The answer is simple, exercise. Physical exercise is important and in today’s world telling that to someone is like undermining their intelligence. The amount of information available to us at our fingertips keeps up well connected with the latest Gym in the area or Yoga studio ( the most popular route everyone seems to be taking) but no one ever talks about exercising the brain. I am saying this based on the ignorance that people regurgitate on the most popular platforms available to the “idiot” world. It has proven that they might be physically fit, but mentally they are so stunted that if the brain was a separate entity all together looking from the outside at the body, being the separate entity- the body would probably be so embarrassed to house such a weak muscle that it would take a surgical knife and slice it (i.e. the brain) off itself, rather than be associated with it.
Get it? People are daft, and it is not their fault. Well, it is in a way because they are not doing anything about exercising that one part of their body that helps them act in a way that would distinguish them from the “idiots”. Playing candy crush isn’t = exercising the brain. Everyone seems wants to be an idiot since they are in the majority. It’s very acceptable( in their “idiot” world) to be an idiot and be with the masses than to be an individual with a thinking brain, a logical brain and stand apart.
Now, I have a fix for those individuals that house the ‘idiot’ brain. It is a simple fix and it is something that works. It works for all levels of “idiot” brain holders. Just like when we exercise our body, there are different resistance levels we can challenge our body to test it to its max capacity. The same way we can put our brain thought different levels of tests, to exercise it and to polish it to become sharp, like the rest of the exterior. I would suggest reading books on psychology so you can understand the brain and how it functions, but that would be giving too much credit to the “idiot” brain. Instead I suggest-
WRITING and exercising CONTROL i.e. you’ll see
Everyone is capable of it. Everyone at every “idiot” level of the brain they house can come up with writing down their thoughts, ideas, aspirations, vile notions of grandeur and self-righteousness. It can all be written down. The catch here is – DO NOT SHARE IT ON THE “IDIOT” SOCIAL PLATFORM. Why? Because you already are shining bright like the “idiot brain” star that you are. We are working towards making you smarter and stronger – as strong as you are physically, mentally as well. For that you will need to learn self-control and polish up your thoughts so they end up coming across some bit intelligent as there is no dearth of “idiot thoughts” out there, seeing as we have already determined that the world majority likes to associate themselves with the “idiot” brain rather than the intelligent YOU.
Get it? Keep your written thoughts to yourself, no one needs to know of them. I am now going to be a paradox and make this public. Just because I live in the “idiot” world and anything goes…
The unique feature of The Faroe Islands is that there are no trees on this island. All the trees that one sees have all been planted by the Faroese folks. That makes Kunoy Forest all the more a special place to visit, as seeing such a cluster of trees you would never doubt that this island has no trees. There is a nice walk through the forest, the quiet of this place will make you hear the sound of your own heartbeat- strong and happy, just like this place is.
As we were driving, hunger pangs were getting harder to contain and just like that out of the blue, driving around by the ferry docks we stumbled upon The Cafe old school. Run by volunteers in the village of Norodepil, in an old school that still has the same furniture from 1932 and world map from yesteryears. Met Myrna, who went to this same school as her mum, and was taught by the same teacher who taught her mother.
Sweet Myra, outside The Old School Cafe
The municipality asked for the community to put forth an idea on how to utilize this school that was no longer in commission. People put in suggestions and the idea to turn it into – an old school cafe won the prize. The community just didn’t want this idea to simply fizzle off so they decided to employ kids to run the cafe and earn a wage during the summer months between 1:30 pm- 5:30 pm. There is no set advertisement in place except for a Facebook and an Instagram page. My suggestion is to go visit the Faroe Islands and grab a bite of the most delicious chocolate cake served with vanilla ice cream and deliciousness of Cappuccino to keep you going till your dinner time.
Day 7
Fuglafjordur- Runavik- Toftir
Overcast day, chatting with Jon came to know that in Fuglafjordur at 3 pm- 5 pm there will be a rowing competition taking place between regional teams. It was lovely to witness it perched over the rocks by the pier overlooking the Fjord.
