Exhilarating above Ground, Underground and Undersea: the Faroes Islands

In my view, the Faroes Islands are the last frontier country of Northern Europe.  Be prepared to a change of scenery, above ground as well as underground!  We will get to that later.  The islands are not yet swamped by tourists. 

30 years ago, I visited Iceland, and I was keen to compare the two Nordic countries. Iceland and the Faroes archipelago are both volcanic, but their likeness ends there.  Iceland volcanism is alive and well while it is dead and flat in the Faroes.  In the Faroes, the thick black basalt layers are quite old; the lava seeped through kilometers-long earth fractures 54 to 58 million years ago.  Following successive glacial periods, the erosion sculpted this mammoth basalt plateau into the rugged landscape which astounds us now.

This awe-inspiring scenery caught the attention of the James Bond franchise.  In the series’ last film, No Time to Die, the unfathomably scenic Kalsoy island was chosen as the backdrop for Bond’s demise.  Bond (Daniel Craig) is blown up to pieces by a missile over his nemesis’s hideaway island.  In the film, the island is fictionally located between Russia and Japan.  We didn’t trek to Bond’s tombstone but noticed the “Bond effect” in the nearby village of Trøllanes to the delight of the few locals.

The Faroes have more sheep (70,000) than people (54,411); the scruffy-looking sheep roam free everywhere.  In fact, the islands name may be derived from the name of sheep in old Norse.  The islands were settled as early as the 4^th Century before the first seafaring Vikings landed.  According to new research, DNA evidence comforts the Scandinavian origin of the Faroese male population, 87% have Viking origin.  But it is another story for the women! Faroese women show an 84% affinity with Scottish and Irish DNA, therefore Celtic.  Viking men sailed solo south, rounded up Scottish and Irish women and brought them to the Faroes.  Good to know that the Vikings lived up to their piracy and seducing reputation.  According to an anonymous medieval chronicler, the Vikings who were well groomed and regularly bathed “laid siege to the virtue of the married women” and abducted them.

Our first day on the islands was not for the faint-hearted, we sailed into the deep and narrow grottoes of the 700m high Vestmanna cliffs.  The cliffs are famous for seabirds, but we saw none.  Puffins and other guillemots had already migrated to warmer places.  September is too late for bird-watching, in their absence, I became fascinated by … tunnels.  

The archipelago population huddled in mainly tiny and isolated fishermen hamlets along the coast.  Now, islands and villages are linked by a network of ferries and tunnels.  Fishing is central to the Faroese psyche, but tunnels come a close second before sheep.  The tunnel craze started in the early 1960s.  Now, tunnels are gradually replacing ferries, and the Faroes Islands have more tunnels, 21 than islands, 18!  Subsea and under mountain tunnels have a combined length of approximatively 60 km.  Only 100 inhabitants live in James Bond’s Island, but it is the Faroes’ tunnel leader.  The ride in Kalsoy’s five ghostly single-lane tunnels delivers an adrenaline rush.  Tunnels have reached a national pride status, all the same, the thrifty islanders make sure that these tunnels make economic sense.  Older tunnels have already been paid for, and tolls are levied to pay for upkeep and fix the constant water leaks. The archipelago has also its own national airline.

The stunning beauty of the islands comes at a price. The Faroes are not for thrifty nature-loving travelers, 15% more expensive than the already expensive Iceland.  Accommodations, food and car rental are pricey, and like in other Nordic countries drinking is a luxury.  There are no McDonald outlets in the Faroes.  But, those ready to roll up their sleeves may enjoy a free stay on the islands!  Volunteers can sign up for Maintenance Days.  Once a year, during one weekend, many areas damaged by tourists are close for care and maintenance.  The Faroes model themselves on New Zealand, another unspoiled volcanic islands which has institutionalized this cleaning scheme.  Not surprisingly, this initiative is popular and heavily subscribed.

Coming out of a tunnel on our way to the airport, we drove by a narrow fiord, and spotted a pod of pilot whales serenely swimming close to the shore.  Were they the happy-few survivors of the last “grindadrap”? during which hundreds of pilot whales are corralled and slaughtered in a sea of blood.  The “grind” (for short) shows the Faroese people at their worst.  This gory ritual takes place many times in spring and early summer.  The most recent “grind” unfolded -provocatively- in front of a cruise ship full of conservationists!  Picture perfect! The government website describes the “grind” as “a cultural tradition to be maintained because it is a sustainable way to gather food and distribute it free to the population”. 

I knowingly travelled to the Faroes Islands.  Since the government is aggressively promoting “quality” tourism, I believe that this cruel tradition will eventually be curtailed.  At some point, the Faroese will understand, like many other people before them, that live animals are more valuable than dead ones.  Moreover, they may not be hungry enough to eat meat known to contained high levels of toxic substances.  In addition to this small pod of pilot whales, we spotted a gaggle of Snow geese.  So much for wild things during our week-long September visit.