This time, we’ve headed away from the heat of a Scottish Summer – to the Faroes. Edinburgh is the only place in the UK with direct flights to the Faroes; so we made the most of it! 

After an easy flight, we arrived at the airport – ours was the only plane on the tarmac as we arrived. It’s not the busiest airport in the world!

If you’ve not really come across the Faroes before, they’re North West of Scotland – about halfway to Iceland. They are part of the Kingdom of Denmark – so the Danish Kroner & Faroese Kroner are 1:1 & both can be spent (in both, though few Danish shopkeepers know, apparently). However, like the UK / Channel Islands links with the EU, while Denmark is in the EU, the Faroes aren’t; I’m enjoying only getting online in the hotels – not out and about. 

The only plane

After picking up the car, we headed to Tórshavn- the capital. As the Faroes consist of 18 inhabited islands (not sure how may are uninhabited) we had to get from Vagar – where the airport is, to Streymoy – via an undersea tunnel. 

The roads are pretty empty, (sheep are the main danger) – which is always good for the first time driving in a hire car on the wrong side of the road. 

We got rather lost as we approached (the trusty sat nav that covers Western Europe seems to miss out on the Faroes. It knew Tórshavn was the nearest town, but totally bemused about how to get there. Lack of internet on the phone (it being far too pricey outside the EU), meant we had to rely on paper maps! (That weren’t very accurate). Luckily, the place is tiny, and Janine had a rough idea of the side of the town we should have been on – so we figured it out. 

The hotel had wonderful views towards Nolsoy, a small island off the coast. We, however, headed off to find our first meal. It was a tasty meal, albeit one with somewhat haphazard service. Two meals arrived, but it transpired they’d muddled two orders up; so Janine’s and another woman’s meal came; while my lentil steak & the other woman’s friend’s lentil steak had been forgotten (along with the cheese for Janine’s cheeseburger. The two lentil steaks arrived, just as two more women were ordering – another lentil steak, while her friend wanted the felafel. As we were about to leave, the chef popped out to say to her … we’re out of felafels – would chicken do instead? She wasn’t veggie, so it would. As we left, her friend was still waiting for the lentil steak. 

Meals aside, it’s a very attractive small capital, the smallest in Europe, if you exluded places like San Marino & the Vatican. They’ve got the famous grass roofed houses right in the city centre; and it’s so quiet. 

Flag of the Faroes

Tórshavn Harbour