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Archive for faroe islands

A Hot Spot in the North Atlantic

By Linda Tancs

Second only to a robust fishing industry, tourism is hot in the Faroe Islands. The idyllic, self-governing archipelago (part of the Kingdom of Denmark) lies northwest of Scotland and halfway between Iceland and Norway in the heart of the North Atlantic. Despite the cool latitude, it has a number of hot attractions. Historic Kirkjubøur, for instance, has a church from the Middle Ages still in use and one of the world’s oldest inhabited log houses as well. On the western island of Mykines you’ll find a birder’s paradise that is believed to be the site that the seafaring Irish monk St. Brendan described in the middle of the sixth century. Add to that deep grottos dominated by soaring, sheer cliffs in Vestmanna, located beyond ancient villages like Kvívík, the site of remains of a well preserved Viking farmstead. Small and unspoiled, the islands have received top marks for preservation of nature, historic architecture and national pride.