Faroe Island- Day 2

The next day we got our usual early start and headed out to do the Lake Sørvágsvatn hike. According to Sølvi, this hike used to get maybe 10-15 people a year. And then, one instagram picture of the optical illusion of a lake floating over the ocean blew up and a the next year thousands of people did the hike. This is a paid fee hike, but Sølvi does think it is worth it since the owner built a parking lot, but, picnic area, W/C, and improves/maintain the path.

The hike took Dana and I roughly 2 hours and was around 4.27 miles round trip. Overall, it is an easy, well-maintained hike through some beautiful green hills. We didn’t take the alternate path around the hill, but that could add probably another mile. We climbed down some rocks to the furthest point possible to get a good glimpse of the waterfall and lake. The famous shot that everyone sees definitely needs a drone, but I forgot to pack it. It was a great way to start our day with a little workout. I would recommend getting there early because by the time we finished the parking lot was a zoo. We also passed so many people on the way back.

After this hike, we made the long trek through the toll road again and all the way to Fossá Waterfall. The waterfall is one of the tallest waterfalls in the Faroes at 459 feet high and 2 levels. We viewed it up close and was still in awe at how big it was up close. There isn’t much parking close by, so be ready for that. We stayed around for a bit before we began heading out. During the gas fill up, we ran into the Land Rover club from the Netherlands and had a little chat about what we have been up to. We ended up following them to Eiði for a bit. While driving to Eiði, you can truly see how big Fossá is from across the way. At Eiði, we took look at the town from the viewpoint before continuing on the scenic route to Funningur.

The drive to Funningur was absolutely gorgeous. It is a narrow mountain pass but the landscape was absolutely worth it. Once we got to Funningur, we went into the town with the truck, and this is the first time in the Faroes where I felt like a giant in the truck. We barely fit and I had to turn around at one point. That was a multiple point u turn to get around. The town was in the middle of harvesting, so everyone was working it seemed. We took a quick peak at the chapel before we headed off.

The final stop we took before the campground was to Elduvík. Elduvík is another small village that had a beautiful view of the valley on one side and the sea on the other. This is where we decided to cook our lunch. It was this Danish frozen hot dog in bread, which were good but wasn’t the greatest thing we had since we have been here. We finally headed to our campground in Æðuvík. This was by far my favorite campground in the Faroes. It was right next to the ocean and a little farm. It was a little hard to get in touch with the owner, but we parked our truck and started to relax. Dana went to do the laundry while I worked a little. Turns out, the owner showed up and it was a cash only place. This was the first time I needed cash in the whole trip. Luckily, a friendly man from the Netherlands was short cash so he drove me to the ATM in town. We had a good chat about life and the vacation we were on. After work, I chatted with some friendly guys from Austria about everything off-roading. They loved my truck and wanted a tour of all the stuff about it. They had a modified Mitsubishi that they were planning on doing the F-Roads on in Iceland. After swapping with Dana on laundry, I also met a nice French man and his family. We chatted for a bit while he was waiting for the machine. Once the laundry was done, we had our dinner and enjoyed the rest of the night.

The next morning, we got up and headed to Navia in the town of Ness to go shopping for some wool items. We spent a good 30 minutes looking at the different wool they had and trying on some apparel. Faroes sheep wool is similar to Iceland wool where it is warm but a little itchy. It does well in wet environments and you don’t need to wash as much as it is “self-washing.” I ended up with a beanie that is much warmer than any other beanie I own. Dana ended up with a Faroes style sweater, and we bought my mom some wool to knit. Once that was done, we headed to the toll to Tórshavn. What is unique about this toll road is that it is home to the world’s first underwater roundabout. The 6.9 mile tunnel was open in 2020 and the roundabout is 72 meters under the sea. This tunnel helped cut the time to the capital from a 70 minute drive to only 35 minute.

Once in Tórshavn, we parked the car and set the time on our little clock sticker and began walking in the rain. We talked to the historic part of Tórshavn, Tinganes. Tinganes is the oldest part of Tórshavn and is easily recognizable by the grass roofed houses. It has been the center of power for the islands since the Vikings. Today, the Prime Minister’s office is in the area. On the ground, there are little gold dots for you to follow to walk around the neighborhood. There is also reminders that these are private residences, so it tells you not to just openly stare into windows and respect people’s privacy. It is a nice little area and a stark difference to the rest of the capital.

Afterwards, we went shopping at a fancy fashion design that Sølvi recommended, Guðrun & Guðrun. We actually spent more time in here than I expected, and Dana bought a lighter wool sweater. Afterwards, we decided to get lunch so we went to Bitin. Bitin is known for their take on the Nordic Open Sandwiches. I got the fish and chips and Roast Beef open face sandwich, while Dana got the fish open face sandwich and another fish sandwich. The interesting thing about the sandwiches were that they were all cold. The food was delicious and were glad we tried it. After that, we kind of ran out of things to do in the capital, so we headed to the ferry to check in early. We sat there for a couple of hours and killed time by chatting with other people about their trip and vehicles. Once the ferry finally arrived, we boarded it for our quick night trip to Iceland. Of course, we got our traditional soft serve in the bar before heading to bed.

Iceland Day 1-2

Faroe Islands - Day 1