What brings you to the Faroe Islands? we asked two friendly ladies strolling by the sea at Tinganes one beautiful Monday evening in early June.
“We’re stopping over a few days in the Faroe Islands on our way to Iceland,” Elke, from the Stuttgart region in southern Germany, answered, with Ursula, from the same part of the world, nodding with a smile.
“We love Iceland,” they noted.
So they had taken the Norröna to Iceland more than once before, but for the first time they had now opted to explore the Faroe Islands for just about three days, waiting for the ferry to return from Hirtshals, Denmark, for the trip to Iceland.
“We like the landscape in Iceland and in the Faroes and the fact people are so relaxed. You can go hiking and we’ve done camping; we’re here with our campers.”
‘More like a parking lot’
The Germans added that they were surprised over how many tourists that opted to stop over in the Faroes, and how crowded the campsite in Tórshavn turned out to be.
“We were lucky that we had booked our place there beforehand; but maybe you should do a little bit more for campers!”
I beg your pardon?
“How about making it a bit more nice and pleasant, instead of, you know, this is more like a parking lot.”
“I think it’s probably a case of not really having thought it through,” Ursula argued, “perhaps creating really attractive campsites is not something that people in the Faroes are very much used to or being aware of?”
You’ve tried other campsites here?
“Not really,” Elke replied. “We’re only staying until Wednesday so we’re not looking to switch campsite with so little time.”
So what you’ve been up to and how’s it been—are you enjoying it?
“Oh yes, absolutely. We’ve been on guided tours instead of driving around with our campers and it’s been fantastic. We went to Kirkjubø today and then went to the north to see the Fossá waterfall and then to see the Risin and Kellingin sea stacks and from there to this little town called Gjógv with the gorge and all that. Then on our way back we took the undersea tunnel with the roundabout. It was great. Also we took an old mountain road with a fantastic view.”
Apparently the ladies like Nordic places for experiencing the natural environment; they said they enjoy the fact that it doesn’t get too hot here in the summer compared to southern Europe. There you go.