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Travel Guide to the Faroe Islands: Part Two | Travel Photographer

October 30, 2018

If you missed Part One to the Travel Guide to The Faroe Islands, click here!

Day Four:

We wanted to drive as far as we could so we went towards the island of Vidoy to do a hike. It was such a beautiful drive! The islands aren’t very big and it doesn’t take too long to go across. It took about an hour and a half to get to Vidareidi on Vidoy.

We attempted to hike Villingardalsfjall, it was a doozy! It was straight up the hill and through lots of mud and rocks. We were almost to the top and we could see the rain starting and it would have been a nightmare to come down in the rain, it would have been so slippery and pretty dangerous on the steep hillside. We were probably about a half mile from the top. We heard that the views were incredible from the people coming down earlier from the hike, so we will have to try and tackle that one next time!

On the map that you get at the airport there are a lot of Buttercup Routes that are points of interest. On the way home we hit a few of those and that was so fun searching for the Buttercups and they weren’t just scenic views, they were some of the most epic drives I have ever been on. The views were unreal. To find the Buttercups they are pointed out with the name of it with a buttercup on the sign and then on the road you will see signs with Buttercups on them assuring you that you are on the right road. Most of the Buttercups were on small narrow, one way roads, and usually a decent cliff off of one side or the other, don’t let this keep you away from them, just a warning for the driver. Cole got a little nervous with me trying to look at the amazing scenery while staying on the tiny road! Haha! We were able to see these Buttercups that night: Oyndarfjordur and Hellunar.

We tried to just do a cheaper dinner that night and had pizza and a pita at the local pizza shop not the best food decision. But we were tired!

Visit Faroe Islands

Day Five:

This was one of our favorite days, even though they were all so good and everything was so amazing!

First we went to Saksun and it was so beautiful!! We did the hike Ut a Lonna, it starts in Saksun and goes along the river and then it connects to the beach. Make sure to go at low tide so you can go as far as possible. It was such a relaxing walk, we really enjoyed it! I loved the black sand! We were surrounded by cliffs with small homes and waterfalls everywhere!

In Klaksvík there is a little bakery, Bakeriid Hja Jorun that we got some sweets and rolls and cheese at for our lunch.

We caught the 2:10 ferry from Klaksvík to Kalsoy. We had enough time to drive to the end of the island and hike to the Kallur Lighthouse. It was an amazing hike!!! The view of the cliffs at the lighthouse were so beautiful. It was so windy and muddy that we couldn’t hike down below but I can only imaging what it would have been like. I loved the green hillsides that we were able to hike right along with the sheep. It was incredible. With it being their off season the ferry was limited, so we had to make it back to the ferry by 5:35 pm, and it was close! They let 15 cars on and we were number 12 in line and then 2 workers cut in front so we almost didn’t make it! We even arrived at 5:10, so I would recommend getting back to the ferry as soon as you can, if we would have missed it we would have had to wait until 10:00 pm for the next ferry.

On the way back we tried to fit in a few more Buttercups and we were able to get to Elduvik and the views at the tiny village were so amazing! There wasn’t enough time to get to all of the Buttercups and I can only imagine how beautiful they all are!

Later that night we ditched our hiking clothes and went back to the nice restaurants and ate at Aarstova for a 3 course meal, Cole enjoyed the Shoulder of Lamb and I got the poached Cod and it was so amazing!!

Visit Faroe Islands

Black and White film photo from Cole on the ferry to Kalsoy.
Visit Faroe Islands

Day Six:

On our last day we just had the morning and we were a little sad our trip to The Faroe Islands had to come to an end!! We hadn’t been through Tórshavn while shops were open so we went and shopped around in the morning and I bought some yarn I am excited for!! I will try to be a knitter again!

There is a Buttercup going out of Tórshavn so we made that drive on our way out of town. This one was on top of the cliffs and above the usual route back to Vagar. When we were down below I knew the mountains were tall around us, but when we were on top of the mountains I realized how tall they were and the road was nice and narrow right on the cliffs!! And it was super windy and rainy! We soaked in our last drive back to the airport!

We arrived in the domestic Reykjavík airport around 4:20, and I had planned to just store our luggage and go back and walk around Reykjavík for the evening but luckily I looked at our car rental, I knew it was at the other airport, but I thought the rental company would be open later. It closed at 6! So we had to rush over there. The FlyBus didn’t have any departures until 8:00 pm, so we had no choice…. we had to take a taxi and it was $145!!! And then all of the shops would be closed in Reykjavik so I couldn’t get another pastry and my plates…. I know real problems here! Haha. It worked out and we got our car and we thought we booked a hotel for our stay but it was really an AirBNB that was still under construction. We stayed in Keflavík and ate a a cute restaurant Library. Later we drove to a little lighthouse and had the most amazing views of the Northern Lights, it was unreal!!!! This world is such a beautiful place!!

