Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Monday 18th of April
07.18 It has become Easter Monday and our last morning here in Copenhagen. Roberth is resting in his bed. The other two in the room at the hotel Cabinn City (https://www.cabinn.com/hoteller) are having breakfast. Now I'm tired of breakfast in the room. Today we leave Copenhagen. We are going out towards new destinations.
07.55 There is finally a little more hustle and bustle in room 255. We're starting to pack everything we've brought here, at least most of it. Garbage and such things are allowed to remain.
08.17 Now we have packed our bags and will soon walk towards the nearby railway station. It has been a good accommodation albeit a bit crowded. The big advantage has been the central location. We are close to most attractions from here.
08.21 I ended my stay at Cabinn City by messing it up. At first I went too far on the stairs, and then I said the wrong room number at check-out.
08.42 Soon we will take the train to Kastrup airport or Københavns Lufthavn as it is also called. It's been a few years since we last were there. Christer and I landed there after a flight home from Cairo, Egypt in August 2005. We'll see if we recognize something or not.
09.03 After a short train journey, we will now look for the right place for check-in here at Kastrup Airport.
09.15 After we have fixed our own luggage tags, we will now check in our bags. This, too, occurs completely on its own. I prefer to have people who know how to do that. We still remember Christer's self-checked bag that in 2015 was left in Oslo when we flew to Málaga, Spain. Hope this goes better.
FAROE ISLANDS
12.23 The scenery we saw during the approach brought our thoughts to Iceland which we visited in 2014. The weather is not on top today. There are low clouds and precipitation. Now we are waiting at Vágar International Airport. We are at the baggage claim. We were just at vesi's, the restroom. Over the years, such visits have been made several times. The same reason but with several different names; snyrting, baño and other names.
13.05 All three gentlemen eventually got their luggage. Now we wait for a while for the time to be a quarter past two o´clock. That's when there is a bus to Tórshavn. Christer has fetched brochures about the Faroe Islands that we sit and browse through. Here at the airport there is no possibility to eat or drink coffee. We had hoped to have a lighter lunch on arrival but it will not be so.
15.11 The bus has stopped at the bus station Farstøðin in Tórshavn. We are hungry and desperately looking for somewhere to get food. However, the bus terminal's small kiosk was a bit too simple. The meat restaurant Angus Steakhouse nearby feels a bit well luxurious for a snack. It's time to take a first walk here in the Faroe Islands. We have to get to our hotel here. It's not too far from here.
17.50 It was delicious again with burgers. Unfortunately, the high prices took away some of the food joy. With the burgers we drank our first Faroese beer. There is nothing wrong with this beer. Let's see a little more of the town. We want to see a little today and take most of it tomorrow.
Tuesday 19th of April
We say goodbye to our hotel in Copenhagen.
Roberth on the platform. The train to Kastrup will soon depart.
We will soon be on board the SAS flight to the Faroe Islands.
We take off from Kastrup Airport.
Nice view towards Kastellet which we visited on Saturday.
We have arrived at Vágar airport.
We are waiting for the bus to Tórshavn.
A man has fed his chickens.
Low clouds over Oyrareingir.
The fjord Kollafjørður with port terminals.
The open-air museum Hoyvíksgarður with the island Nólsoy in the background.
We have arrived at Farstøðin, Tórshavn's bus terminal.
The sculpture Fríða, Tórshavn.
Hotel Djurhuus, Tórshavn.
Roberth is taking photos from our hotel.
It is stongt (closed) on the bakery Breyðvirkið.
Mylnan, an expensive small supermarket.
Roberth hurries past daffodils on his way to dinner.
The man carries peat, the woman carries milk. The sculpture was made in 1984.
We are welcomed to Haps.
Finally food! There will be good burgers at Haps.
Grass roofs are common in the Faroe Islands. Here you can see the restaurant Áarstova.
Stephanssons Hús, historic harbour building in Tórshavn.
Christer is taking photos at Skansin.
A cannon at Skansin, Tórshavn.
The lighthouse at Skansin and remains after the Easter egg games.
