Tórshavn, Faroe Islands: Turf Roofs and Atlantic Cliffs in the North Sea

Tinganes, the narrow promontory that divides the harbor into two basins, is the historic core of the city and one of the most photographed spots in the North Atlantic. The old government buildings — low wooden structures painted in dark red and black, roofed in grass — have been in use since the Viking settlement of the islands in the ninth century. The current buildings mostly date from the seventeenth century but maintain the same turf-roof tradition. The walk out to the tip of the promontory takes about twenty minutes and is the essential Tórshavn experience.

The Faroese National Museum, a ten-minute walk from the harbor, covers the islands' history from Norse settlement through the medieval wool trade to the twentieth-century fishing industry. The Viking-age artifacts, recovered from farmsteads around the islands, include some of the best-preserved wooden furniture and tools from that period found anywhere in the North Atlantic. English-language signage throughout.

The village of Kirkjubøur, at the southwestern tip of the main island, is reachable by bus (about thirty minutes) and contains two extraordinary medieval structures: the ruins of Magnus Cathedral, begun in the thirteenth century and never completed, and Kirkjubøur Farm, a farmhouse that has been continuously occupied since Viking times and is still inhabited by the same family. The farm museum offers guided tours. The black wooden church beside the ruins is still in use.

For active visitors, the hills above Tórshavn are accessible on foot directly from the harbor. The walk to Húsareyn (347 meters) takes about ninety minutes each way and gives a panoramic view of the harbor, the southern islands, and, in clear weather, the northern islands as far as Enniberg. The Faroese summer days are long and the light is soft and diffuse even at noon — better for photography than it has any right to be.