F for Faroe Islands

We have left the pharaohs behind, and I am just as exited as you for today's destination. My friend Leila Lofti has kindly said yes ( Thank you dear Leila! ) to take us with her to her home country: The Faroe Islands. A guest post today in other words. Leila has been living in Mumbai for the past 6 years with her Swedish husband Mikael and 3 children, all of them adopted from the same orphanage in Malad, Mumbai. They will leave India in June, which will be a sad moment because after so many years here, the love for India has grown solid and strong. When leaving the Faroe Islands, Leila also left behind her clinic for physiotherapy, but she has practiced her skills as a volunteer at orphanages here in India ever since they arrived, and has made a huge difference to so many children. Please welcome Leila, dear reader, and Faroe Islands: Here we come: 

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I am going to share with you some delights from my country the Faroe Islands. In 2008 we moved from a city there with 20.000 inhabitants to Mumbai with over 20 millions. Imagine the contrasts?!

Faroe Islands is located 600 km from Norway, 300 km from Scotland and 430 km from Iceland in the middle of the warm Golf Stream. It consists of 18 Islands, with a population of 49.000, living in a climate so unpredictable, that you get the feeling Vivaldi composed “the four seasons “ in the Faroe Islands. You can experience frost in the morning, sun at lunch break and be blown away in the afternoon by gusts of autumn wind. 

Today The Faroe Islands are self-governed within the Kingdom of Denmark, but not members of EU. We have our own flag, Merkið, and our own parliament, Løgting, name derives from the ancient Viking word, Althing, the national parliament. The official language is Faroese, derives from Old Norse. Most Faroese people speak Danish, as well as most of  the other Nordic languages.

We belong to the northern part of the hemisphere, where you can hear children´s play outside at 11 pm summertime because the sun sets so late and where you in the late winter months in the dark nights are entertained by Aurora Borealis, the northern lights. 

A July morning view from our kitchen window

The capital is Tórshavn, with its 20.000 inhabitants. The main industry is fishing which includes farmed salmon recommended by many food experts as the world’s best salmon because of the Golf streams beneficial effect in the sea. In many of the best restaurants in the world, you will be served sushi with Salmon from the Faroe Islands. 

Natasha, our oldest daughter, making sushi with Faroese salmon

You will find about 70.000 sheep grazing in the Faroese mountainsides, eating the fresh Faroese grass, so far not polluted. It is tradition to wind-cure the food that gives it the special Faroe Islands aroma.

Outside our kitchen window

Faroe Islands, where it´s people have learned to live by the slogan given by the British who occupied the islands during World War 2, The Land of Maybe, because it is the land where you definitely will feel alive, where you surrender and discover what it means when Nature Rules............

Finally I will share with you a favorite song of mine. Enjoy listening to this video by Elin Heinesen who is also singing her late father’s Jens Pauli Heinesen´s song with Prague Philharmonics. Jens Pauli Heinesen is a writer from the Faroe Islands, and by the way, also my father’s double cousin:-)

Bye from Faroe Islands! Leila with her two daughters:-) 

You can get more information about the Faroe Islands here: Visit Faroe Islands

And as for hitting the world news in 2015... Oh yes. Do not miss the Total Solar Eclipse in the Faroe Islands in March! The Faroe Islands and Svalbard (in Norway) are the only two places in the world where you can experience the total solar eclipse. The Faroe Islands are preparing for some major celebration following the eclipse. But hurry if u plan to go - the hotels are filling up...

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I hope you enjoyed Leila's Faroe Islands, dear reader? I so did, and would like to thank you again, Leila for sharing your dream destination here.

Tomorrow we are leaving the peaceful nature of the Faroe Islands behind, and setting out for new shores. I can sure promise you a spectacular and kind of glittery scenery when we travel off to G...

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1-30 April I participate in the A to Z blogger challenge, and this post is written as a part of that challenge. Check out some amazing participating blogs here. My theme for the challenge is Dream Destinations. I hope you had fun coming along? Please stay tuned for a new destination tomorrow. 

Go to a-to-zchallenge.com