Cruise to Faroe Islands, Iceland and the Shetland islands
Day three Torshavn Faroe Islands
After a slightly bumpy night at sea we arrived in Torshavn, the capital City of the Faroe Islands, quite possibly the smallest capital City on the planet, but what it loses in quantity it makes up for in quality. Torshavn is a lovely town. Spotlessly clean, well ordered and efficient, with everything working. Not a single beggar or homeless person on the streets. Simply a town and community as it should be, exuding confidence and contentment.
The Faroe Islands are an autonomous independent country with their own flag, although still theoretically a dependency of Denmark. They have their own currency, the Faroe Islands Krona, although the Danish Krona is also accepted in all the shops.
A group of 18 islands with a population of 49,000 people. The main industry being fishing and fish processing, but with tourist related cottage industries sprouting at an ever increasing pace as the island group becomes ever popular on the cruise circuit and of course the airport, built by the Royal Engineers during WW2, increasing in popularity as an entry destination.
The history of the island group can be traced back to the discovery by Irish hermits who arrived here prior to the landing by Danish Vikings in the first half of the 9th century, who, both settled here and used the islands as a stepping stone to further discoveries in Iceland, Greenland and indeed North America where they landed some 600 years before Columbus got lost and stumbled on the Caribbean islands in the 15th century. Calling them the West Indies as he actually though he was sailing to India.
Until the late 19th century the Faroese were mainly sheep farmers before turning to the sea for their lively hoods where now there is a thriving fishing industry which includes fish farming based in the many sheltered fiords cutting into the land masses of the islands. They have one of the best broad band systems on the planet with an amazing range of 80 miles out to sea.
So after a very pleasant day in Torshavn with multiple capachinos being consumed as I took advantage of the excellent ( and free) wi fi in one of the many cafes in the town, we have now cast off and underway to Iceland, land of fire and ice where we have several ports of call with an overnight in the capital Reykjavik.
Bob Costello 