The dull overcast skies were brightened by the energy of the involved people and visitors from other nearby villages. The cheering was contagious and we joined into the celebration by picking the underdogs and cheering for them and then moving on to the winners and cheering equally hard for them! Both girls and boys teams were equally pumped and ready to hit it hard, rowing towards the finish line with strength and fervour.
We decided to have lunch at Mccafe in Runavik, run by a gentleman from Bangladesh who got married to a Faroese woman whom he met in the UK. The Faroe Islands aren’t open to immigration but the people from outside who end up making this place their new home, not only adopt the Faroese way of living but also their mannerism. People here seem to have a hard time saying no and they shyly bow their heads and look up at you with these puppy eyes, almost apologizing for denying you something they can’t provide you with. We literally help them out by saying – it’s ok if it isn’t available or it’s ok if you don’t have it or it’s ok if you can’t provide me with it.. so on and so forth. We finished off the evening by walking around Lake TOftir and getting my hands on the Puffin.
I finally found a puffin.
Well, I stole it. Nothing new there, anyone who has any information on my past knows that it shouldn’t come as a shock. To set the record right- no, I am not a thief, I have a strong maternal instinct towards birds and have in my yesteryears my own fair share of successfully raised bird babies. This time though it was a puffin drawn on a stone so that makes it an immortal puffin. It was lying under the rock with a few other painted rocks and I decided that it was calling out my name and was only fair for me to take it back home with me. So I did! I broke the most important thing this Island runs on- TRUST. This is the problem they will face if they ever open this island for immigration- that’ll be the first thing that they’ll lose, the very thing that has kept them so pure for the past so many years!
I am sorry Faroese folks.
This vacation will be re-lived by looking at the gazillion pictures I have of this “one of a kind” vacation spot some people are lucky to call Home! We spend 14 days in this beautiful place and the feeling we departed with, led us to make a very important decision in our lives. To be able to live in a place where people come to vacation. It isn’t possible to immigrate to The Faroe Islands, but that shouldn’t stop you from finding your own happy place in your country of residence. We fear change and that is more to do with the uncertainty and the feeling of being uncomfortable. BUT, when you commit to transforming your life, you commit to getting uncomfortable over and over again.
The good thing is that we don’t know where life is taking us hence we are never lost.
This place transformed me, visit The Faroe Islands and I guarantee you, it’ll transform you!
The hike from Saksun to Tjornovik is a must and these two places were the ones that I kept for a clear day to explore again. The last time we went to Saksun it was almost impossible to enjoy the beauty of this secluded place, due to the low cloud cover and dense fog. It was a very sunny day and we decided to forego the full hike from one village to the next, and instead decided to climb the summit of the mountain towering over Tjornovik and then do the same in Saksun, leaving the easy inside trek to other hikers. While in Saksun, we went up the waterfall, with tom making it to the very top and I decided to head back over to cover every angle in pictures of the old turf roof houses. Once we were reunited again we decided to explore the old church and then make our way down to the strand. The tide was out and it was possible to walk all the way to the mouth of the ocean where water would be dominating later during the evening. The problem was, how to go down to the strand. It seemed if we could simply climb down the mountain, it would be a better idea than to drive over to the opposite end to where we were and then walk to the beach. The church was open to tourists but the land beside the church had been cordoned off with a thin rope, holding a wooden placard directing the visitors to – “keep off the grass”. Fair enough, we thought let’s go through the church and then jump over the 6-foot wall, this way we will avoid walking over the grass on the side it tells us to stay off. Also, there seemed to be a walking pathway well-paved leading us to the end and stakes in the grass – in my opinion, pointing us the safest way down. Perfect.
WE jumped over and ended up walking downhill only to realize that there was water at the base of the mountain and it was only possible to get to the back strand by driving over the other side. We made a U-turn and headed up the mountain again. At the top, as we were carefreely walking to exit this – Stay off the grassland, this young man in dark green wellies seemed to be walking with conviction in our direction and I jokingly said to Tom, here comes the angry farmer of Saksun. Before I could say anymore, we heard a barrage of insults thrown at us that ended with -: “ THIS IS NOT ******* DISNEYLAND”.
