The Faroe Islands

Sept 10, 2009 Torshavn, Faroes
One of the reasons I booked this trip was that the ship docked at this remote group of 18 islands just below the Arctic circle. Now owned by Denmark, the Faroese people have their own language, money and customs. They have a parliament and a fierce sense of their own identity going back to their beginnings as a Viking settlement. Today 47,000 citizens, half of whom reside in the capital Torshavn. We rented a car to explore the island of Stremoy- the 18 are connected via bridges, tunnels or ferries. As luck would have it our friends Paul and Marilyn joined us. Due to the severe weather many ships tours were cancelled. Stremoy is maybe 30 miles by 10 miles with large mountains in the middle- mostly shore roads. There were clusters of small villages of multi-colored and black houses about 25% of which had grass and turf roofs. even some of the churches had turf roofs.
We followed the road, basically 1 1/2 lanes wideto the end and northenmost part of the island. The last 3 miles were on a single lane about 500 ft ablove the sea with a 1000 ft of rock ledge above us. The road twisted and turned and i prayed there were no oncoming cars. The sheep were everywhereand, though the islands are totally volcanic, there was short grass everywhere- 70,0000 sheep as well as flocks of geese and ducks waddling around the fields. The village, , has 67 inhabitants located on 3 sides by mountains but facing the sea with a black sand beach. Looking across to the island of Estremoy we could clearly see 2 sea stacks each 75 meters tall. They are Reisen and Kjellger who in mythology were an Icelandic giant and his wife who thought the Faroes were so beautiful they tried to pull them home to Iceland but sun up turned them to stone. We met the only resident who was home. Named Brendus who, with perfect English, told us of growing up here. it was cold, windy and dramatically, beautifully wild. Hundreds of waterfalls everywhere falling to the sea from the interior mountains.
Tomorrow another sea day. The wind and sea have not abated. the North Sea is very violent and rough. the temp never above 54 but feels so much colder. There is frequent fog and more rain. While the Faroes are beautiful, it must be awful in the winter with so little sun. They get only 989 hours of sun a year!

Sept 12, 2009 Iceland
An aborted attempt to dock at Akureyri, Iceland. The weather was sunny for the first time but wind howling and the dock too rickety to hold the ship . So much disappointment as I looked forward to seeing the geothermal wonders of this area of northern Iceland. Could see the gorgeous ponies from the ship. Our little Riley's 1st birthday today. We miss her and Tessa.

Sept 13, 2009 Reykjavik, Iceland
Since we were here just 2 years ago we forewent a car and just strolled the city. Went to Mass at the Catholic cathedral. The choir sang in Latin though the priest's prayers were in Icelandic. At the kiss of peace the tall older woman in front of me turned towards me and shook my hand with a ferocity I had never felt before. It felt like she broke my fingers and wrenched my arm at the same time. As she turned back I started to view her as one of those huge Wagnerian opera divas with the breastplate and horned hat. She was strong! Got on the internet for 1/2 hour to see what was up in the world and to wish the granddaughters a happy birthday. Doesn't seem they could be a year old already.
Now 2 days at sea to get to Greenland. Really rough and many have sea sickness patches on. I love it!