Two hours before we disembarked for our brief Faroe Islands diversion, I was quite certain that I would be spending another day locked away in our cabin, as I was during the visit to Akureyri, and the sea day that followed, thanks to a very unwelcome stomach bug. But toast from the Eclipse breakfast buffet had some unexpected healing properties, and I suddenly felt almost human… just in time to make our date with Klaksvík.
Weeks earlier, I had e-mailed the Faroe Islands tourist board, after finding nothing more helpful than “Please call the tourist centre for more information about our tours” on their website. The fact that their reply arrived two weeks later somehow didn’t come as any surprise – it seems quite appropriate that things move more slowly so close to the Arctic Circle!
To be fair, it was not a half bad reply. The local tourist office had organised a number of tours specifically to accommodate Eclipse guests. Lured by the promise of coffee and “bisquits” on board, we opted for wildlife viewing by traditional Faroese boat.
It might have been fun… but having been ill for the past couple of days, I didn’t fancy being cooped up on a small boat floating around choppy seas for three hours.
So instead we walked, and the fact that we clocked up nearly 10k was testament to the fact that I was obviously on the mend.
Klaksvík is a pretty town. You do wonder where people go to do stuff though! It is the Islands’ second city (after the capital – Torshavn – 79km away), but the infrastructure you’d expect for a ‘city’ with that standing was nowhere to be seen.
We saw a post office, a police station, two primary schools, one secondary school, two hair salons, several garages (many catering for boats), a bakery, a cafe, a museum (tiny!), two small supermarkets.. and that’s about it. There must have been a bank – surely – and where was the library, the town hall, government buildings, dental surgeries… a hospital?!
Well they obviously manage. Everyone seems to have a car, and many of the houses look very new and well-appointed. There is very little flat land, so rather than kicking around a football or playing tennis, it would appear that Faroese kids burn off their energy trampolining. There’s one in the front or back garden of nearly every house!
It might not be a dull place to live though, if only because of the weather. Our arrival into Klaksvík was delayed by more than an hour due to low cloud making it impossible to dock. An hour later – as we were leaving our cabin to head for shore – we had bright sunshine; 20 minutes after that, as we stood quay-side waiting for the shuttle bus, it began to rain. And once that abated it was of course replaced by gale-force winds!
Perhaps only the tourists really care though – eighty percent of employed Faroe Islanders are involved in the fishing or farming industries, and the sheep certainly aren’t put off by a bit of wind or rain!