We felt like this sheep, and the farmer was the boogeyman
I wanted to take that canon (my camera) and start shooting everything but that would have only made the situation worse. We were in the wrong and there was no excuse around it, we apologized profusely and accepted full blame for our bad decision and hopped over the defense line. The hot-headed farmer took one final dig at us and then jumped in his red van, missing windscreens in the front and the back with banged-up side view mirrors. He turned the van around and waited, waited as we made our way slowly towards the other side. He wasn’t eyeing us anymore, his eyes were fixated on someone else. A group of 3 blond women who were approaching the entry line, a place they shouldn’t even be looking at. They read the sign – Keep off the grass, and were about to step over when both tom and I shouted in unison – DON’T DO IT!!!!
The girls – But why?
US- Just DON’T
The Girls- Why not?
US- You see that man, he is going to verbally blast ye, So DON’T DO IT. The land belongs to him.
The farmer gave the girls one last look and zoomed off towards the single road that led directly to his house, overlooking the church, a perfect spot from where he can spy on anyone disrespecting his land, That wasn’t it, we watched as he sped off but was waved down by a group of Japanese visitors. We saw an exchange between the tourists and the farmer and then ..then we watched. The tourists did not move for a good 40 seconds after the farmer left. We could only imagine what transpired between the two parties.
The Japanese visitors – Konichiwa, can we go up this road to the house at the end of this road?
The angry farmer- Stay off my land! THIS IS NOT ******* DISNEYLAND
The angry farmer of Saksun was a young man who takes pleasure in being infamous and doesn’t shy away from expressing his frustrations to the visitors and the tourist board. It took me less than a minute to get every information necessary on him
His name
His wife’s name
His child’s name
His 4 border collies well trained to keep people away from the public road which is only open to residents to drive on
His phone number
His wife’s phone number
Their address of-course
Other incidents the farmer has gotten over with the visitors, which involved the exchange of money.
Him trying to run people off the road
Facebook is a special place, it’s like a database available to the world that gives you all the access you need into the life of any stranger, without them ever knowing about it.
To conclude this chapter today lets just re-read the heading. Art of peeing in cornflakes. It’s very simple. Find a person’s trigger point by simply going on Facebook and do exactly what they wouldn’t want you to do. In this case, in all honesty, had Jon not casually mentioned the angry farmer of Saksun, I would have left the Faroe Island’s a bit disappointed in seeing the behaviour of one man that didn’t merit so much expression of negative emotion from him but, since I was made aware of this character, his appearance only made my trip a trip to remember.
What a packed morning, I have been a busy bee! Time to churn out those memories on to the laptop. Here we go.. It is titled day 5 but it is a combination of day 5/9 and day 14. I have a good mind of ceasing my Faroe Island diaries after day 7, seeing how everything around me is slowly shutting down due to the impending apocalypse. I intend to veer off in a different direction, av yet to determine where it’ll point towards. 10/4 on that! Let’s get day 5 underway. The title doesn’t make sense today, but it will tomorrow, trust me
DAY5 – Torshavn – Saksun and the farmer
Today was the day we finally decided to pay our visit to the capital of the Faroe Islands. Torshavn. The motive behind visiting the capital was less to do with sightseeing but more to do with finding a hairdresser who could tame Tom’s wild mane. The haircut is so overdue and we have had no luck even finding any cafe’s in little villages, finding a barber or a hairdresser is next to an impossible feat. There is no dearth of hairdressers in Torshavn, that much is certain. We found 7 of them within a 50 yards radius from each-other except all of them required for us to book a prior appointment. There were no barbershops, a possible business venture?
After doing the regular touristy walk around the town we settled into this delicious smelling Chinese Restaurant. That’s right, the food was so enticing that it was impossible to walk past it would shoving some in that hungry gut. The owner of the restaurant was this lovely petite Chinese woman called May, from the village of Hangzhou. She was very proud to talk about her village and her Oma, who would prepare food and tea for people simply passing by the village on their way to exploring the rest of the nearby towns/ villages. I promised her that I would go and visit her Oma, just for authentic food in my belly. May was more than thrilled for that to happen.
The Art of Peeing in Cornflakes
It was a quiet afternoon, we had just returned from a nice hike and were done filling our tummies with healthy nutritious lunch. Tom decided to relax in our comfortable room while I decided to sit in the common living room of our Airbnb accommodation, going over the plan of action for the day after. FirePro ( Flovin, Jon’s son) had just ambushed me in the living room and shot another – How to learn video- on how to make a box out of anA4 sheet. It was a very educational experience, might I add.