07.52 The sea is still out there, just like it was yesterday. We're still inside room 305. There is alternating cloudiness. Today we will look around here in Tórshavn.
08.51 Now that all three have woken up and had a morning shower, we will go down to the ground floor for breakfast. 09.48 We are back in the room after morgundrekka. That's what in English is called breakfast. A good and varied range was offered. It was bread and cold cuts, like ham and salami. The cheese was gigantic and the slices were cut with the help of a wire that was twisted around. Beans, scrambled eggs and finger sausages were under a lid that was opened by pushing a button. It worked well so and so. Barely opened, it closed again. Another problem was that the coffee machine was out of order. It didn't have any milk. Now, thank God, there was coffee in thermoses. Throughout the meal, a man stood and discussed Romanian football with another young man. Let's get ready for the day. 10.33 Now we will leave the room and go out among the houses of the town. What we saw yesterday was promising. What else does this place have to offer? 10.48 The seagulls chirp, no make noise is a better word. The sun lets the light of its face sparkle in the water. The trio is down in the ferry port. In front of me, smaller sailboats are bobbing. It's nice to relax.
A morning view from Hotel Djurhuus.
The breakfast is presented to Christer and Roberth.
Walking towards central Tórshavn.
We enjoy the sun in the marina.
Peter is walking through the Reyn neighbourhood.
Typical house in old Tórshavn.
11.04 It seems to be a nice sunny day today, not so common here in the Faroe Islands. It is nice to sit in the sun by the clucking water and observe everything that happens around us. However, we cannot remain here for too long.
11.27 We are now in the older quarters here in Tórshavn, Reyn and Undir Ryggi. Just now we were at Tinganes, from where the Faroe Islands have been ruled since the time of the Vikings. The parliament on the peninsula Tinganes was probably founded around the year 850, and is thus one of the world's oldest legislative assemblies. During the Viking age it was tradition to place the thing in a neutral and uninhabited place, so that no one would take advantage of the place. The Vikings met on the flat mountains of Tinganes during the summers. 11.36 It is a quiet and convivial day. We sit in the shelter on a bench at Tinganes. The flag of the Faroe Islands flutters in the wind from a flagpole out on the rocks. Here at Skansapakkhúsið Christer has found a sundial from the Viking Age. It is carved into the rock. Out on the water we see the Icelandic ship Bjarni Ólafsson on its way out to sea. It seems to have its own Facebook page. 12.12 Now we have moved on to a cafe, Kaffihúsið (https://www.kaffihusid.fo). Here there will be coffee for everyone and snacks for the comrades. Prices, as always, are sky-high. Roberth thought it was just as good to order the most expensive coffee and the most expensive pastry since it no matter what would be expensive. 12.45 It is now time for a break and a stop at another cathedral. This church overlooks the city. The cathedral from 1788 is the second oldest preserved church in the Faroe Islands. Soon we will continue our walk through the city. 12.57 The heart of the city has been explored. We have here found the men´s clothing store Kissa, another grocery store that can be used and a bike store that Roberth looked into. Now we will walk uphill to see more of Tórshavn.
Government buildings with grass roofs.
The flag of the Faroe Islands has been officially used since 1940.
Roberth and Peter avoid the strong winds on this bench.
An old sundial is carved in the rock at Tinganes.
Roberth has an expensive coffee stop at Kaffihúsið.
Dómkirkjan, Tórshavn.
13.13 A sign that said Viðarlundin caught our eyes. We went in the direction it pointed. After walking on a path, we are now in a green area with chirping birds, bubbling water and children playing. Here in the park is also the largest forest in the Faroe Islands.
13.42 We have walked up on a hill. Here there is a memorial monument of the dead from the Faroe Islands during the Second World War. 13.51 Now we are at a small pond. Here, mallards, males and females swim around. To these, a white bird has joined. It chases other ducks and behaves like a real bully. Roberth thinks it's a white mallard. I think that might be true. 14.06 We look out over another football stadium, Gundadalur. Here the club teams HB Tórshavn and B36 Tórshavn play. Right next door we see the national arena, Tórsvøllur. This arena was built in 2000 and can accommodate 6,000 spectators. 14.32 After a short stop in a mall (SMS Tórshavn) with relieving errands, we will now look for a liquor store, rúsdrekkasøla. In the Faroe Islands, no alcohol is sold in ordinary grocery stores. 14.57 The rúsdrekkasøla shop we took aim at seems to be an office with no goods to sell. Are we looking for the real thing a fair bit away or leave it for now? 15.28 We cancelled the visit to rúsdrekkasøla for the moment. It was not worth the walk it would require. Beer is good, but it's not that important. Now we are home in the room again. Here the beds are made and the room is cleaned.
