the north-most village it's time to head south. Along the way we stop in Vagur to visit the Visit Suduroy information kiosk and learn more about what to do with our day. One of the things we knew before we came to the island is that this island is less populated, and there is less to do here - especially when you factor in that we our off tourist season so at lot of the typical touristy things won't be open for another month or so. There are no coffee shops to hang out in, and very few restaurants. If a village has a restaurant it typically won't be open until 4:30 or later. The person working at the Visit Suduroy kiosk reiterates most of this information and adds that if we need something to eat we can stop by a grocery store and get a sandwich. We get advice on what to see. 

The weather is not being particularly cooperative with our visit to Suduroy. It's ever changing but seems to be cycling between low fog and light rain. Every now and again we get glimpses of the sky. The tourist information person tells us that she can't recommend hiking on a day like today. It will be too slick and dangerous. That's fine by me. I'm not super into multi-hour hiking trips in general... a trait that puts me at odds with a lot of the Faroes primary tourist attractions. We are told there is a scenic point near by that is very pretty if the fog lifts. Also, and she confirmed this point, you can drive all-the-way-there. Perfect. 

Or so I thought. While it might be technically possible to drive all the way there, it involves more courage than I was able to muster. The steep single lane track is a crumbling road that laughs in the face of practical concerns like erosion. The drive was roughly 2 km, about half way up we found a spot where I could actually turn the car around and we called it. No more driving on the death hill. We'd walked the rest of the way. 

To underscore how bad the driving was, a pedestrian managed to walk up the hill about the same speed that we drove + walked. While the view was indeed very pretty and the fog did cooperate while we were at the top, I was greatly relieved to get our car safely back to solid and level ground. The pedestrian was also able to walk down the path faster than we could walk + drive. Although, I'm not sure he wasn't part mountain goat and didn't experience inclines and grades like a normal human. 

 As we were driving around Suduroy we began looking for a gas station because our car was getting to a 1/4 of a tank and gas stations are not a guarantee in every village. I had asked the nice lady at the tourist information if there was anything I should know about pumping gas on the island and she said, no, it was a completely normal experience. However, when I got to a gas pump it was raining, and I couldn't figure out how to operate the pump. I went inside the gas station and asked for help, but they told me the machine should just work. I attempted to make the machine work again and failed. Then I noticed other people were waiting for the pump so I decided to try again later when I wasn't so frustrated and keeping people from going about their business. Later in the day it was still raining but we returned to the gas station and Dawn and I both attempted to solve the puzzle box. Between the two of us we were able to get gas. Dawn discovered where the credit card was supposed to be inserted and I managed to find a button to switch the UI to English. 

There was an art gallery and cafe at Vagur we had spied on Google maps that might be open during our visit. When we arrived we realized it was an art gallery run by an old man who lived on the floor over the gallery. When we arrived he opened the gallery for us. He turned on the lights, started music playing, and even made a pot of coffee for us. He told us that he had been running the gallery for something like 30 years. He had moved to the island 50 years earlier. He taught at the local school and is an artist producing work for his gallery. We was very proud that the King of Denmark has visited his gallery in 2005. Later in our visit he even produced the guest book to show us the king's signature. It was an odd experience but a delightful one. We were on this small island in the middle of the ocean. This man was essentially opening his house to us, showing us incredible hospitality, letting us see his art, and making conversation with us while we drank his coffee. He told us a bit about his life and was interested to learn a bit about us. In the end we bought some souvenirs although we did consider asking for details about one of his paintings that we both liked. We know ourselves well enough that would have been a dangerous conversation to have. 

After the art gallery we made out way to the further south drivable tip of Suduroy to see the lighthouse at Akraberg. The single track road to and from the lighthouse was only mildly terrifying compared to some of the early roads. By then it was 4:00 which means the Suduroy Pizza Kebab Grill house was open and we could get something to eat. Dawn and both opted for shawarma options. I had tried to order something in a pita but messed up and got my shawarma served over French fries, but we were so hungry I was more than happy to eat the meal that arrived. I eyed one of the pizzas that came out of the kitchen and briefly regretted not taking a chance on that. 

I was honestly concerned about eating anything. I had been so sick on the ferry crossing to Suduroy that I was confident that there was a 0% chance that I was going to be keep down anything I ate beforehand. Dawn pointed out that the was value to have some nutrients since I basically hadn't eaten anything all day. Fortunately my concerns were unfounded. The ferry crossing back to Streymoy went considerably better. This was probably due a combination of factors including more favorable weather, we sat further down and towards the center of the ship. While I was certainly nausous on the ride home, I managed to keep my dinner down and didn't suffer any of the extreme symptoms I had earlier in the day. 

Once we were back in Torshavn I had one more mission for the day. Earlier in the week I had noticed a Thai take out stand in town. One of the chefs at Raest had told it was was great. I also noticed that they keep late hours and are actually open from 5pm to 5am on Saturdays. After my day of stress and sea sickness a bowl of salty noodles seemed irresistible. I was also curious to learn how "spicy" would be interpreted on an island with no capsaicin based foodways. As reported, the food was great and I was very pleased with the level of spice. It was the perfect way to unwind after a long day.