Jon ( the owner of the Airbnb) came over with a cup of coffee in hand and we got discussing the beauty of the Faroe Islands, how impressed I was with everybody, how we were treated as customers and the kindness of the Faroese people. I was in a euphoric state of mind as since the past week or so all we experienced was the good in people and it somewhat seemed surreal to be blessed to visit a place where everyone seems to be happy and in control of their emotions. Kids run around playing till 1 am, adults have a healthy lifestyle. The Faroese food, even though it costs an arm and a leg, is well worth trying. Jon being the mellow and intelligent man he is told me that the first murder that took place on the Faroe Islands was in the 1960s, after a good run of over 400 years of no murders… We discussed how trust amongst people is still very much an important trait, which keeps everyone very respectful towards others, in every respect. Something that is lacking in our society today.
Since the 1960’s there have been around 10 murders, the last one involving a Croatian man who was going around with a Faroese woman, who killed her ex-boyfriend to somehow acquire the family land. Well, that murder, in my opinion, doesn’t count as it was a foreigner doing the act and not the Faroese. We discussed how mental illness is very low stuck in the Faroes and that if ever we happened to somehow miraculously move here, that Tom would be out of a job. Happy people don’t really need help in learning how to be happy. They just are.
Jon wanted me to have a very realistic view of the Faroes, although agreeing that there is 98% of good in his homeland, there however exists a handful of nasty ones as well. A few jealous boyfriends, some senile old people and then the farmer from Saksun who is notorious for shouting at the tourists, “ this is NOT Disneyland”. We discussed and agreed that if a person’s personal rights are infringed upon, obviously one has to be ready for the consequences that might follow. Nothing could change my mind about the Faroe Islands. I am in love with it, ever since I laid my eyes on the pictures of this magnificent place in some travel magazines and then the internet and then books in bookstores under the travel section. Wanting to visit for the past few years and finally getting the chance of doing so and soaking it all in.
A glimpse into a jam-packed day!
It was the day to discover the man island of Kalsoy. Woke up early enough, filled our tummies and we headed off to Klaskvik on the neighbouring island of Bordoy. It’s advisable to get to the ferry station early enough as the ferry only holds about 16/17 vehicles. The first row is for the citizens and the 2-3-4 for the tourists, buses, etc. We got in 2 hours prior to our departure time of 10 am. Got over to the island in less than 20 mins. Getting off the Ferry was quite something. The cars are lined in a very specific way as they are gestured in by the ferryman. The same way they are instructed in, they are instructed out.
Exploring Klaksvik before boarding the ferry station on the opposite side
Well, we were waiting for our turn but then this car lined parallel behind us decided he wanted to get out first. The ferryman gestured us to wait and started instructing this white Toyota out. When the car came neck to neck with us, we realized there was no driver in it. The ferryman noticed it at the same time as us. With his two hands holding the car in place, while his colleague went around looking for the driver of this white Toyota, he gave us a little head nod of disbelief. Of course, it was a woman!! I had predicted it, I am a woman, yes and I am going to say this. Women are the worse drivers ever. They won’t cause crashes but they will, however, cause daft mistakes that might lead to a blunder and they probably wouldn’t even know of the damage they caused coz they will be so oblivious. Miss Curley tops came down and finally turns off her engine and put her car in park! Our side-view mirror barely managed to live.. and we decided to stay the hell away from her and drove out, on our way over to to the village of Trollanes ( way up north).
Parked the car in the tiny village and hiked our way over to the Kallut lighthouse. The weather was treacherous and the hike fairly intermediate. let’s just say it kept us on our toes with the heavy winds either pushing us forward or pulling us back. We were at the lighthouse in less than 45 mins… couldn’t stay long as there was no point being slapped mercilessly by the winds. Enroute I met this black sheep, who by far is the most defiant little creature I met. Normally you can never get in very close proximity of sheep, I was convinced that he was blind as I was in touching distance – almost at an arm’s length from him. He definitely wasn’t blind as whenever I would extend my arm out to touch him or even gesture to touch him, he would move an inch backward but would never keep his eyes off me.
