The landscapes of the Faroe Islands, a beautiful Danish archipelago in the North Atlantic

In the North Atlantic, between Norway, Iceland and Great Britain, there is an archipelago that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The incredible lighthouse of Thridrangar: a place not suitable for people with vertigo or claustrophobia
Exploring one of the torfbæir, the turf houses of Iceland, abandoned since 1986

The Faroe Islands were discovered by the Irish Catholic monk Brendan of Clonfert in the 6th century, although it is believed that the islands were already populated before that. In the 9th century the islands were colonised by the Vikings (the current Faroese are descended from them), and were Christianised around the year 1000. In 1035 they became part of the Kingdom of Norway, which in 1380 formed a single kingdom with Denmark. In 1814, following the separation between Denmark and Norway, the Faroe Islands came under Danish sovereignty, a situation that remains today, under broad autonomy, as is the case with Greenland.

The archipelago consists of 18 main islands (in total, the Faroe Islands have 779 islands and islets of various sizes). Of the 18 main islands, one is uninhabited, Lítla Dímun. The capital of the Faroe Islands is Tórshavn (meaning "Port of Thor", the famous Viking god of war), where just over 14,000 of the 48,000 inhabitants of the archipelago reside. The capital is on Streymoy, the largest and most populated of the islands in this archipelago. The official language of the islands is Danish.

The Faroe Islands have a subpolar climate, so it is cold all year round. Average temperatures in summer are usually around 10 or 11 degrees Celsius on average, dropping to 3 or 4 degrees in winter. It must be said that the islands are not usually extremely cold, unlike what happens in other countries at those latitudes. However, they are windy and rainy islands.

One of the main tourist attractions of these islands is their spectacular cliffs and beautiful green landscapes, abundant in grass but lacking in trees. Among its landscapes there are some truly spectacular waterfalls, the largest of which is Múlafossur, located on the island of Vágar and with a height of 30 meters.

In addition to its natural landscapes, another of the most striking features of the Faroe Islands are its turf houses, very similar to the Icelandic torfbæir that we already saw here. In both cases, it is a traditional construction that dates back to the Viking era and had a very practical purpose, using turf on the roofs as insulation against the cold and rain.

If you want to see the landscapes of the Faroe Islands without leaving home, a good way is this terrific one-hour video published by Scenic Relaxation, which covers different natural landscapes of the islands:

A few weeks ago, Kuga's Travel posted this interesting video of a Japanese tourist who spent four days in the Faroe Islands, showing its traditional houses, some of its towns and its most beautiful landscapes:

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Main photo: Marc Zimmer. The village of Saksun, on the northwest coast of Streymoy Island.