Travel - Faroe Islands

What a thrill to visit the beautiful Faroe Islands! Our late June cruise re-routed here in lieu of Greenland which was too icy to traverse. However, this stop was amazing and I was quite happy to visit a place that hadn’t been on my radar.

The Faroe Islands is an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The drive to the Faroe Islands capitol Tórshavn from where we docked took about 15 minutes, thanks to the mostly underwater Eysturoy tunnel. Pre-tunnel completion, the drive would have taken an hour.

The Eysturoy tunnel (Eysturoyartunnilin) took almost four years to construct and opened on 19 December 2020. The tunnel connects the fjord Skálafjørð and Tórshavn with a subsea tunnel, which is 11 kilometres long. Both sides of the bay of Skálafjørður are connected using two tunnels that connect to a roundabout under the seabed at mid-bay.

Entrance to tunnel is thru the white arches seen in the image above. Each tunnel entrance has a minimalistic design attached to it. These white and illuminated arches are created by the renowned Faroese architect Eyðun Eliasen.

The roundabout (images above) also serves as a work of art. Local artist Tróndur Patursson has made an 80m-long steel ring sculpture with people dancing the traditional Faroese dance.

Similar to the buildings in our Norway port of call, there were many green roofs in the Faroe Islands, including some at the City Hall.

The pop of the brightly painted buildings against the natural background made it easy to photograph this picturesque place.