Bill&Theresa: Klaksvic, Faroe Islands

On our way into the Faroe Islands.

We arrived in the Faroe Islands today. Technically, it is part of Denmark, but it is also NOT part of the EU. It has a similar standing as Greenland. But whereas a certain US President wants Greenland, a certain Russian President wants the Faroe Is.

Espresso with a view!

The scenery is beautiful!! The hills/mountains rise steeply from the sea and are cloaked in grass, with stripes of rock every so often. The sun was out as we came into the bay, so it made for a nice time to sit on the balcony and enjoy.

After a late breakfast, some coffee and book/puzzle time, and an early lunch, we set out on our 2:15 scenic tour of Eysturoy, one of the Faroe Islands. Irish monks settled somewhere around 400 AD, and they found sheep already here. (Much later, it was determined there was a strong genetic connection between these sheep and ones in Scotland, so that’s an open question). Norse Vikings* (not really Vikings since we previously learned that was a “job” not an ethnic group) settled here about 500AD. When they got here, well, turns out the Irish monks do not fight very well, so Norse it became. In WWII, after the Germans controlled Denmark, the British took over the Faroe Islands. It became a critical source of food (fish mostly) which kept the Brits fed through the war. I was intrigued to think how much impact such a small little island nation had on the war.

We should maybe start turning??? Running out of water!

Salmon farming is very successful here due to the stable water temps.

A "knitting" machine. Kind of weird!

First stop, we visited a store. A wool store. Sigh. Not thrilled. But they had free coffee and 10% off of everything, including the rack of things 50% off. We loaded up with a single cup of coffee.

Bringing the machines in brought this step back to the Island(s).

Bill's new friend. With Horns.

Next stop was a sheep farm. The farmer took us into a sheep house, where some 6-8 sheep were hanging out. While we waited, Bill found some food, and gave Theresa some to feed the sheep. And Theresa gave the lady next to us some, though she was terrified to put her hand near the sheep. Then Bill took some and fed the smallest sheep, and some more, and more, and then was out. Then he offered pets and scratches, which the little sheep seemed quite fond of, and soon the sheep had its face in the palm of Bill’s hand and seemed happy to stay there.

Finally, the farmer told us about his craft, and some interesting tidbits. Then he told us his high school business project was to create this store, Nivia, the very one we visited earlier. (Knowing that earlier would have made the stop more … well we still wouldn’t have bought anything. Who needs wool in Dallas?) At the end, he offered us some tastings of sheep meat, with bread his mother made, and some rhubarb lemonade too. All was good.

Our bus was parked on a tiny one lane road while we were at the farm.

Questions were asked about my choice in Baby Lamb Chops for breakfast.

Blasastova Museum

We left the farm and headed to this old set of buildings, dating at least from the 1630s, and constantly occupied until about the 1950s, when the family finally moved on to better digs. There were several little buildings, which were interesting to explore. In one, two ladies were knitting a sweater together. They said it took about a day for the two of them to finish one, but back in the day, two ladies might do 2-3 in a day. The patterns were unique to each fishing household. Sometimes a fishing boat went out and didn’t come back. If a body washed up on shore, they could check the pattern of the sweater, and send him home to his family. (Cheery!)

Once part of the farmer's buildings, this one features a traditional
Samsung washing machine behind the wall.

An Old Church...

The building they put old people in...up a clumsy rock steps. Hmm...

Grass on all sides!

Inside the locked church. Don't ask!

We made another stop just to overlook Klaksvik, a town of about 5,000 (also where we docked). Since the Faroe Islands have about 55,000 people, and 22,000 live in the capital, this is the biggest ‘town’ on the island.

We decided on the Italian restaurant for dinner. There were too many good options and they started us off with a bunch of small bites before we even got to ordering. So, we were stuffed!! On our way out, we grabbed a couple of cups of coffee to stay awake for the comedian at 9:30. (He was enjoyable!)