Tórshavn´s town hall from 1894.
Kissa are selling men´s clothes.
Viðarlundin, Tórshavn's city park and the Faroe Islands' largest forest area.
Here you can learn about the birds in Viðarlundin.
Monument commemorating the victims of World War II.
Gundadalur, home ground for the club teams HB Tórshavn and B36 Tórshavn.
16.13 Now we have picked up some coffee and pastries in the breakfast dining room. It's completely free. This is an increasingly better accommodation, but tomorrow we will have to leave it.
17.26 We plan and think about tonight's dinner. It is not so easy to find a restaurant with suitable cuisine and suitable prices. After all, Tórshavn is quite a small town. The supply will be quite limited. We would rather eat something other than burgers that we have already eaten three times on this trip. 18.32 Roberth has found a deck of cards, a Danish deck where it says B on the Jacks. He's going on a patience/solitaire. 19.18 The solitaire/patience, despite assistance from me, does not want to go out. It is time for us, unlike the patience, to get out. The question remains, where are we going? 19.38 Roberth led us to Seven (https://www.sevenfo.com). It is a Chinese restaurant that we found already yesterday but then it was closed. Here we have chosen to eat a buffet at an as yet unknown price. After all, we cannot let down the long-standing tradition of dining Chinese when we travel around. 21.07 It was filling and tasty. Before we turned the steps home, we went shopping at FK, the Faroe Islands equivalent of a COOP store. FK is an abbreviation of Føroya Fssamtøka. We are now back in our room and will be finishing up today. In addition, tomorrow will be prepared. Unfortunately (to me) Björklöven won against Modo with 5-3. Now it's 3-3 in games. 22.29 Soon it will be time for lights out and to pull the covers over us. Tomorrow we start phase 3 of this trip when we will pick up our rental car.
Sculpture from 1971 in the center of Tórshavn.
Vestaravág (West harbour), Tórshavn.
Roberth and Christer enjoy a Chinese buffet at Seven.
Roberth is on his way home from shopping at FK.
Wednesday 20th of April
06.56 It's Wednesday morning at Hotel Djurhuus in Tórshavn. This is the day when we will start travelling in our own vehicle here on the Faroe Islands.
07.50 Roberth has just received a text message from the rental car company. Everything is clear with the car. That's good news. Now we just need to arrange so that we ourselves and the car are in the same place. 08.27 Now we have said goodbye to the yummy breakfast table here at the hotel. The coffee machine worked again. Now it's time to wrap up your stay in yet another room and hotel. 09.07 Here we are again at the bus station Farstøðin here in Tórshavn. The weather is good and something else that is good is that we are not alone waiting for a bus. 09.21 The bus with us and some (school) youngsters is on its way out of Tórshavn. Here's a thought I've had so many times over the years. Will I ever come back to this place on another trip? 09.42 At an Effo petrol station, where a litre of diesel costs DKK 11.40 (US$1.67), the young people and accompanying adults have switched to another bus towards Vestmanna. 10.11 We are at the airport again. It's time for the change of land vehicles. This is the third time on our travels that we will be travelling in a rented vehicle. We do not include bicycles. The previous car rental trips were in Iceland in 2014 and in the Azores in 2018. In addition, we have been driving around Sweden for the last two summers, but then the vehicle was Christer's.
Peter at Farstøðin (bus station) in Tórshavn.
Green landscapes and sun this Wednesday.
Peter gets off the bus at Vágar airport.
Roberth is on his way to the car rental.
We found our car.
Sørvágur.
