ABSTRACT
When approaching the Faroe Islands from the air, you are greeted by an amazing picture of a last outpost in the ocean. It is a lush, treeless, harshly cut archipelago, thousands of kilometres from the nearest mainland in the middle of the North Sea; northwest of Scotland and halfway between Iceland and Norway. Coming by boat from Denmark and Iceland, it is sometimes a turbulent and testing 44-hour sea voyage, interrupted only by a stop in Shetland. Occasionally, the sea offers a sunny leisure break where one can enjoy the views over the North Sea and its surging water, and eventually the horizon imagined contours of an exciting and inviting collection of rocky islands that shimmers in green and grey:
Superb glaciated landscape with improbably steep slopes. Little flat land. Local society unified and resolutely Faroese, not Danish, with own language, etc. Built heritage, down to the grass roofs, reasonably protected, certainly cherished. Most tourists adventurous and well-informed … If the numbers of cruise ships continue to grow rapidly, there may be problems with island carrying capacity. Quite rightly, tourists are expected to be like the Faroese, such as taking choppy ferries and hiking through any weather. The future could bring severe social and environmental impacts, but the Faroese are aware of the dangers and are debating solutions (National Geographic Travel webpage, 24 September 2013).
