June 18 – More Fjords, Hospitality Visit

Today we are off to drive along more fjords and villages.

The first Fjord was Ivanna, looking much like the other fjords with salmon farms and tiny villages.

Along the drive we got a glimpse of Fugloy Island...one of the few that we are not visiting.

Our main destination is the village of Vidareidi, the northern-most village in the Faroes on the island of Vidoy. 

The village is in a valley at the base of Villingadalsfjall, some magnificent cliffs. 

On the far side of the cliffs is a massive sheer cliff, the tallest in Europe.  Unfortunately, to get there you need to hike several hours in rough terrain so we weren’t able to get there. 

However, there are awesome views of the tips of several other islands in the distance, Bordoy, Kunoy and Kalsoy. 

Then it was back down along the fjord and back through the towns of Klaksvik

and Hvannasund.

Ultimately we hit another very small stretch of Buttercup route on the island of Eysturoy.  

Mid-afternoon we had an appointment for a home hospitality visit (“heimablídni”) with Jákup and Lena Hansen.  

The Faroese phrase “heimablídni” translates directly as “home hospitality”. These visits allow visitors to enjoy authentic and intimate dining experiences in people’s homes. In addition to being served traditional homemade Faroese food, you have a chance to talk with them about Faroese live and to hear interesting stories that relate to that particular part of the country or village.

We were there mid-afternoon so instead of a traditional, local meal Lena served us tea and a homemade cake that was so delicious that we hardly bothered with the cookies.

The home was Jákup’s childhood home.  He still works as a shepherd and does some fishing.  But it sounds like his major source of income are these home visits.  Last year they hosted almost 3000 people in their home.  We had a lovely visit.

And they have an absolutely beautiful garden with many flowers in bloom.

We then headed off to Tóvshavn for the night. along a Buttercup route.

We didn’t have much trouble finding the hotel but parking was an issue since the hotel was being painted and their tiny parking lot was closed while the work was being done.  Fortunately we were late enough that we didn’t need to worry about the time limits as the time limits are lifted at 6:00pm. 

We had dinner in the café in the hotel as the nearby restaurants all seem to require reservations for dinner.