10.21 We found the car rental offices here at the airport and also our office, AVIS Budget. Here, Roberth who rents the car and the woman who let him rent it are arranging the necessary documentation. Roberth joked about possibly not returning the car if he likes it too much. Then, in response, he received information about how difficult it is to get from the Faroe Islands by car.
10.34 Our rental car, a Kia Ceed with registration number GE 434, was found after a while out in the huge parking lot. Now Roberth is ready to start our journey. To save money, Roberth has offered to drive all the time. It costs extra for each additional driver. We can spend that money on something else. 10.42 We start by turning left from the airport to make a short visit to Sørvágur, a small town just a few kilometres away. 10.55 We have been looking for a café in Sørvágur. The ones we found, three pieces in total, were all closed. They are probably only open during the summer. We also saw an elderly woman with a coffee cup in a building at the ferry port. She was standing on a balcony that probably belonged to her home. We were almost on our way there to get our Eleven coffees. Sørvágur is one of the oldest villages in the Faroe Islands and has a population of 1,136. 11.20 Our car have rolled east and seen various beautiful views around Lake Leitisvatn, the largest lake in the Faroe Islands. A short stop has just been made at the beautiful church in Sandavágur. There was an Estonian man flying a drone. Did he document the views from above or does he just like to fly drones? According to a rune stone from the 13th century, Sandavágur was founded by Torkil Onandarson from western Norway. Today it has 957 inhabitants. 11.27 We have stopped in a parking lot to photograph a natural formation that looks some giant have used a knife you cut the ground. 11.35 Now that we are leaving the island of Vágar, it is time for us to travel in the first of many tunnels, the 4,9 kilometre long Vágar tunnel. This is a toll tunnel and we will have to pay for this later when the bill for the car arrives. It costs 100 Danish kronor (US$14.84) to go through it. The deepest point of the tunnel is 105 meters below sea level. 11.43 We got out of the long and dark tunnel and now drive in a shorter but equally dark tunnel. Now we are on the island of Streymoy. 11.54 A late eleven o'clock coffee is consumed at the petrol station Effo where the young people changed buses. I have a Cinnamon Snail (cinnamon bun) to my coffee. The other two chose a Danish each. Here in the Faroe Islands, the petrol stations always have a nice cafe part.
We are driving through Miðvágur.
The church in Sandavágur was built 1917.
Peter photographs nature.
Road 11 takes us down towards Vestmannasundet.
Roberth is driving through Vágatunnilin.
Coffee stop at Effo.
12.21 Roberth drives us on road 10 towards Eysturoy, East Island, the second largest of the islands here.
12.40 A sign pointed towards Leirvík and Roberth turned in that direction. 12.44 Another tunnel is completed. It is increasingly overcast in the sky. 13.00 Yet another tunnel took us to Leirvík. The town has 1,050 inhabitants and is an important fishing port. Archaeological excavations show that Vikings settled in the area in the 8th century and that there was a farm on the site from the 9th century. Leirvík has had a dramatic history. It is said that all the inhabitants, except for one woman, perished during the Black Death after 1349. In 1725, a smuggling ship came to the village with which the inhabitants exchanged goods, but which also brought smallpox. After a wedding in the village, all residents became infected and a large percentage of them died. 13.08 A trip through yet another toll tunnel, the 6,3 kilometre long Norðoyatunnilin took us to Klaksvík, the Faroe Islands' second largest city. It has 5,341 inhabitants. The tunnel we went through is longer than the tunnel we went through in Iceland. It is at its deepest 150 meters below sea level. Here in Klaksvík we are now going to look for a cafe or something like that. We'll see how it goes. We are now on the island of Borðoy. 13.45 Fríða Kaffihús (https://frida.fo (https://frida.fo) had a narrow range and high prices. Marietta turned out to be a bakery with no serving or places to sit. We continue to look for a good place. We can think of a lunch or a coffee break. 14.05 Hjá Frank offers pizza, burgers and strips. That's good. Unfortunately, they are not open. The bad and sad fact is that most pizzerias and similar restaurants in the Faroe Islands are not open during the day. Most of them open at 17.00. What do we do now? 14.11 Near the closed pizzeria we have seen Christianskirkjan and Djúpumýra Stadium, home of the football team KI Klaksvík, Faroese champions in 2019 and 2021.
