The Fantastical Faroes

You get used to unlikely sights in the Faroes. In an archipelago that combines the vulcanicity of Skye with the vertiginousness of St Kilda, some of the islands seem to defy reality.

Tindholmur:


It starts innocently enough with Litla Dimun. Looking like Ailsa Craig's harder brother, this uninhabited grassy cone is skirted by sheer cliff.

Litla Dimun from the air:


This would be a notable sight anywhere else but so far, so normal - for the Faroes.

Koltur from Midvagar:


It starts getting weird with Koltur. This island was inhabited in the past, but with sheer cliffs on one side, very steep, banded-cliff grass on the other, it is hard to see where to put a house.

Koltur from the air:


Did the inhabitants of Koltur have to tether their children, a safety measure reputedly required on the cliff-girt village of South Havra in Shetland? Today Koltur is home only to storm petrels and twenty thousand puffins.

Koltur from Nordadalur:


But it is the improbable island of Tindholm that makes you stop the car, get out, and exclaim: what on earth is that?



I mean, wtf?



Welcome to the Faroe Islands - where the fantastical is mundane.