
Tales from the far-flung Faroes - sjcsjc
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/faroe_islands_postal_service
======
salimmadjd
I was lucky enough to visit the Faroe Islands two years ago. The islands are
just out of this world beautiful. The photos on this article does not do
justice. I have yet to upload many of my images, but some of my photos are
here, [1,2,3,4]. The cliffs on Faroe are massive (it much older island
formation than the Iceland). For example that light house on picture 1, is
that white dot you see on the drone shot on photo 3.

Because helicopter is really needed, it's treated like public transportation.
So it's almost like the cost of Uber ride on Bay Area. I think we paid like
$20 or so for a 15-20 min flight. However, to reduce tourist abuse, you can
only take the helicopter one-way. But when we visited, it was very low season
and helicopter was pretty much empty and they allowed us to take a roundtrip
flight which was quite amazing.

That being said, on our last full day we took a boat ride. Where the pilot
showed us some of uninhabited islands. Like you read this in this article. He
would point to a hut on a small abandon island and he would say: no one has
lived here since 1998 (or something like that). On that same boat ride we hit
some rainy weather, and part of the highlight of the trip is the boat going
through this giant rock formation by the cliffs. It was almost like being
inside the movie King Kong. It was one of the most thrilling experiences of my
life.

One more interesting experience was arriving there. Firstly the airport is on
this strange and scary location. Secondly, on arrival (because of high tariff
rates) you see people buying cases of Coca Cola, etc at duty-free shop before
officially entering into the country. I highly recommend visiting there.

[1] [https://www.eyeem.com/p/121810400](https://www.eyeem.com/p/121810400) [2]
[https://www.eyeem.com/p/121804039](https://www.eyeem.com/p/121804039) [3]
[https://www.eyeem.com/p/93320647](https://www.eyeem.com/p/93320647) [4]
[https://www.eyeem.com/p/93320500](https://www.eyeem.com/p/93320500)

~~~
jpatokal
You paid 20 euros, Danish taxpayers paid the rest. The 50k people in the
Faroes are subsidized to the tune of 100m a year, which comes out to over
$2k/person/year.

Update: Math fixed. That's actually less than I thought...

~~~
jholman
Might wanna check your arithmetic.

I'm honestly _baffled_ that it's so low.

I think it's safe to assume that the reason that Denmark does so is to assert
territorial control over sub-oceanic resources that are hypothesized to exist.
It's probably a sound investment.

~~~
neffy
There's a lot of hidden subsidies in things like teachers and doctors coming
over from Denmark for a few years, and I suspect they don't include the cost
of the naval support either.

------
dpatrick86
Wow. The island with just two families that you have to get to by helicopter
is hard to wrap my head around! It seems like using a helicopter to go
anywhere would be expensive... and yet, they must use it for all kinds of
things. If I hadn't read it and seen pictures, I would think the
impracticalities of this situation would make it fundamentally impossible to
do long-term. Yet, people are doing it. They have a clearly very nice
homestead and a way of life that is working for them.

~~~
ridewinter
In Switzerland they use helicopters for everything, even for normal building
construction instead of a crane. Very wealthy countries can get away with
it..in which the Faroes are as a part of Denmark.

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walrus01
This is also the place where their tourism promotion agency did "Google sheep
view"

[https://www.google.com/search?num=100&ei=plISW_-
wDYjV8AOv552...](https://www.google.com/search?num=100&ei=plISW_-
wDYjV8AOv552wCg&q=google+sheep+view+faroe&oq=google+sheep+view+faroe&gs_l=mobile-
gws-wiz-
serp.3..0j0i22i30l2.14182.17300..17683...4....118.988.6j4......0....1.........33i160j0i13j0i13i30j0i8i13i30j33i22i29i30j0i22i10i30j33i21.WOvuYYo67Ec%3D)

[https://youtu.be/6KubWaYvRGE](https://youtu.be/6KubWaYvRGE)

------
marban
Random trivia if you're into soccer and/or underdog stories:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnbZHNS4O1k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnbZHNS4O1k)

~~~
smcl
I’m a a Scot, The Faroes also pushed us close a couple of times. Some
countries dread drawing France, Italy or Germany in their group for the World
Cup or European Championshp, I dread the Faroe Islands lest we have another
fucking away game in Toftir...

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algesten
My mom took me and my sister hiking on Faroe islands in the 80s. Boat from
Bergen, Norway.

We went to Mykines and I remember a village full of dogs roaming around free.
This was heaven for my animal obsessed 12 year old self.

And some hanging rope bridge high over the sea between to islands. Mum tied
herself, my sister and I together with a rope. Not sure that would have
worked...

~~~
Sammi
I think the bridge has be replaced since the eighties, but here's what it
looks like now:

[https://www.google.com/search?q=mykines+bridge&hl=en&source=...](https://www.google.com/search?q=mykines+bridge&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjXrPTL57XbAhVRKFAKHXPSDKoQ_AUICigB&biw=1600&bih=898&dpr=1.2)

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keyle
Wow. What a life. Makes you wonder, are they more/less happy than us in our
technology/busting cities lifestyles?