Clicked this picture right in his face, no zoom needed- he was quite brazen, or maybe it was me Afterall, I was the one visiting his territory!
We had a face-off and in the end, we both decided that it was enough time wasted at staring at each other. The lighthouse hike is lovely, it is short enough and keeps your focus all throughout as certain areas need your attention and skill. Way down was faster and of course easy enough and it was time to head over and say hello to the Selkie. The seal woman or the selkie is a steel statue of the seal wife, right on the Mikladalur harbor.
This is the story of the Selkie :
The legend of Kópakonan (the Seal Woman) is one of the best-known folktales in the Faroe Islands.
Seals were believed to be former human beings who voluntarily sought death in the ocean. Once a year, on the Thirteenth night, they were allowed to come on land, strip off their skins and amuse themselves as human beings, dancing and enjoying themselves.
A young farmer from the village of Mikladalur on the northern island of Kalsoy, wondering if this story was true, went and lay in wait on the beach one-Thirteenth evening. He watched and saw the seals arriving in large numbers, swimming towards the shore. They clambered on to the beach, shed their skins and laid them carefully on the rocks. Divested of their skins, they looked just like normal people. The young lad stared at a pretty seal girl placing her skin close to the spot where he was hiding, and when the dance began, he sneaked up and stole it. The dancing and games went on all night, but as soon as the sun started to peep above the horizon, all the seals came to reclaim their skins to return to the sea. The seal girl was very upset when she couldn’t find her skin, though its smell still lingered in the air, and then the man from Mikladalur appeared holding it, but he wouldn’t give it back to her, despite her desperate entreaties, so she was obliged to accompany him to his farm.
He kept her with him for many years as his wife, and she bore him several children, but he always had to make sure that she didn’t have access to her skin. He kept it locked up in a chest to which he alone had the key, a key which he kept at all times on a chain attached to his belt.
One day, while he was out at sea fishing with his companions, he realized he had left the key at home. He announced to his companions, ‘Today I shall lose my wife!’ – and he explained what had happened. The men pulled in their nets and lines and rowed back to the shore as fast as they could, but when they arrived at the farm, they found the children all alone and their mother was gone. Their father knew she wasn’t going to come back, as she had put out the fire and put away all the knives so that the young ones couldn’t do themselves any harm after she’d left.
Indeed, once she had reached the shore, she had put on her sealskin and plunged into the water, where a bull seal, who had loved her all those years before and was still waiting for her, popped up beside her. When her children, the ones she had had with the Mikladalur man, later came down to the beach, a seal would emerge and look towards the land; people naturally believed that it was the children’s mother. And so the years passed.
Then one day it happened that the Mikladalur men planned to go deep into one of the caverns along the far coast to hunt the seals that lived there. The night before they were due to go, the man’s seal wife appeared to him in a dream and said that if he went on the seal hunt in the cavern, he should make sure he didn’t kill the great bull seal that would be lying at the entrance, for that was her husband. Nor should he harm the two seal pups deep inside the cave, for they were her two young sons, and she described their skins so he would know them. But the farmer didn’t heed the dream message. He joined the others on the hunt, and they killed all the seals they could lay their hands on. When they got back home, the catch was divided up, and for his share, the farmer received the large bull seal and both the front and the hind flippers of the two young pups.
In the evening, when the head of the large seal and the limbs of the small ones had been cooked for dinner, there was a great crash in the smoke-room, and the seal woman appeared in the form of a terrifying troll; she sniffed at the food in the troughs and cried the curse: ‘Here lies the head of my husband with his broad nostrils, the hand of Hárek and the foot of Fredrik! Now there shall be revenge, revenge on the men of Mikladalur, and some will die at sea and others fall from the mountain tops until there be as many dead as can link hands all round the shores of the isle of Kalsoy!’
