Day 14 (Sun): Hike on the island Nólsoy

Weather: sunny

Walked (hiking): 16 km

After the nice wedding party and "outing" at Café Natur on Saturday, Sunday the 20th June arrived SUNNY AND BEAUTIFUL. I could not believe my eyes:)

I met with three happy Norwegian girls in the harbor just after 12 o'clock and we took the ferryboat to Nólsoy. At the tourist information we asked about the hike and how long it would take, because the guide books all told a different version.. We were told that we could easily make the hike to the light house in five hours.

So, first things first: we had lovely waffels at the tourist information!:)

Waffels with ice cream in Nólsoy, delish!

Happy and excited we headed up the fjell (I wouldn't call the mountains here "mountains"..). Just above the village Nólsoy is the roughest part with a steep climb up the fjell but after that the rest of the hike was on a plain grass heath. It was pretty wet on the heath, so I was glad I had decided to wear my hiking boots. We met with an Australian old lady(!) who had hiked to the light house in 2+2 hours(!); a Tschech couple and later two Swedish men.

We saw sheep, grass, the fjell, the pretty light house, the village from above (it was an awesome view from the top!) The light house was cute and our picnic food was delicious! A great outdoorsy trip in a nice weather and good company. I would recommend this to all who have at least five-six hours of spare time in Tórshavn. But bear in mind that it's good if you're physically fit (or at least more or less in a "normal" condition) to do this hike, the first part just above the village is the roughest.

On the way up. Village Nólsoy in the background.

Soon after this picture the hard part was behind us.

Sheep and Norwegian girls :)

Light house in the other end of Nólsoy.

The picture was taken by some Swedish

men we met at the light house.

It was no surprise, that when I got home, I took a shower and was all wound up the rest of the evening. And VERY tired the following day..

Day 7 (Sunday): church and boat trip to Nólsoy

Weather: cloudy but no rain

Walked: 8,5 km, mainly on Nólsoy

... and on the seventh day she did not rest.

Last Sunday was a very nice day. A few in the group had agreed on meeting at the Tórshavn Dome church at 11 o'clock. We went and listened to the Sunday mass and to my surprise I actually understood quite a lot of the ceremony! I understood the priest's metaphorical language:)

Tórshavn Dome Church

Dome Church inside

To my surprise the Tórshavn community actually had a women priest: I had understood from our previous lectures on politics and religion, that women priests working in the church would be one of the controversial issues on the Faroe Islands - the issue being that some of the traditional and conventional male priests refuse to work with women priests (there are some examples in Finland, too, so some parallels can be drawn). Apparently Tórshavn wants to be modern and set a good example for the rest of the Faroe Islands. Go Tórshavn!

At the church we saw that one of the servants was a researcher from the University and he had given a lecture about Faroese names. After the sermon he gave us a private tour of the church: he told us about the history and the artefacts in the church. We also got a chance to climb up in the small bell tower! Tórshavn is a small town and it's all about who you know ;)

Inside the bell tower!

After church I had refreshing coffee in the harbor, after which I was ready to go with a bunch of other Finns (and one Swedish girl) to the nearest island called Nólsoy, just 20 minutes outside Tórshavn. We took an easy Sunday hike on the beautiful green hills and had coffee at Kaffistovan. The coffee was good and we had fun when the local men (a bit tipsy) eagerly tried to have a conversation with us. We saw the church, Nólsoy Páll's memorial site and collected sea shells at the shore.

View on the "flat side" of Nólsoy

Cute little "angora" hen from Nólsoy

Fish outside drying.