Faroe Islands

You’ll be forgiven for not having even heard of the Faroe Islands. So for the record, it’s self-governing, but part of Denmark, and is an archipelago north of Scotland and about half way between Norway and Iceland.

There are twice as many sheep as residents and still not very many tourists, so it’s really a perfect get-away spot, particularly if you like wrapping up warm and hiking over windswept mountains.

Tórshavn is the capital city and as the name suggests a harbour, and a busy one at that. It’s really quite pretty with its painted houses, little Old Town, church and parliament.

The Løgting – the parliament building of the Faroe Islands.

Skansin – an historic fort built in the 16th century to defend against pirates, and used again in the Second World War as a British military base.

You can still see some of the British cannons and older Danish ones, as well as the Skansin Lighthouse.

You also notice one of the things that the Faroes is really famous for, and that’s the turf roofs on the houses.

Apparently they have a practical use in keeping out the rain. And when you’ve got around 300 days of rain per year, every little helps!

This farmhouse is in Kirkjubøur and is apparently about 900 years old and lived in today by something like the 15th generation of the family that currently owns it. It’s partly given over to a small museum.

You can see the farmhouse on the right there. On the left is the white St Olav’s church, built in 1111 and still in use today. The main building in the foreground are the ruins of St Magnus Cathedral.

The construction of St Magnus Cathedral was started about 700 years ago, but never finished for reasons no one seems to know.

There are some spectacular hiking opportunities in the Faroes, and it’s a country that’s crying out for you to put your boots and rain jacket on, and tramp across lush green hills and along the shores of still lakes to vertical cliffs overlooking the North Atlantic.

There’s some great food and some good beers.

And the Faroe Islands even make two gins, which I only found out at duty free on my way home. The Baraldur is really fabulous and well worth seeking out 🍸.

The scenery is dramatic and the air is clean and fresh. And they have great local gin. There’s really nothing not to like. Go before everyone else works out how marvellous it is.