Faroe Islands Ferry Tales

A setting, limited and clearly defined, made for a story or a film. The ferry Norrøna was to take me to Iceland, 48 hours across the North Atlantic. With excitement and respect, I boarded the ship on Tuesday morning. I was fascinated to see how the vessel - 160 m long, 30 m wide, and 8 decks 'high' - left the harbor. Afterwards, I settled into my cabin in the communal room. The boat accommodated 1,400 passengers and could hold up to 800 cars.

The time on board passed strangely asynchronously. Just before I got bored, I took a reading hour, spent some time on deck, and checked Google Maps. In the afternoon, it was time for some movies on my phone. There was no shortage of lounges with a casual atmosphere, as well as cafés, restaurants, a cinema, a gym, a game room with slot machines, and a sky bar named Laterna Magica, right under the bridge - all waiting to be explored. Outside, it was getting darker and we were approaching, as announced, a storm area between the Norwegian coast and the Shetland Islands with wave heights of up to five meters.

The initial skepticism about my sea legs proved unfounded and I enjoyed the rocking of the boat. The decks gradually emptied, people staggered down the corridors like they were drunk, which was quite amusing to watch. I spent the last hour before bed in the bar. A solo artist played instrumental covers (Dolly Parton, Oasis, Neil Young, among others), with no more than 15 guests in the audience, outside the roaring sea, and behind the bar, glasses clinked. I rocked myself to sleep.

My cabin was on deck 2, right under the car parking spaces, in the belly of the ship. To get to the upper deck, I had to go up to deck 8. At 7 AM, we were just passing the Shetlands, my phone connected to the UK mobile network, and I could play around for a few minutes. Then came breakfast. On my sea day, I had booked breakfast and dinner buffets. In between, I read, took walks on deck, watched videos, and informative lectures about the travel destinations Faroe Islands and Iceland added to the entertainment.

In the afternoon, the boat reached the Faroe Islands and docked in the capital Torshavn. In an hour, some passengers left the ferry, others boarded, and we set off again. Wiki knows that about 55,000 people live in the Faroe Islands, the same number as in Greenland.

In the evening, dinner (buffet with drinks for 42,-) and outside the islands between games of clouds and sunsets. I got my money's worth. The night was calm and I looked forward to arriving in Iceland the next morning!