When she had pronounced these words, she vanished with a great crash of thunder and was never seen again. But still today, alas, it so happens from time to time that men from the village of Mikladalur get drowned at sea or fall from the tops of cliffs; it must, therefore, be feared that the number of victims is not yet great enough for all the dead to link hands around the whole perimeter of the isle of Kalsoy. THE END
In the evening we decided to explore the village of Leirvik, a neighbouring village to Nordagota which is where we are staying. Enjoying the ice cream and walking through the tiny streets admiring the Faroese way of living and discussing their charm and hospitality. The evening was then spent in the company of my Faroese friend – Flovin who is an aspiring YouTuber, the best one by far. Here is the link:-
For a kid who is hardly 10 years of age, he is extremely gifted in editing and putting together a video. I think he did a fine job. Please like and encourage.
Last night I jotted down places I wanted to visit and that involved a good 4 hours hike, so the idea was to leave early enough but then again we are in a place where the sun sets at 11:22 pm and sunrise is at 3:30 am, so really, do we need to rush into anything? Nah! Nice breakfast, which is more like a brunch of mixed veggies, meat and rice to keep us going till late evening – and providing energy for exploring around followed by that kick of caffeine to get the heart racing, at least mine! The drive was 1h20 mins long and our first destination was to explore the massive lake towering the ocean cliffs- Sovagsvatn. The walk up to the lake was very pretty and easy enough but of course, we love to venture deeper and higher. Enroute we crossed a lady who decided to climb the highest point of the walkway and relieve herself, and then further down, from the same group of 4, we had the gentleman who planted his hiking sticks in the soft lush green grass and decided he is going to create his waterfall to match the majestic Bøsdalafossur (the biggest waterfall in the North Atlantic Ocean). He stood right at the edge of the cliff face and let it all flow. Turns out they were French. Of course, et alors? Don’t you pipi? That probably would have been the narrative had we decided to fixate our glances on them for any longer than we did. The Bøsdalafossur was way more impressive but I don’t need to explain that to anyone.
WE decided to lose the French and jump across the lake and go over to the other side to see the impressive jagged cliff drops. It was a lovely idea, the humans were all left behind to take the iconic optical illusion picture of the Bøsdalafossur emptying into the ocean, while we messed around creating our optical illusion.
This place is so remote and so tiny in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, but it is so far advanced than the rest of the world with technology and innovative ideas. The Faroese thrive off two very important industries, Fishing, and Tourism. I feel selfish in a way as I want to keep this place all to myself and not share any pictures or any experiences or maybe lose the name of the place and present it as just ‘a place’ on this planet, but my love for this place and respect of its inhabitants is strong enough to put my selfishness aside. Driving further north from Midvagur, we crossed the village of Bour. The island of Tindholmur and the Drangarnir arch is very visible just off the road itself. The best of all was the lovely village of Gasadalur, and getting to see the beautiful waterfall Múlafossur- a picture worth putting on a postcard, and if you google the Faroe Islands, you will see just that.
This lovely little village is the house to 16 friendly Faroese, as small as it is, it has a cafe that produces the most delicious layer cake and a cup of ginger, lemon tea. The village is also the house to Puffins, however, so far I have not been successful in spotting any. The idea is to go visit Mykines but seeing how all I am coming across is the seagulls and black-headed gull, am a bit skeptical going to Mykines ( which is visible from Gasadalur) and probably will resign to the theory that maybe I am a month too early to see the puffins in their full glory. Or maybe they are all hiding from me?
I support the same colours as the Puffin but I am actually an Oystercatcher!
Woke up refreshed and had a healthy early lunch that kept us going till 7 pm. The best bet is to cook a meal at home as eating out can be very costly ( everything is imported into the country) not forgetting that in order to eat, you need to visit either the city centre or a smaller than the city centre town.
Had a nice talk with Jon, the owner of the airbnb who is also a gifted musician by trade. We got talking and turns out he knows the Faroese gentleman in the documentary -: Brendan’s voyage, which was the inspiration behind us ever wanting to visit these islands in the first place. Tom and Jon discussed the commonalities between their countries and I discussed the incident that had gripped the Faroes a few years back, about a scandalous attack on a musician – Rasmus Rasmussen in 2006. He was a good friend of Jon’s and was made the poster child for gay rights when it had nothing to do with it in the first place. Another sad example of how media can influence the truth and what you believe to be true is far from the truth in the first place.
