The Faroe Islands
“Huddled in the North Atlantic between Iceland, Scotland and Norway, the Faroes — an 18-island archipelago and self-governing nation within the Kingdom of Denmark — captivates visitors the instant they land at the airport on the island of Vágar. Silence saturates the emerald green slopes and basalt cliffs. Sheep roam the grassy expanses that are sliced vertically by dark rocky threads caused by the erosion of streams. It’s hard to keep your eyes focused on the road as you behold a gauzy mist swirling around the mountains, veiling deep gorges, wide fjords, occasional turf-roofed dwellings and waterfalls.”
Via New York Times
In July and part of August, I traveled via Iceland/Copenhagen to the Faroe Islands for a photography workshop. The description above doesn’t begin to describe the breathtakingly silent beauty of these islands. During my inbound flight, I sat next to a Faroese family returning from Copenhagen who travel several times a year to Europe’s mainland to get a reprieve from the cool temperatures and rain of their homeland summers. Vema shared some of her chocolates with me as we chatted during the two hour flight to the tiny airport on Vágar. She told me that many young people go off to college in Denmark, but often times return home after their university years are finished. Vema said the growth over the past 30 years has been tremendous, and there new tunnels being built to connect even more remote islands. She also said I was arriving just in time for the yearly festival, a celebration of the islands culture complete with music, food, dance and local traditional clothing.
