Vælkomin heim...

Photographs: Byolafsdottir / Andrei Vladut Antal

Text: Heather Storgaard

Have you ever visited a new place and wondered how the locals really live? You may search for connections, but struggle to get beyond the tourist trail. In the Faroes, an entire tourism strategy has been built up with the idea of bringing locals and visitors closer together. If you’re still in doubt about how to spend your summer holidays, the North Atlantic islands could be just the place for a more connected experience.

Growing tourism

The Faroese tourism board want to encourage a more authentic, sustainable type of tourism. For many countries, talks of sustainability and authenticity come with hefty price tags, but if anything, the Faroese are going the other way. Rather than developing new attractions, constructed in eco-friendly ways but still requiring materials and using up more space, they are bringing tourists into existing structures. How do they do that while growing their tourism? They welcome visitors into their own homes. Heimablídni is a concept and platform that allows locals to offer something of their worlds to visitors – wild swimming followed by a warm breakfast, an afternoon fishing trip finished with fish soup or an evening of locally-made aquavit with folk music. I was determined to try it while visiting the North Atlantic islands last summer.

Heima á Fitjum

After a delayed flight due to storms, we overslept during our first night in Vestmanna, a small town in the Faroes. After slowly coming to, we bundled up against the rain and rushed up the road to Heima á Fitjum, eager for coffee and warm food. Awaiting us there was Kristina, our Faroese breakfast host. She welcomed us into her beautiful seafront home, still dripping from her dip in the sea that morning. A grand breakfast was spread across the table, including homemade rhubarb juice and Faroese chocolate spread.

Kristina finds Heimablídni to be a flexible way of working – her own business, at home, fitting around childcare and other responsibilities. In great contrast to Denmark, life in the Faroe Islands is far more spontaneous and flexible. It has to be, on these islands, where the weather and the seasons dictate a lot of your life. Our fellow visitors were a couple from England, and the five of us talked about Faroe, the Nordics and the British Isles while we ate and the rain crashed down outside. At one point, Kristina told a story about the Faroese water horses of folklore, and I delighted in recognising it as one we share in the North of Scotland, right down to the colour and nature of the mythical beasts. Unexpected connections were everywhere. When we weren’t all talking, Kristina’s toddler was eager to play with me. He was a delightful host, as warm and welcoming as his mum, testing how my distant Icelandic learning translated to toddler-level Faroese comprehension.

"Rich storytelling is associated with knitting across the North Atlantic region, and I’m sure that locals would be delighted to share their yarns over a yarn."

Activities

Are you concerned there won’t be enough things to do if the weather is bad? Faroese home-based activities are far from limited to culinary experiences.

Driving around Faore, you will see sheep everywhere. As such, it won’t come as a surprise that yarn and knitting are of incredible importance, with approximately 35% of the population members of a knitting club. If you share that passion, you are also welcome to join the biniklubb or knitting club, where you can bring your yarn or learn to follow a Faroese pattern with all the equipment included. Rich storytelling is associated with knitting across the North Atlantic region, and I’m sure that locals would be delighted to share their yarns over a yarn.

Another great connector is music, with a rich Faroese singing tradition still going strong. For centuries, Faroese was a threatened language with no official writing system. The Rule was strictly from Copenhagen, and as such, Danish was the focus in church, at school and in legal and political spheres. But at home, Faroese remained the language of deep-rooted storytelling and singing traditions. HOYMA celebrates that history, with musicians playing concerts in people’s homes - the very sites where Faroese culture and language were preserved against the odds.

How to get there?

Convinced to give Faroe a try? Ferries from Hirtshals sail regularly, and flights from international and regional airports across Denmark make getting there very simple. Tunnels and ferry services make transport around the islands easy, too, so don’t be scared to strike out to some of the more remote regions during your trip.