Faroe Islands

After breakfast we went to the lecture given by Dayo on animal communication. It was quite interesting, though I felt that often the science was stating the obvious!

At 10am there was a crew safety drill, fighting a simulated fire in the garbage room. This was followed by the 'Abandon Ship' order.

We then went to Gordon's talk on the Battle of the Atlantic. Again, an interesting lecture.

We arrived in the Faroe Islands at around lunchtime and below is our first view of the southern tip of the island of Suduroy. There are 18 major islands altogether.

We were guided into the harbour of the small town of Tvoroyri by a pilot vessel.

Rather than the hike, we had opted for the coach tour of the southern part of the island, visiting small settlements, such as Porkeri and Vagar. We had a very likeable young tour guide, whose name was Napoleon. He is a linguist and has been studying in France. He spoke about his family and also told us interesting facts about the Faroe Islands and the Faroese. When he spoke of the inhabitants, we thought he was talking about fairies!

It was very overcast with occasional showers as we drove along the coast, stopping at a grass-roofed church, in the town of Porkeri. It was a simple Lutheran church with wooden cross-braces to protect the building in the heavy storms they have here frequently. The other guide, who is a lay preacher, talked about the church, which reminded us of those we saw in Greenland, complete with a ship hanging from the ceiling. Napoleon sang us one of the hymns in the hymn book while we followed the Faroese words. He has a very good, clear, natural voice. Faroese is quite different from Danish. 

We reached the lighthouse at the most southern point of the Faroes, where we all got out of the coach and walked towards the point. The view was amazing.

Next we went higher, to a cliff overlook, but the mist rolled in and visibility was very poor. We saw some very impressive vistas during breaks in the clouds, but the wind became too strong and we didn't want to be swept away! We had reached Akraberg, the southernmost tip of Suduroy. 

The drive round the island was along some winding roads through steep-sided mountains.

5 kms from Akraberg, we made our last stop at Sumba, where we all entered a hall to see the Faroese Chain Dance. It was very simple, performed in a circle by a local dance group. We were invited to join in, but declined. 

To say the very least, I was underwhelmed by the dancing. Wendy liked the singing that accompanied it, but I felt it was very dirge-like and reflected my general feeling that the Faroes were a bleak place to live! Still, it was warm in there and the people were welcoming. All the local residents seemed very keen on music-making and Napoleon joined in the singing.

We returned to the boat at about 5.30pm. On the coach ride back, Napoleon sang Faroese songs to us, including the National Anthem and a wedding song, which he accompanied on a ukulele! Unfortunately, the weather was deteriorating and it was raining all the way back to the ship, so we decided not to go and have a look at Tvoroyri, which looked very quiet. We were sorry not to go to a busier part of the Faroes, especially Torshavn, the capital, on the main island of Streymoy.

We met Barry and Michelle in the bar for a drink after making the decision to abandon the 'Hot Rocks' dinner we had booked on the aft deck, as it was cold and rainy.

As we had our evening meal, the ship set sail for the very north of the Faroe Islands where tomorrow we will take a Zodiac tour of the Vestmanna cliffs on the island of Streymoy.