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.

Day 4 Again with the Rain

We had discussed driving to Sandoy today, but the weather is again mostly rain so we again spend the day in Torshavn. This isn't nearly as hard of rain as the previous 2 days in spite of the forcast calling for twice the rainfall as yesterday. But it is a constant drizzle with a few heavier spells. 

We started off with a long, lazy morning of watching boats before heading to the National Gallery of Faroes Art, by way of a very nice park in the city. The signs list a bunch of birds, but we pretty much just saw ducks and pigeons. 

There are a few sculptures outside of the museum: 

Hans Pauli Olsen: Over and Under the Water (1986)

Hans Pauli Olsen: The Shadow (1987)

The museum is undergoing some renovation work, so only a small portion of it is available. On the plus side, this means they are not charging admission. It's a nice little collection, with some cool pieces: They also occasionally invite musicians in to get inspired by the pieces and record the results.

Elinborg Lützen: Fairy Tale Scene (1973)

Ole Wich: 3D Dímun (2009)

Edward Fuglø: Colony (2006)

Absolutely no idea, and couldn't find in the museum catalog

In the gift shop, they had some clay cups that are clearly by the same potter that's making a lot of Raest's dinnerware. Bill got himself one - I am completely out of mug space at the apartment. If they had had a t-shirt with the birds, it would have been hard to resist. 

 Next up, we hit the national liquor store in town - something seems to have happened to the barrel aged aquavit we got at the distillery. The walk back was through an apartment complex with a fantastic view. And we see the very first cat we've found on the island:

We spent the next bit of the afternoon at the same cafe we visited the first day. I got a nice slice of cheesecake with a chocolate ganache top, marzipan crust, and blueberries. The apparent danger of looking at art in a museum and seeing cards that say who donated it is the reminder that art is a thing you can own. Bill has continued to think about one of the pieces we saw at the gallery shop we visited a couple days ago, and after staring at the picture of it on my phone and then on the gallery website, we decided to go back and ask some practical questions about shipping just in case that was too expensive to be reasonable. 

Reader, it was entirely reasonable. Hopefully in a couple weeks, Bill has a new painting of Fuglafjordur by local artist Ian Luid, who is currently residing in Torshavn, but is originally from Fuglafjordur. The gallery owner also told us that he's autodidactic, and that he doesn't produce much work. There is a Danish couple that has bought one of his pieces each time they've come to the Faroe Islands, and he hopes the news of this sale to Americans will cheer him up enough to finish his latest painting. Bill and I interpreted the discussion differently as he took away that Luid doesn't need to paint constantly for income and can be selective and I concluded that he has depression issues and only paints when he's not in a depressive state. No idea, but either way his work is evocative and a great addition to our small collection. 

 The last item on the agenda was PAZ, the country's 2 Michelin star restaurant. Again, Bill got the wine pairing and I got the "juice" pairing, which was largely fermented beverages, but did include one alcoholic items. I expect Bill provided a great deal of detail on the dinner, so I'll stick with a summary version. I absolutely get why this is a Michelin star restaurant. The service is thoughtful and attentive and the food is fantastic, forming a cohesive overall dining experience. That said, I 100% cannot comprehend how they have 2 stars and the place we were earlier this week has zero. It's as though the whole system of categorization is arbitrary and at the whims of folks who clearly have a different idea of a good time than I do. Take that entirely as a swipe at the rating system and not the restaurant as, again, these folks have clearly earned the recognition. 

 For the Juice pairings, they the hay was in the same ferment as the elderflower, which was also quite successful. Their gooseberry drink was good but not as amazing as the one from a couple days ago. The potato based drink paired with fish was probably the must successful as a pairing. The crowberry drink was paired with crowberry course and the rhubarb drink with the rhubarb course, which unsurprisingly work. My favorite dish overall was Ptarmigan, Reindeer, Wild berries which layered a sweet, mildly gamey bird with slices of fat and a berry chutney, and had great presentation: 

The horse mussel was also great again, hopefully I see that on a menu in the future. Here are some additional food pictures:

During dinner we also decided to get up stupidly early in order to catch a ferry to Suðuroy, the southernmost island. Okay, mostly I decided and I got us ferry tickets for a full day. Lots of things will be closed on Saturday, but not as many as will be closed on Sunday (the last day we could reasonably go) and we have dinner reservations Sunday that we'd miss based on the ferry timetable. After dinner, I went pretty much immediately to bed and Bill decided to go hear live music at a bar that had a cocktail menu. I found him asleep on the couch with his feet up on the coffee table when I got up in the middle of the night. I shook him awake twice suggesting he come to bed before I moved his water to a table where he wouldn't kick it over and put his phone on the charger. With a 5AM alarm, I went back to sleep.

Walking in Torshavn (Day 4)

We have a lazy morning. Coffee and rye bread and butter with caper berries for breakfast. 

Midday we walk to the Torshavn art museum through their adorable little park. One thing you don't see many of in the Faroe Islands is trees. Forests are really not a thing here. So the park is interesting because it's an intentional forest.  Also, it is extremely charming.

The art museum is small and dedicated to local Faroese artist. I enjoyed the variety. Usually there is a fee to examine it, but since they are in the process of turning over some exhibitions they are currently waving all fees.  The museum giftshop had a few items crafted by local artist, including some ceramicware that we recognized from our evening at Raest.  One of the cups looked perfect for coffee, so I now have an espresso cup made by the Faroese artist Gudrid Poulsen.