Rasmus had a mouth on him and when he drank he would act out which was the reason for the attack, nothing to do with him being homosexual but the media got the whiff of it and ended up making him the poster child for LGBT community, which eventually resulted in him committing suicide. A sad story but this is how small this place is. Jon’s kids go to school with a professional Faroese footballer’s kids, who plays for the Spanish team, has kicked balls with Ronaldo and is known to Jon!
Amazing how small this place is and how far advanced they are in every sphere possible. They have no military, probably why they are able to put that money towards building tunnels that’ll put any advanced country to shame along with being fully automated even in the remotest of all islands where the population could be as tiny as 200 people.
WE had a fantastic time visiting the north of Eysturoy island, which is where we were staying. The day temperature went as high up as 17 degrees C and the cool breeze was just the perfect thing you needed while undertaking the hike in the picturesque village of Gjogv ( pronounced dyggv). The hike is through a private land and requires you to either put 50 kronos in the post box besides the fence or simply transfer money to the listed bank account on the placard right by the fence. The views from up top the mountain are breathtaking as you don’t realise how steep the cliff face is till you get to the top. The village of Elduvik is another beautiful place not to miss . Each village has its own little cemetary and it is quaint to see a handful of graves dotting the graveyard with a space left for more to fill up as the years pass by.
Funnigur and Eidi are two other villages that are in the north that are well worth visiting with spectacular views that pictures don’t do justice to, but you try to hold on to the memories created to re-live these beautiful moments of ‘now’, in the future.
Our commute to this wonderful part of the world was quite exhilarating. The longest detour you can ever imagine.
YYZ-VCE-CPH-FAE
Except the VCE-CPH incurred a good 9 hours delay, leading us to deal with what could have been a disastrous situation. AKA vacation cancellation and heartbreak and possibly fund depletion. But we made it to Copenhagen. At 1:00 AM.
Woke up to the sudden jolt of panic at 5:08 am, the sun was shining bright, almost like it was 8 am in Canada, only we were in Denmark and the our flight was closing at 5:15 am. The hotel was 15 mins drive from the airport, reasonably speaking we didn’t stand a chance of making it to our final destination- the Faroe islands. The vacation we had been planning and waiting to undertake since the past year. Bravo ! Happy 6th Anniversary Love, definitely the one we’ll never forget.
Rushing to put on any clothes, dumping everything in the suitcase, without brushing our teeth or even visiting the washroom- we were at the hotel check-out desk by 5:10 am. The panic was clear and the face with which we showed up, anyone would have thought we were returning back from a funeral. Explaining the situation to the kind girl behind the desk, she didn’t waste anytime in calling the cab. There was another couple waiting in the lobby for their cab. In the meanwhile i requested for the front desk agent to check if there were any other flights leaving the same day for the Faroe Islands. Let’s face it, the chances of making it were nil! But then again, there is always a chance till there is no chance at all, so yes, we still stood a chance, but it was non existent till the cabby showed up. The girl rushed out to confirm if the cab that pulled in was for us or for the couple waiting in the lobby. It was for us. We dashed out , opened the trunk and started loading in our bags,at the same time explaining to the drive that he was our only chance to make it, if we even stood a chance, so please HIT THE ROAD Hard!! Oh he did. But not before the front-desk girl realised that she had made a mistake, that the cab was for the other couple and well, i was not going to be polite. I was already in the cab. I had a vacation to christen! Tom on the other hand, was willing to let the other couple have the cab and all i could think of saying was- love, we have no time to be polite, we have a plane to catch!!!! We were on our way. Got to the terminal by 5:20 and were at the check in counter profusely apologizing and hoping the truth would help them open the check in desk. We had overslept, we were exhausted, the alarm was set for 3:45 am. Pure exhaustion was to be blamed for us missing our wake-up . The alarm rang ,and then well after 3 times of trying to wake two dead humans up from their slumber, it snoozed off! There was nothing more to the story! We messed up. Actually, i messed up. The ground agent made a few calls and it seemed positive. She was thrilled to know that we had already checked in, we just needed to get the bag on the delivery belt. That was not a problem and off went our bag to the plane while we made our way through security and on the plane, feeling relived, towards our final destination.
