Day 1 - Vacation Cheat Code

Today was a lazy morning, catching up on the sleep we didn't get over the last (two) day(s), and sipping coffee while watching boats tool around in the harbor. Got some quite good bread at the grocerys store, and some massive capers that are fantastic to eat whole. We hadn't made any plans for the day, but Bill had found 2 distilleries. One, about 45 minutes away, had a tour available in the early afternoon, so we made that the plan. In our younger travel days of trying to do as much as possibly every day, we would also have booked a boat tour, but this is going to be a slower, less structured trip. 

Before heading out, we hit the Navia almost next door to our apartment. This Faroes based knitwear and yarn brand has multiple locations and is sold in several stores. The yarn selection includes Faroes wools, blends of Faroes, Shetland, and Australian wools, alpaca, and a few other fibers. I tried on a few pairs of pants, made friends with another tourist who wanted to know a bunch about the pants without having to try them on, and looked at the wool options. The sales rack was largely pastels I know better than to think I'll use, so I passed. 

We also stopped by EINSTAKT, a local brand whose designer started in Copenhagen before returning here. Most of the knitwear, including the wonderful sculpted mohair sweater I got, are hand made on the Faroe Islands. 

 After that, we headed out to the distillery, with a brief stop to enjoy the view over Kvivik: 

We got to Vestmanna a bit early, so we hit a local gift shop and visited this handsomely bearded statue of a local hero credited with bringing telephones and banks to the area:

Standbeeld Ólavur á Heygum

He was also passionate about hydroelectric power, but couldn't get the backing for it during his lifetime. 

The distillery tour was just us and one other couple - the ones I met at Navia that morning. They own a small winery in Argentina and are getting into distilling. She's a retired teacher who was working in DC, really not a bad retirement plan. The tour was excellent, starting with some history and pours of 4 spirits. At the other woman's suggestion, they brought out bottles of botanicals used in the spirits so we could smell them while tasting. The offerings included a vodka with a super interesting mouth feel (I'm assuming Bill is writing all about the water source) and one that uses an "ocean truffle" seaweed, which I immediately wanted to mix with the brine from this morning's capers. Angelia grows wild here and they add it to most of thier products - roots and stems. The roots are used pretty commonly in gins, but I am not familiar with using the stems. Apparently the flowers are edible and prior to candy being redily available, children on the islands would pick them, dip them in sugar, and eat them. We then took a turn through the warehouse housing the stills. The vodka and botanical based spirits are all from a combined still with a short but reasonably efficient column. The whiskeys are heavily inspired by Scotch, including the double distillation through separate stills. 

These are Brynhild and Gudron, named after two women in a Faroese ballad from around 1200 who fought for the favor of a dragon slayer. Back in the tasting room, we also sampled a couple of the still in development whiskeys - these are going to be awesome when they are eventually released, and picked up a small bottle of a barrel aged akvavit to help write these blog posts in the evenings. 

I almost forgot to mention the furniture. The tables in the tasting room are made by an American artist who immigrated to the islands and opened a studio in an abandoned NATO base. We aren't going to make it there - hours are by appointment only and we are not exactly looking to acquire furniture. But I'll be keeping an eye out for other Joel Cole work as we travel around. Nice balance of natural materials, industrial edge, function and form. 

After the distillery, we headed into Kvivik to get a look at the coastline up close. There was a small archeological site and a knitting shop called Kvivknit (how could we not stop with that name). In addition to traditional knits that Bill found far more comfortable that our prior stops, the owner also hand dyes Faroes yarns and sells a selection of undyed yarn from the local sheep. The shop had a ton of wonderful things, but we got out with just a sweater and two skeins of yarn, somehow. 

Next up was the tallest waterfall on the island, along with some sheep gawking. The car rental staff had warned us that sheep will just wander into the street. They will run from people, but show no fear of cars. Bill followed me up a muddy slope to get a bit closer to the falls. What fun! 

After that, we headed back to the apartment to drop off our purchases before hitting a local steakhouse for dinner. This is one of the closest restaurants, but wasn't on our radar as the islands aren't exactly known for cattle. The distillery tour guide had recommended we go there to try cocktails (not much of a cocktail scene here...yet) and suggested we get appetizers instead of mains. Solid recommendation - lots of local fish and a charcuterie board that included air dried Faroes lamb. 

 We ended the day with another quick walk to the lighthouse, which we had entirely to ourselves, and a stroll through the section of town where parliament and several government buildings sit. Bill also noted that visiting distilleries and wineries was like a cheat code for vacations as it's a thing we always enjoy, even when we don't end up loving the products. 

 Ending the day typing this up with a glass of Akvavit while looking over the harbor - I could get used to this.