After the museum we took another stroll through the park and decided to walk to the National Liquor Store to get a bottle of aquavit to sip on in the evenings. This walk turned out a bit longer than expected. The store is on the outskirts of Torshavn with lots of other stores people who actually live and work in the Faroe Islands need. Things like hardware and furniture stores or car dealers. 

We get a bit lost on our walk back and end up walking through Torshavn's suburbia. Neighborhoods of small houses and apartments. We obviously look lost because a helpfully pulled over to ask us if we were lost and needed help. After walkies, we decide to sit in a cafe for a bit. Dawn knits and I read. Afterwards, we walk to an art gallery and I purchase a painting that caught my eye earlier in the week. 

As a bonus we learn that the moody impressionistic painting is actually of Fuglafjordur, which is the town we had visited the day before for Dawn's knitting workshop. The gallery owner told us that the painter is self taught and does amazing work, but is slow to produce paintings. I connected with the painting because I think is successfully evokes a mood as much as a sense of place. 

Tonight is a our big night at Paz, the 2 Michelin star restaurant currently in the Faroes. It's hard not to compare this to Raest. Both restaurants seek to celebrate local ingredients and traditions. Paz is focused on viewing this through a modern Nordic lens. Raest is happy to invite in chefs with other culinary traditions to incorporate traditional Faroese ferments. Both are compelling. But I think Raest might be having a bit more fun. 

After dinner, which starts at 6:30 and ends 4 hours later. I drop Dawn off at the apartment and head back out to checkout a Nordic record release party at a local bar. While there I encounter the bartender who is trying to bring cocktail culture to the Faroe Islands. He had the interesting bitters, made is own clear ice, had the ice stamps, the whole shebang. We have fun chatting in between musical numbers. I returned to the apartment a bit after midnight, but that wasn't my last excursion for the night. But that is perhaps a story for another time.

Day 3 Don’t Mention The War

Today will hopefully be the only day this trip that involves an alarm clock. One of the few things we planned in advance was attending a knitting festival, including a workshop that starts at 9 AM and in a town an hour away. We made it out the door, and thwarted Maps attempt to reroute us through a $50 toll tunnel to save us all of 8 minutes. Also, there was heavy rain and traffic - glad I am not driving. 

We found the festival registration and picked up armbands and maps. The workshops are in individual homes all over the town of Fuglafirði, so I still had a bit of an uphill hike to make it to my binding workshop. I've never actually done a workshop before and it turned out to be the first one the instructor was teaching. It also turned out that the other two people who registered didn't show up. So I got 3 hours of one-on-one instruction on i-cord bind off, double knit, and a few other skills that will greatly help with a sweater I'm already making. 

She was surprised I hadn't done a workshop before since I have been to other knitting festivals. After hitting the rest of the festival, I understand that. I'm used to Maryland Sheep and Wool, which has tons of demonstrations, exhibits, and vendors, and a multi-day competition. Just walking around is a full day. This festival is much more about culture than commerce, if that makes sense. They had a small exhibition from 1 fiber artist, and pictures of prior festivals, but the only vending was a local yarn shop that had seating set up to knit and chat with other attendees and a hand crafted place that also had a loft available for sitting to knit. 

They had a full day of lectures programmed in addition to a few workshops, guided walking tours of the town, and an included lunch. As the lectures weren't in English, they were inaccessible for us. Bill did one of the walking tours while I was at the workshop, and the guide spoke both Faroes and English. 

From the instructor, I did get to learn a bit about the changing landscape of Faroes knitting. She showed me a website where they are now trying to capture clothing patterns which have traditionally been passed down generations orally instead of in writing. That was consistent with the knitter I spoke with a couple days ago, who had a book she called the Faroes knitting bible that shows pictures of the traditional colorwork patters, but just as single panels - she said they didn't ever work from "recipes" because the knitters just know how to make the garments. Back to the workshop, we also talked about carding and spinning, which are becoming more wide spread in the Faroe Islands as a means of reducing waste and producing yarn more sustainably. A lot of commercial Faroes yarn uses the local wool, but ships it to other countries for manufacturing. The hat I got yesterday is one of the businesses working with local wool production. It seems like an exciting time for the whole set of crafts that gets from a sheep to a finished piece. 

After the festival, we headed to Gjogv, a town recommended by the rental car agent. It was indeed quite picturesque, both the drive up a series of hairpin turns on a single lane road, and the village and old harbor. Oddly, the only people we saw were other tourists so it had a bit of an abandoned feel. 

A natural harbor, no longer in use.

Coastline at the edge of the town.

Gjogv

We then headed across the island to take a brief view of a sea stack and a lake before heading back. 

If you look very close you will see the sea stack.

A lake

We tried out expresso at a coffee roaster recommended at the festival, and ran into the Argentinian winery folks again. 

We decided on a Scandinavian restaurant for dinner, which had a rhubarb G&T on the menu and a dessert with a chocolate avocado mousse - good food all around. The table next to us had a large, loud party mostly German and the only English we heard was the titular reference to Fawlty Towers. 

Tomorrow looks like more rain, so we may once again put off visiting that other island. We will see. For now, I am thrilled to not need an alarm clock.