Kirkjubøur – day 4

If you’re ever in the Faroe Islands and have the chance to hike from Tórshavn to Kirkjubøur, do it. It’s a relatively easy hike with a steep hike getting up, but there is a trail, and it flattens out at the top as you go the long way over. Everywhere you look it’s just like the pictures of the green, windswept Faroese mountains and it sure is windy. It drizzled a little bit but it was mostly just wind, and sometimes the kind of wind that if you lean into it, it will hold you up. The view is amazing from everywhere and you can see the two islands Hestur and Koltur, the horse and the colt. We had lunch at the top of the mountain (facing away from the wind) and the continued to Kirkjubøur.

Kirkjubøur beats Tórshavn in cuteness by far. There are probably only 15-20 houses and all of them have the traditional look of black, tarred wood, white, red, or green trim and half have turfed roofs with the medieval church, cathedral and rotstovan down the street surrounded by steep mountain sides, cliffs and ocean. You just can’t properly get it on film.

We were given a tour starting with a brief history of the church, then the rotstovan and then the cathedral. The church has a new interior and roof, but the thick stone walls are from the 1100’s. The cathedral lies in partial ruin from a landslide and time. It was thought that it was simply never finished, but most people agree now that it was finished but then wrecked. As far as European cathedrals go, it’s very tiny, but then again what use would the Faroes have for something so large? It still feels big in comparison and looks much bigger in person than in pictures. Unfortunately for us, it’s partially covered in an attempt to dry it out to try and save the mortar holding it together. It’s supposed to be uncovered next year. We caught the bus back to Tórshavn rather than hike all the way back.