Sightseeing in Eysturoy
 Photo Album: Northern Eysturoy |
The sun was shining and the weather was nice when I woke up this morning, so I decided to do some sightseeing. By the time I had finished breakfast the sun was no longer shining, so I put off the sightseeing and did some shopping first.
This afternoon I drove around the northern part of Eysturoy, the island where I am living. Some of these places I have photographed many times, so you may have already seen similar pictures, but these photos are all new ones, from today. The town of Funningur is surrounded by high mountains, and in fact, it is at the foot of the tallest mountain in the Faroes. Today, the top of Mount Slættaratindur (882 meters) was in the clouds. All of the roads in this part of the island have just one lane, with periodic turn outs for passing other cars. The road from Funningur going toward Eiði zigzags up the side of the mountain, with very steep hills or cliffs on one side of the road.
Eiði is the town where I stayed on my very first trip to the Faroe Islands. Somewhere on the hillside in the picture of the Eiði church, you can sort of see the hotel where I stayed. The Faroese have names for all of the large rocks around the islands. The two rocks to the north of Eiði - Risin and Kellingin - are part of an old tale about a giant and a witch who tried to tow the Faroe Islands to Iceland, but they were turned to stone by the rising sun. (I may not have this story exactly right - sorry.)
The islands of Eysturoy and Streymoy are quite close together, and the bridge between the two islands is not very long.
February 19th, 2006 at 7:29 am
I’m enjoying your descriptions and dramatic pictures!