Day Seven:

Because of how flights worked out with The Faroe Islands we had an extra day in Iceland. We chose to drive along the southern Ring Road, we made it to Vik, it was about a 3 hour drive but with the stops we made it took us about 5 hours.

When I bought my yarn in Tórshavn, I realized after that I had bought two different whites. As we were driving through Selfoss I told Cole to watch for yarn balls so I could try to get the right one and two seconds later I was turning the corner and Cole didn’t know what had happened! Hahah, I saw some yarn balls on a little hand made signs and found the right yarn!

After that our first stop was at Seljalandsfoss there were 3 beautiful waterfalls to walk around and you could hike behind the main one. It had felt like a long drive from Keflavík to this point so it was nice to be walking around the beautiful scenery. After this point there were a lot of beautiful things to see. Skógafoss was the next waterfall and I loved that you could walk right up to the base, the black rocks and sand were so beautiful! It was amazing when the sun came out it seemed like the rainbow was going to make a full circle! This drive was so breathtaking, the green mountains and cliffs were so beautiful! We made a quick stop to look at the glacier and then moved on.

We stopped at the Black Sands beach to view the Reynisdrangar, I loved seeing all of the pillar rock formations, it was quite the spot for everyone getting their IG photos! Haha! I knew there would be a lot of tourist in Iceland, but I totally underestimated how many people would be at each stop. It was like visiting Zions National Park in the middle of summer, there were people everywhere!

We made it to Vik and I thought it would be a bigger town, but it was pretty small so we ate dinner at one of the two places offered and it was cafeteria style, I was hoping for something a bit better but we were hungry. We chased the last light back and I was hoping to find some fun Icelandic horses but we couldn’t find them until after the sun went down. It was definitely a short little journey in Iceland and it would have been nice to not be rushed but we did what we could in a day. We made the journey back to our place and it took 3/4 hours with our stopping a lot to take photos during golden light.

Travel Day:

Our flight left Reykjavik Keflavík International airport at 11:10 am and we laid over in Dallas and got into Salt Lake City at 6:00 pm, it is so nice coming home and gaining a day and not getting home super late. It was a trip of a lifetime, probably one of our favorites!!!

When we go back to The Faroe Islands, the first things on our list will be Mykines Island, Ragnin Hike in Vágar, ferry to Nolsoy and Sandoy, looks like we have our next trip already planned out! Who wants to go?? 🙂

Visit Faroe Islands

Travel Guide: Aarhus Denmark

August 7, 2018

“To travel is to live.” Hans Christian Andersen

Last August my mom and I went to Denmark and we fell in love with this beautiful country! The design, the streets the food, everything was amazing! Our first stop in Denmark was Copenhagen, you can head back on the blog to see what we loved in Copenhagen. After Copenhagen we drove to Aarhus, we stopped in Odense to see Hans Christian Andersen’s home and museum, it was such a cute little town and I loved reading all of the quotes from his fairy tales.

We were lucky enough to have some friends in Aarhus that gave us an awesome tour of the city. Aarhus is an up and coming city, it was so hip! We were there when so many new things were opening! Here are a few of our favorite things!

We stayed in an Air BNB near Bruuns Galleri and it was the perfect central location.

We were there on the opening day for the Selling Rooftop, they created a beautiful garden area on the rooftop of the department store. There was a cute restaurant and little amphitheater and a glass sidewalk that you could walk out on and look at the street below.

We found the best street food market, there were so many options and the food was so delicious. Make sure to visit Aarhus Street Food.

We only had a few hours at the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, we wish we would have had more time, but walking around the Rainbow Panorama gave a great view of the city.

I am always drawn to the water on trips, one of my favorite things to do is walk along the water. There were so many fun things to do around DOKK1, it had just opened up as well! And they have the coolest parking garage, it was like we traveled to the future. We were also able to see the boat that the Queen of Denmark was staying on!

I also love visiting Botanical Gardens when I travel, I love to see all of the plant varieties!

I wish we would have had more time at the Den Gamle By, we had to run through it quick but I could have spent a lot more time there!

And most of these photos were taken on the cutest street I have ever seen, you must go to Mollestien!

Denmark Photographer

Travel Guide: Cuba Part Two

February 28, 2018

If Cuba isn’t on your bucket list, you need to add it! I think that is the best way to make sure you get to places that you want to go. I make a list of goals every five year, and always add new countries to go to and it motivates me to make sure I travel there! My mom and I have been wanting to explore Cuba for years, and when it started being accessible to Americans, we put it on our list and made it happen. For awhile the easier ways to get there were by a cruise or from Mexico, we had a cruise booked originally, but they didn’t process our Visa papers in time, so we ended up flying out of Miami instead. I think that worked just great. Once you get to Cuba, communication is really tough, it is kind of hard to go in without a plan. We didn’t have much access to internet while we were there. I made sure to screen shot most of the things that we wanted to do, because there was no way to look it up once we were out and about.

