We had one day at sea before arriving in the Faroe Islands. It was a pretty quiet day. I went to the lecture about the upcoming ports and the vegetable carving demonstration. It was another formal night, and Karl didn't want to dress up, so I went to the dining room and he went to the Lido buffet. After dinner we went to the show, which was Bobby Wilson, son of R&B singer, Jackie Wilson. We had seen him earlier this year when we were on the Rotterdam. He sings a lot of 50's and 60's songs and does imitations of other singers, like Little Richard and Elvis. We enjoyed the show very much.

The ship arrived in Torshavn ("Thor's hammer") in the Faroe Islands at about 8:00 AM . The day was predicted to be partly cloudy and in the 50's. We had scheduled a HAL tour called "Scenery of Northern Eysturoy". It started at 8:30, so we had a room service breakfast and then headed out. Our guide's name was Ejvind and he told us his regular job was at the local bank. He was allowed time off from his job to guide tours when cruise ships were in port (63 this year). His son, who was leaving for college shortly, was the guide on the other bus for the same tour. Ejvind gave us some history as we drove out of Torshavn and into the beautiful green countryside. The Faroe Islands were first inhabited by Irish or Scottish monks around 500 AD. This was followed by the Vikings around 900 AD and then the Hanseatic League used the islands for trading in the 16th century. Genetically, most of the Faroese can trace their lineage to the Vikings and to the Irish. The Vikings had conquered and settled in Ireland, so many of the women they brought to the Faroe Islands came from Ireland. The population of the Faroe Islands is about 50,000 . Torshavn is the largest city (pop. 20,000). The second largest city, Klaksvik, has a population of 4,000. The rest of the people live in towns and villages with populations that vary from 5 to 1000. Geologically, the islands are part of a large volcanic plateau that is 50-60 million years old. It was built by layer upon layer of volcanic ash and lava and then carved into the islands by successive glaciers during ice ages since then. The volcanic layers give the islands a unique look -- a little like a huge green layer cakes.

It was about a 50 minute drive from Torshavn to Eysturoy through the beautiful countryside dotted with farms, small villages and sheep. On the way we passed over the Sundini channel on what is described as the only bridge to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The trip was mostly on mountain roads with many hairpin curves. We saw one new installation of wind turbines and our guide told us the installation was featured in Discovery magazine because they are building a battery storage facility for the energy produced there . There are also plans to build a reservoir to pump water into when there is low electric demand that can then be used to produce electricity at peak demand times.

Upon our arrival in the small fishing village of Gjogv, we were treated to a snack of pancakes with rhubarb sauce and whipped cream. We then had time to wander around the village. Near the church was a statue that was both a memorial to a disaster and in honor of the village's response to it. In a terrible storm in 1870, half of the men of the village were lost. The village came together to care for the children who were left behind. The statue was of woman and two children looking out toward the sea.

On the way back we passed more beautiful scenery, made even more spectacular because the skies had cleared. We made a stop at the viewpoint for the Giant and the Hag, two very distinctive sea stacks next to a seaside mountain. The story is that a giant and a witch were sent to the Faroe Islands to drag them back to Greenland . They tied a rope around the mountain next to the sea and worked through the night pulling on the islands. They were so focused on their task that they didn’t realize that the sun was coming up and they were turned to stone when the sun’s rays hit them (same thing happens to trolls – trolls usually get caught in the sun when they have been drinking and partying all night).

After traveling the mountain road back toward Torshavn, we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking the city and its harbor. We got back to the harbor an hour or so before the all aboard, so Karl and I decided to walk into the city center. In the visitor center’s gift shop I found a little sheep and Faroe Islands flag for my Christmas ornament. I tried to buy a tiny pair of knitted wool mittens in another shop, but they didn’t take credit cards or US dollars. We saw several sculptures in town and the huge park bench. I had Karl climb up on the bench for a photo – and it made him look like a little kid with his feet dangling high above the pavement . We still had a little time after we got back to the harbor so we walked through the oldest part of the town, called Tinganes. There were lots of small wooden houses, some with sod roofs. The oldest structure there dates back to the 1500’s. The harbor itself was picturesque with its many small fishing boats. By the time we finished our walk, it was close to the time for the last pier shuttle back to the ship, so we (along with a lot of other passengers) waited at the bus stop. Nearby a teenage boy arrived on his bicycle and set up a little kiosk selling souvenirs. He had the little mittens I had tried to buy in the shop and when I asked if he took US dollars, he told me, "I take any kind of money." Quite the little entrepreneur!

We went to dinner in the dining room and then went to the show, which was Mariusz, an electric cellist. He was really very talented, but we didn’t care much for the type of music. We went to the movie, a comedy called “Erik the Viking”, but it was so dumb that we left after about 10 minutes. It probably wasn’t a bad idea to head to bed early as this is the first of 4 days in a row in port.