Day 2: Intro by Mike

This week has been crazy pants. A whirlwind trip to NY began with me missing my flight on Monday afternoon (who knew that after getting an email from Jet Blue earlier in the day saying the flight would be delayed by about 2 hours, that they would move it back up, leading to me arriving after it already left!?!?), so I had to be up at 3:30 AM on Tuesday to catch a flight & was STILL half an hour late for my 8:30 training thanks to a 2 hour cab ride from JFK. The trip culminated with my 11 PM flight back to Maine on Wednesday night taking off closer to 1 AM.

All that is to say that I was juuust a little exhausted, even before we stayed up for 36 hours straight in an effort to adjust to the new time zone over here. Day 1 wasn’t an issue as we were running on adrenaline but the morning of Day 2 it caught up to me -“bigly” as they say. Alaina got me up around 8:45 but I don’t think I ever actually woke up. Instead I just zombied my way through the morning half-asleep. If the shower running out of hot water & turning ice-cold while I had a head full of shampoo didn’t snap me out of it, nothing was going to.

So I stumbled & grunted my way to the car as we drove to the ferry to take us to the nearby island of Kalsoy for the day’s first excursion – a hike to the Kalloy Lighthouse, a crazy scenic spot that is one of the more popular Faroe Island photographs floating around the internet. The closer we got to the parking area, the worse my overly-tired-grumpies were getting.

We parked the car & the hike began…for about 5 minutes. Looking at the steep hill ahead of me & knowing the terrifying cliffs that undoubtedly waited on the other side, I waved the white flag. It just wasn’t happening for me. So I separated myself from Alaina (which I’m sure she appreciated given my not-so-enthusiastic company) & went back to the car for a nice long nap while she soldiered on with the hike. She’ll take the narration from here…

It is nice knowing that Mike can at least acknowledge his foul mood as it was definitely apparent he was having a very bad, no good, terrible morning.

In my mind, catching the ferry was one of the most important parts of the trip as I was on a mission to get to the Kalloy Lighthouse. The picture Mike is referring to is this (not taken by me):

This lighthouse is at the tip of an island that has four towns and can only be reached by ferry. I had researched the directions for the hike and apparently I was not the only one who had this brilliant idea. We pulled up to Trollanes and three other cars were there, gearing up for the trek. I was SO excited to finally to see the lighthouse, I was in rare energetic form. And then there was Mike, the traveling version of Eeyore who started the hike with his coffee cup. I didn’t dare say anything but really? I started bounding up the hill and about 30 seconds later Mike called my name and told me he was done. To be quite honest, I was completely fine with it but relieved there were other hikers. It is recommended to not hike on your own in the Faroes.

So off he went down the hill and I continued up. It wasn’t easy… the hill looks small enough but once you start going you have to look for the right divots, avoid the huge pile of sheep poop (which by the middle of the hike you just don’t care anymore) and walk diagonally up because it would be a big mistake to just go straight up. I arrived to the top and knew to follow the large field for about 30 minutes (mind you to my right about 50-60 yards away were cliffs) and you would then see the lighthouse.

After continuing the walk, I came around the bend and there it was! I had a completely different version of what I would have to climb to get there in my head (thinking that I may not even have a chance to get to the lighthouse) and realized I was going to be able to get to it!

I started the downhill trek and then began the ascent to the lighthouse. This was when I really started to notice the wind. It was strong. Like really strong. When I got to the lighthouse I was actually holding onto the rails that surrounded it because I was nervous that if one big gust came, it would blow me over the edge. Maybe it would be tough for that to actually happen, but in the moment it felt that way!

Looking around I was so proud of myself. I saw a HUGE cliff to my right and then there was a hill to my left where the other side was a complete drop to the ocean. I didn’t think I would get the gumption to walk that hill but I realized that if I stayed to the right of the path, I was at least protected from being blown over and falling to my death. I followed the other hikers and actually made it! Was I strong enough to stand up fully at the top? Hell no, I did what any classy lady would do. I army crawled to get the picture:

The gusts that were coming our way were fierce and after about 10 minutes I decided to make my way back. I began my way down the hill, back up the hill, through the field, and back down the first hill, all while taking a gazillion pictures. I am still so happy that I did that hike, even though it wasn’t until I was chatting with two other hikers that I realized the iconic photo I am obsessed with? You have to walk here:

HELL NO. I couldn’t even imagine. It is straight down on either side. I do know that none of the hikers even attempted it that day because of the winds.

I arrived back to the car and Mike was happy to see me. Yes! He was happy! Well maybe not 100% happy, but he was at least acting alive.

We then hopped into the car and drove to Mikladalur, the next town over, which is famous for its Seal Woman sculpture in the rocks. The town was classic, quaint Faroe, and we made our way down to the shore.

The story goes like this: Seals are actually humans who took their own lives by drowning in the sea. The legend has it that on the eve of Three Kings, the seals gather on the shore of Mikladalur, shed their sealskins, become human again and dance the night away on the shore and in their cave. A villager caught wind of this and hid in the rocks to see if it was true. He witnessed the seals coming up and spotted a beautiful woman. He stole her skin, forced her to marry him, had children and kept the skin locked in a trunk. Years later he went fishing and forgot the key he usually wears on his belt. He knew at that moment he had already lost her. She left her family to go back to her life that she missed.

There is more to the (surprisingly dark) story, and you can read it via this photo from the location.

It is a gorgeous sculpture and there is a waterfall cascading down, picturesque as they come. We thought we had plenty of time, and all of a sudden I looked at my watch and we had to catch the ferry! We hightailed it back and made the boat which would give us the entire afternoon to explore.

We grabbed a delicious lunch in Klaksvik at Cafe Frida, there is something about European Cappuccino, and then began making our way to Torshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands.

The ride was gorgeous – again, so many waterfalls! – and arrived to our awesome, centrally located AirBNB apartment. Thrilled with the small touches provided by the owner, we decided we had better go explore the city because if we sat, we wouldn’t move.

We decided to walk to the harbor where my eyes feasted on all the photo opportunities. The Faroese make gorgeous boats AND they are painted bright colors, my dream come true.

As the Faroe Islands are part of Denmark, Torshavn is like a mini Copenhagen. We walked the docks and came across a gentleman with a Captain’s hat on near his boat. I immediately asked if I could take his picture.

Not five minutes later we were sitting in Captain Christian’s cabin with his girlfriend and son. We learned that Christian had built the boat four years ago after losing his wife to cancer. He has traveled to Norway and the Shetland Islands in it… which is crazy!

They were so kind and inviting and his son even took us to the retired Parliament buildings which are classic Faroese architecture and feature grass roofs.

He told us some amazing stories and it was fun walking around with a local. He then took us to an annual street fair where the entire city can come and get free food. Yes, the entire city… it was really fun seeing the kids in hot tubs and of course being immersed in a different culture. Also, learned that the bus system is Torvshan is also completely free to its residents. No wonder the people that live here are so happy!

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We parted ways with our friend (he had a unique name which I forgot three seconds after meeting him) and went somewhere truly authentic… an Irish Pub. But hey, the view was worth it.

It was a fantastic day even though both the beginning and end were slightly rocky… aka Mike streamed the Rangers’ game radio feed and they lost in double OT. Come on guys, get it together!