When you travel to Cuba you must get a Visa to enter the country, and you have to fill out a form declaring one of twelve reasons for your visit. We declared several on the list and my mom made sure to have documentation of what we did. We were really worried about this because of the huge deal they were making about it, we were never asked once in Cuba why we were there or when we came back through customs. It was the easiest customs to come through, we were shocked they didn’t ask more questions. When I have come back from Europe I have been drilled more. Make sure you travel with cash; bank cards and credit cards do not work in all areas.

For the first night we stayed in an Air BNB in Central Havana, the location made it easy to get to the main attractions. The place was clean, but it was definitely in a run down part of town. Every street looked the same and we had a hard time making our way back the first day. We both thought we could remember the buildings, but by the time we walked around several streets it all looked the same. There are Casa Particulars on every street, a lot of people open their homes up to tourists, which makes it a nice way to really experience the culture of Cuba.

On our first day we walked to Capitol of Havana, and explored the streets in the surrounding areas. We were in awe of the architecture and all of the old pristine cars. We could not believe how well they had kept up some of these old cars. One of the first things we wanted to do was take a classic car tour around the city, this was a good way to get our bearings with the city and what it had to offer. The cars that do the tours are all lined up in front of Hotel Inglaterra at the Parque Central. We got suckered into a weird deal, we were headed towards the line up of cars and a guy on the corner stopped us and said he would take us to a car. We thought he worked with the car companies, he took us to one of the cars, and then he ended up coming with us on the tour and then he was a cigar broker and then he accompanied us to dinner. We weren’t sure how to get rid of him, eventually he left as we played dumb that we didn’t understand that he was expecting us to pay him for coming along with us. We loved taking the classic car tour, but we learned to go directly to the driver, don’t get caught with an awkward middle man. His name was Oscar, and so the rest of the trip that was our phrase when someone was trying to get us to pay them for nothing… we got Oscarred. The tour went around China Town, Revolutionary Square, The John Lennon Park, Vedado, and then ended on the beautiful Malecon along the ocean.

On our next day we took a taxi to Varadero, a beautiful beach town about 2 hours out of Havana. When my mom was booking our trip she was having a hard time finding beach resorts that allowed Americans to book a room. We later found out we were not suppose to stay at the beach resorts because it was considered tourism. Well we stayed at one, it was rated as a 4 star hotel and my mom was very familiar with their other nice resorts in Mexico. When we walked on the property we felt like we walked back in time. Everything was very outdated and a little run down, the beach was beautiful, but the property was a little sketchy. When we got into the room me and my mom died! I think they put us in the worst room possible, but we didn’t dare complain because maybe they would kick the Americans out, haha. It was the worst room either of us has ever stayed in and I have traveled to a lot of third world countries so that is saying something. Because of this we stayed out on the beach for most of the time and it was so amazing. We walked the beach for hours and walked through some of the real 4 and 5 star hotel properties, and wished they would have let us book. It was so nice to escape to the beach in the middle of touring Havana, being in the city was a bit overwhelming with the poverty and run down streets. When we made our way back to Havana we rode in a Blue Chevrolet Bel Air, it was a fun experience, a little bumpy and a little hot, but so fun.

For the last two nights we stayed out of Havana in La Vibora, in another Air BNB, this one was amazing. It was an old 30’s mansion that was being restored by a French lady. I loved all of the art deco that she was restoring within the home, we loved talking to her and learning more about the Cuban culture. It was a bit away from everything but it was good to see other parts of the city. It was very cheap and easy to ride the bus into the city.

On the first day we had the hardest time finding a place to buy a map, so make sure you are prepared before you get there with screen shots of things you want to do. We also had a hard time finding places to buy water, we had to stock up at the Casa Particulars that we were staying at. We went in May, and it was so hot! While exploring we eventually found some nicer restored areas and it felt like we were walking around in a beautiful European city. There were lots of fun streets east of the Capitol towards the cruise ports. There were a few quaint little restaurants that had good food, we hadn’t had much luck finding good food before that. I think we walked the most on this trip and ate the least!

We loved visiting the Colon Cemetery, it is one of the largest cemeteries in the world. There were rows and rows of marble statues and mausoleums. If you are brave you can go into one of the crypts, you will have to ask me about that experience sometime! It was pretty sketchy!

When I travel I just love walking the streets, we tried to go into a few of the museums but somehow kept going when they were closed. We only had a few days to explore but it was a good taste of what the rest of the country has to offer. The people were so kind, except Oscar… When I tell people that I went to Cuba they are usually shocked and ask why? If these photos don’t answer that for you, I don’t know what will. I love interacting with new cultures and I am always surprised by the kindness and helpfulness of the people. There are so many good people in the world. I have had too many good experiences with traveling to be afraid of traveling to unfamiliar and unpopular places.

If you missed my Travel Guide: Cuba Part One click here to see more. In this post I talk more about what camera gear I take when I travel.

Travel Guide