Faroes.0

Since I enjoy my work, and have plenty of outdoor fun in Scotland, I never feel that I "need" a holiday, but my trip to the Faroe Islands has come at just the right time - now that things seem settled with Mum. It only took 75 minutes to fly here from Edinburgh, and I got a brief glimpse of some dramatic landscape as we dropped through the clouds past these ragged cliffs. They weren't so close, but it's good to know that they have very advanced automatic landing systems for the days when the clouds are at sea level!

I'm here for the "Atjan Wild Islands Festival", which is four days of outdoor events, films and parties, arranged around a serious hill race on Saturday. I've come early because I want to see more, and because direct flights to/from Edinburgh are only on Mondays.

I'd arranged a lift from the airport (on Vagar island) with someone who is also here for the Festival, and we pretty soon got some better views of the landscape and characteristic turf-roofed buildings (see extras). We also experienced a few of the Islands' long tunnels through hills and under the sea.
 
I'm staying in the capital, Tórshavn (on Streymoy island), which has a population of 13,000 - about a quarter of the island. It's rather cute, with the oldest part being more/less individual buildings separated by narrow streets and alleyways. Even in my area - about 400m from the old area - the "blocks" in the town are about 50m long. Getting something to eat this evening wasn't easy, as most of the the few places that had been open closed at 21:30. Hence my first meal was an excellent shawarma and chips prepared for me by someone from - as he said - "Türkiye": the first time I'd heard it said that way!