Surrounded by fog and deep cold waters, there is something special to be found in the middle of the North-east Atlantic Ocean, halfway between Scotland and Iceland: the Faroe Islands.
An archipelago of 18 little islands characterised by impressive high cliffs, narrow fjords, harsh weather conditions, more sheep than people and millions of birds including the funny Puffins and the majestic Gannets.
70.000 is the number of sheep and 52.000 is the number of the inhabitants of this tiny country. Despite the raw nature and frequent bad weather conditions, people are able to have a really good and simple life always in strong connection with nature. Nature rules here and people are aware about their limit.
Hunting pilot whales and other mammals, also called the Grindadràp is one of the few ways to obtain fresh and local food. It’s not an easy matter that can be explained in just a few words so I wrote a long post about it on my Facebook page. More info can be found also on whaling.fo.
Probably because of this such small and isolated community, Faroese are really proud of their country and traditions. They are plenty of events and festivals like Ólavsøka and G! Festival which are great occasions for people to have fun and sing. Faroese love to sing and dance!
The Faroes can claim to have some very talented artists like Eivør, Teitur, Greta Svabo Bech, Kristian Blak, Týr, Byrta, Heidrik, Marius Ziska, Konni Kass, Janus Rasmussen, Jasmin, Guðrið Hansdóttir, Son of Fortune.
In 2007 National Geographic rated the Faroe Islands top of the 111 island communities all over the world with the verdict: “Authentic, unspoiled, and likely to remain so.”