The Viking trail is a path of settlement followed by farmers, warriors, fishermen, and herdsmen from Scandinavia. The trail goes from Scandinavia, through the northern British Isles and Ireland, to the Faroes and Iceland, Greenland and finally to Canada. In the seventh century population pressures and a shortage of arable land began encouraging people to emigrate from Scandinavia. One of the places they settled was the Faroe Islands.
The Faroes are a ruggedly beautiful group of islands in the north Atlantic midway between Norway and Iceland and north of Scotland. They can be reached by ferry from the Shetlands, Iceland, and Norway. There are direct and connecting flights to all these points from Seattle.
The Faroes are basically treeless with almost no native land mammals. The variety of bird life and sea life however is astounding. Puffins, kittiwakes, and lesser auks are common while in the ocean seals and pilot whales abound. The Faroes have achieved infamy in the last twenty years or so due the continuing custom of communal pilot whale hunts. A pod of whales will be driven close to shore where they are speared. Unless you're a fan of blood and gore, you'll probably want to avoid this relic of an earlier time.
The capital and largest city of the Faroes is Torshavn. The town which is about a thousand years old is fairly compact and easily walkable. Like most other Scandinavians the Faroese are a bit reserved and quiet when you first meet them, but once they get to know you they become warm and very friendly. Meeting the friendly locals is one of the highlights of a trip to the Faroes.
If you want to learn more about the history and culture of the Faroes the Formminnissavn is a good place to visit. This museum has some good exhibits on the viking past of the Faroes, original farming and fishing methods and other historical data. Also for a good understanding of the flora and fauna of these north Atlantic islands visit the Naturugripasavn the natural history museum.
Skansen is an old fort on the harbor which was built to protect the harbor from pirates. It served a dual purpose of enforcing the king's restrictive trade monopolies since no one who had not paid the extensive trading fees could get into the harbor to deliver their goods.
Two of the oldest buildings in the Faroes are Munkastovn, an old monastery, and Legibuthin an old warehouse for trade. In walking around you can see many brightly painted turf roofed buildings. If you are interested in art the Listgallerith and the Listsavn Foroya are both interesting and feature Faroese artists.
If you're interested in trying some of the local Faroese delicacies such as puffin (which actually doesn't taste like chicken by the way, more like a fishy liver) or wind dried mutton go to either the Hotel Hafnia, or the Hotel Foroya. The Hotel Hafnia also has a great seafood buffet. Surprisingly it is difficult to find seafood in most less expensive restaurants. Since much of the economy is based on fishing, maybe it's all exported.
Some stunning scenery lies outside the towns in the Faroes. The Vestmanna bird cliffs are teeming with many different types of birds including puffins, razorbills, kittiwakes, fulmars, guillemots, and gulls. Locals offer boat tours of the area around the cliffs and the sea caves at their bottoms. Historically Faroese men used to rappel down the cliffs to collect eggs, an important food source in this isolated land. Looking down from the top, you'll have to admit, they must have been hungry.
There are some good hikes in the Faroes such as the hike up the 2000 ft. Hafjall on the outskirts of Klaksvik. The views are very nice and you can reward yourself for the climb by visiting the Foroya Bjor brewery to sample the product. On the island of Mykines a great hike is to the lighthouse, a two hour trip, which passes some steep cliffs and teeming bird colonies. Since you are never far from the sea in the Faroes, just about any hike abounds with dramatic views of the ocean, other islands and clouds.
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