Pretty sure you'll find a lot of people lonelier via social medias than these
people on remote places.

~~~
Arnt
I've lived on a remote island and now live in a big city surrounded by more
cities. Your question doesn't make sense to me. It's like asking which group
of people have better health, people whose first names are longer than their
last names or the other way around.

~~~
barry-cotter
I’d be very surprised if per capita suicide rates aren’t lower on Faroe than
in Denmark. Community reduces loneliness, industrial society leads to anomie
and isolation. Isolation and anomie make suicide more likely.

~~~
dijit
You assert that because one key aspect of human need is improved that others
arent harmed in equal measure at the same time.

Who knows which is a larger factor in suicide. Social Pressure from being
bullied by your only community is probably a stronger force than loneliness.

------
Svip
Despite the Faroese people's issue with Denmark, it cannot be denied that the
Faroese Islands (and Greenland for that matter) are heavy reliant on Denmark.
As the article mentions, most of the islands' infrastructure comes courtesy of
Denmark.

While calls for independence are far louder on Greenland than on the Faroese
Islands, there is nonetheless a sense dislike for Denmark both places.
Although, it seems the Faroese politicians recognises that independence would
not be a good move for them.

And before people say, hey, it worked out for Iceland pretty well; Iceland has
several advantages to it that made that possible: Far easier geography than
the Faroese Islands or Greenland. Far more people (300,000 vs 50,000 today).
And during the Second World War, when it happened, the US was also helping
Iceland with the money to maintain some livelihood.

I doubt the US will help Greenland or the Faroese Islands in that endeavour
today. The US already got Thule Airbase.

~~~
sakarisson
Can you point out to me where in the article it states that most of the
infrastructure comes from Denmark? All I found was an example of a boat that
had been built in Denmark and bought from Spain.

The huge subsidy you're talking about accounts for about 3% of the annual
Faroese GDP. It's gone down from 11.2% since 2000.

From my perspective, it seems like most Danish people have a very uneducated
perspective of the Faroese dependence.

~~~
barry-cotter
The Faroe Islands have to be dependent on someone because they’re certainly
not capable of defending themselves. That someone could be the EU if it had a
credible collective military deterrent but it doesn’t and it’s not acquiring
one any time soon.

Unless war never returns to Europe in which case I worry needlessly.

~~~
lomnakkus
That's funny. I seem to recall from history classes that it was the British
that came to the Faroe Island's defense on a previous historic occasion. (For
obvious strategic reasons to do with the geographic location in the North
Atlantic.) What did the Danish do on that occasion, I wonder? That's right,
they surrendered to the Germans. (Understandably, I might add.)

Look, the Faroe Islands do get a lot out of being so intimately tied to to
Denmark, but let's not oversell it, OK?

~~~
rando444
The British weren't defending the Faroes, they were defending themselves.

It's just a question of "someone's going to take it, so we should take it
first".. similar to the british and subsequent american occupation of Iceland.

~~~
lomnakkus
Well, duh. Point remains that Denmark was completely incapable of defending
the Faroes and thus a "union" with Denmark is completely absurd if you're
going to argue it from a defense perspective (as the OP did).

------
growlist
Another article about the Faroe Islands - this one about women from abroad
moving to marry Faroese men.

[http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39703486](http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39703486)

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Animats
Oh, a small island, not Rockall.

~~~
fiftyacorn
Rockall isnt an island - it was reclassified as an islet. I imagine to stop
any interlopers assigning 200km fishing or drilling rights

~~~
maxerickson
Are there dictionary definitions of "islet" that don't amount to "small
island"?

I get that you are talking about a legal distinction, but no reason to expect
such specific usage in casual conversation.

~~~
sandworm101
If at the highest tides waves crash over, it isnt an island. If the saltwater
spay is so much that no plantlife grows, it is only a rock.

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teddyh
Apparently, the Faroe Islands are a lot more religious than is the norm among
other nordic countries:

[https://satwcomic.com/it-s-important-to-know-what-you-
like](https://satwcomic.com/it-s-important-to-know-what-you-like)

[https://satwcomic.com/ungodly-surprise](https://satwcomic.com/ungodly-
surprise)

------
ianai
What does this country produce? The article gave me the impression that all
the work is logistics.

~~~
sakarisson
As you might be able to imagine, mainly fish.

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Sami_Lehtinen
Don't forget checking out Svalbard [1], it's much larger, way northern and a
lot less people.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard)

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Odenwaelder
How do they maintain genetic diversity on such small islands?

~~~
rando444
Many locals move away, and many Danes move there later in life.

~~~
kwhitefoot
Danes moving there in later life aren't likely to add much to the gene pool,
at least not the women.

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chriselles
Beautifully desolate photos.

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skookumchuck
It'd be nice if the author dialed back the oh-so-clever display of the photos.
What's wrong with just putting in the photos like on a magazine page? Geez. I
want to look at the pictures, not irritating overlays and weird scrolling.

I suppose it's the modern version of blinky text.

~~~
afterburner
I've hated this style of scroll-but-not-scroll technique ever since first
seeing it on some NYT article a few years ago. It's never grown on me; it
feels unnatural and annoying.

~~~
MiddleEndian
I've given up on some recent moderately interesting nyt articles because the
scroll direction kept changing. It was just too exhausting.