By 9:50 am we were already at our airbnb accommodation.. Way too early! The island of Eysturoy is around 2 hours drive from Vagar, and even thought we didn’t have any GPS helping us out– its very hard to get lost on these islands!
Our accommodation couldn’t have been in a better spot. The little convenient store around the corner had everything we wanted.. We had a picnic till 2 pm, 100 yards from the airbnb accommodation and finally checked in. The room couldn’t be more comfortable. Prepared a delicious meal- our first meal in 3 days, a proper meal,a home cooked meal, a deliciously prepared meal. Tummies full it was time for a little nap followed by a lovey walk around the town of less than 200 inhabitants and then, watch the sun go down over another scenic town of Leirvik, only 3 mins drive from our place.
11:00 pm and the sun is ready to set, 11:22 pm the sun was down. We drove back, satisfied with our day taking in the beauty of these islands we are so fortunate to witness, topped with a sunset only the lucky ones can catch, in a place only lucky ones can be so fortunate to visit.
My mind took me back in time to when I was in the 1st grade. The day was like any other day. Fun in class and then lunch break. The class bully Rubina, was particularly fond of me. Even at that tender age, I was quite aware that I must be possessing some special powers if the class bully who had flunked 4 times (and was bigger, actually huge than the rest of us) called me her favourite. I, on the other hand, was petrified of her. She provided me with immunity but I felt better off being invisible.
We were playing ‘ catch catch’ and after 40 mins of non-stop running madly around the yard, I cut myself really bad with a protruding metal strip. The blood was running and Rubina decided to play the nurse. It was actually very sweet what she did. Tore her skirt to tie my leg up with the rag! Even if she has just let me off the ‘ catch catch’ I would have felt quite accomplished.
The yard games continued and I felt so good not being a part of it. Our old school building used to be a little hut with a thatched roof supported by wooden pillars. The alternate pillars had rose bush climbers and the ones that didn’t used to be my merry go around. I had a jam sandwich in one hand and the other hand was holding on to the pillar, helping me keep my balance as I swayed outwards, only to pull myself back in and then out again. Going in circles till I felt dizzy. This used to be more fun than playing with other kids. The problem wasn’t the game playing, it was more to do with the fact that I felt uncomfortable participating in games that were orchestrated by the class bully who was very fond of me. Didn’t matter that I was her favourite whom she wanted to protect from others, she just didn’t know that there were no others!
Then came Ravi. A new boy in our class. The welcome was something I’ll never forget. It was also the day I learnt something about myself. Something negative in someone’s life that had a positive effect in shaping my personality. I don’t know who I should thank for that. Rubina or Ravi?
The class gathered in a circle and Ravi was in the middle. Rubina was dictating out her expectations, just like in crew briefing. I expect you to do…1 2 3
At the end of the speech, Ravi had the unfortunate task of sealing the deal, in his particular case it was mandated by Rubina for Ravi to lick the sole of everyone’s shoes. I was a part of that circle and just like everyone I stuck my foot out in front of kneeling Ravi for him to lick my shoe. That day I understood the real meaning of peer pressure. I just didn’t know the term but I surely knew that it wasn’t something I ever wanted to be a part of, Ever again! The hesitation I had wasn’t strong enough for me to walk away from the situation instead I decided to be a part of the crowd. I wasn’t sure why I was doing what I was doing, even though it felt very wrong doing it. What I felt after doing it, made an impression. The understanding of what had happened came ages later so it did stick at some subconscious level.
Ravi ended up being my desk mate. He made sick. The kid was exhibiting behaviour that was quiet relative to how he felt. He would catch flies walking on the desk in his cupped hands and then carefully pull their wings off. Some days he used to trap them in his pencil box, the other days when he felt happier, he would let the handicap creatures walk all over the desk. I requested the teacher to change my seat, the request was denied and I had to sit through the torture of seeing flies being handicapped for a full week. At the time I remember wishing sitting next to Rubina would be way easier than to endure Ravi and his mental disorder. I held Rubina responsible for scarring Ravi then. Now, I thank them both for transforming me into who I am.
People feel the need to follow others to be a part of the crowd. Why? You are better off using your own brain! Give it a chance, you’ll see all that you are capable of achieving on your own without a crutch, excuse or a need to please.
Mirthspot 