Gems of the Faroe islands: 3 villages you don't want to miss
saksun faroe islands
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Gems of the Faroe Islands - 3 villages you don't want to miss

When I started working on the material for writing this post, it turned out that since they were one after the other in the trip, I'm writing about 3 small villages which are literally the gems of the Faroe islands, places which are jaw-dropping and if you have a limited number of days, be sure to pay them a visit!

Buttercup road to Saksun

I came back from Mykines and my next stop was Saksun which is considered one of the highlights in the Faroe islands and the road up there is marked up as a buttercup road (i.e Scenic road). The road itself, even before the "Scenic" part is awesome! But then you get into this narrow road and it's crazy!!

You find yourself in a wide valley, surrounded by tree-less mountains, sometimes you see a waterfall and I was lucky to see the sun shine which gives the grass a shiny green color.

Occasionally a vehicle comes across and you have to make your way across with these small "stopping bays". The road doesn't have so many curves but it is a bit hilly…

One time when I was didn't see too much ahead suddenly I saw a little lamb on the road! I hit the breaks but luckily he stood up and slowly cleared the way. The next pictures are from the "standard" road, just so you get the point.

Saksun

After about 1 hour driving I reached Saksun. You don't even know you're there since there isn't any sign, but the road kind of ends 🙂 . I parked the car and started wandering around. 

It's a cute little village with turf houses and a church, that is located at the tip of a fjord. Went for a short hike up the fjord… There are longer hikes you can do, but I didn't have enough time.

The views are inexplicable… it's like "serenity now" 🙂 . Got back to my car and I'm on the road again, now driving it from the opposite direction. 

Nice to meet you!

An evening in Torshavn

I stayed at Hotel Hafnia which is located close to the port, The room is decent with a single bed which is different than American rooms. I wend to the lighthouse which was not too far and then had dinner at Barbara.

The menu wasn't that clear. From looking at the prices I couldn't understand if these are entrees or main dishes. The waitress then explained that the concept is kind of like tapas so there are small dishes for one person and larger dishes for a couple. I had a few things but unfortunately I didn't write them down 🙁 . I do remember that the fish and dessert were good.

That was a great end to a wonderful day which started on a different island, with puffins, on to a short helicopter flight, an amazing drive and a nice dinner in the capital city 🙂 .

Tinganes – The old town

I started the next day with walking around Tinganes which is the historical part of Torshavn and the location of the parliament. It is considered one of the oldest parliament buildings in the world since it acts as one since the vikings reached the islands on 825 AD! One of the red houses is the prime minister's office!

טורסהאבן איי פארו

Kirkjubøur

After that short walk in Torshavn I decided to go to Kirkjubøur, an historical little village, 15 minutes south of the city. Although not marked as a buttercup road, it's a nice drive 🙂 . 

There's no way you can pronounce this name as the locals do because the K here sounds like a "ch", so it's something like "Chirchubor". Try to listen:

AThese are the places she's saying here: Kirkjubøur, Eiði, Funningur, Funningsfjørður

When you reach the town you see black houses with red window frames and grass roof tops. It's like out of a painting… Besides that, the village is right on the sea! By the way – if you have some spare time you can walk here about the 2 hours from Torshavn and take the bus back…

On the way to Gjogv

My next stop was Gjogv, pronounced something like "Jekf". Looked at the map and saw there are two ways. One which is the default one close to the sea and a nicer router higher on the mountain. I tried to make my GPS take my through the nicer one but it wasn't that simple because I couldn't find any village on that other road…

 
Risin og Kellingin

Further north I saw that I can add another buttercup road to my day, so why not right?! The direction was towards Eiði, which I can't even write how to pronounce it, maybe something like "Oye"? 🙂 .

The road is scenic and there's a soccer field (quite popular sport in the Faroes) in a crazy location. I didn't stop at the village itself, and continued east towards Gjogv. 

Gjogv

The meaning of the Gjogv in Faroese (yes, it is a language!) is "gorge" and when you get to that part you understand why. I stayed at the only place in the village and started walking around, checking every bit of the gorge. There's the main view point with a paved trail, but you can also check out higher options around.

 

What to do in the evening near a Faroe islands village

I had dinner at a quarter past 6 and had a lamb with potatoes that was really good! One of the "features" of traveling alone is that you have relatively quick meals… So at 7 PM I was done, and outside it's almost like daylight… 

I checked the weather forecast for the next day which wasn't so optimistic and said to myself that I should use the time while it's not raining. Funningur is a nice village just a few minutes away, so worth checking out.

You know how when you see something you just want more and more?? So that's what happened! I continued to another village named something like Funningur+fjord, that made perfect sense due to its location.

 

I got on another buttercup road and decided to stop. I was all alone and it was amazing, Just sat there and enjoyed the silence…

I got to Elduvik which had to be my final destination for the day since it was a dead-end road 🙂 . I went for short hike just to see the island in front of me, Kalsoy, with very interesting rock formations.

I think it's a good thing the road ended, cause otherwise I would have probably gone to another village 🙂 . Got back to Gjogv and went to the gorge again, to see it in different lighting conditions and so on.

More posts about the Faroe Islands

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