Gøtu church has been targeted.
We drive past Sarpugerði. Here in Norðragøta, Víkingur play their football matches.
Klaksvík.
We have found the Faroe Islands equivalent to Systembolaget.
Christianskirkjan, Klaksvík.
Interesting art in Klaksvík.
14.32 It is getting brighter on the food front. Christer guided us to the bakery Amarant at the entrance to Klaksvík. Here we have a window table with sea view. Roberth has chosen smørrebrød, a classic Danish sandwich. He never had one in Copenhagen. I am just having a cheese sandwich.
15.31 Now that we have bought the upcoming dinner and breakfast at the supermarket Bónus, we travel further towards today's final destination. Our kind car locks the doors automatically. 15.57 We finished our stay in Klaksvík with a visit to Rúsdrekkasøla Landsins. It is the Faroe Islands equivalent of the Swedish Systembolaget, a liquor store. I bought two local beers. Roberth has invested in a bottle of wine. Now it's off to our next home. 16.11 After driving through two one-way tunnels with a green light at the entrance, we have now moved into apartment D at Lokk-Inn Apartments in the village of Norðdepil. Despite the tunnels, we are still on the same island, Borðoy. 16.54 One of the most important decisions of the day has been made. We all know where to sleep tonight. Roberth takes the sofa bed and Christer and I a bed each in a bedroom. 17.33 Roberth has brought life to our TV. In addition, two cars just arrived here. One of the cars is from Germany. Now we just wait for someone to get here so that we can pay for our stay before we go out for a walk. We prefer to be out of debt. 18.06 We are still waiting to pay. 18.33 A time proposal has been submitted by Christer via the message function on Booking.com. We'll have a visit around 20.00. Now we go out into the light for a while. In a binder here in the apartment are suggestions for things to look at here nearby.
Djúpumýra Stadium, home stadium for KI Klaksvík.
Roberth eats smørrebrød at Amarant in Klaksvík.
Lokk-Inn Apartments, Norðdepil.
Peter in our apartment.
A view towards Hvannasundet.
Roberth endures windy weather in Norðdepil.
18.37 With the assistance of Roberth, after many attempts, I managed to lock the door to the apartment. The handle should be lifted, pushed upwards to make it able to turn the key and lock.
18.58 The wind blows around us, on us, and the water rushes down the plain, the mountain side. We are at the abandoned settlement of Fossá. Here it is barren, but beautiful. Nearby there is also a school as well as a small stable with some horses. The view towards the Strait of Hvanna between the islands of Burðoy and Viðoy is magnificent and beautiful. 19.15 With the wind in our backs we walked home. We are now waiting for the transaction to take place. We can't stay here for free. 20.47 With joint forces we are preparing tonight's dinner. There will be pasta and sausages, simple but tasty. 22.05 On Netflix we, mostly Roberth and I, watch the movie Battle of the Schelde. It takes place in the Netherlands during the Second World War. Just now the hostess Irdi Jacobsen was here and got paid. In addition to owning these apartments, Irdi has a past as a politician. She was the mayor of Hvannasund. Other news is the fact that Jämtland basketball is in the SM final. This is positive news for Roberth and Christer, who both grew up in Östersund. 22.37 I have opened and tasted my first evening beer from the Faroe Islands, Rinkusteinur from the Okkara brewery. A little fact about the beer is that it is top-fermented ale that is aged with porous Faroese stones. The stones are heated to 800°C and then placed in the wort, where they then caramelize the brew. This process, combined with the specially selected hops, creates a unique spicy taste. 23.19 Darkness falls over the northern Faroe Islands. We look forward to tomorrow when we will explore more of this archipelago with the help of the car.
Skúlan á Fossánesi teaches the children a little geography during the break.
The uninhabited village of Fossá was visited by us.
Dinner at home this evening.
You can see 76 photos from April 18 in this photoalbum.
You can see 109 photos from April 19 in this photoalbum.
You can see 130 photos from April 20 in this photoalbum.