Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024

mai - juni 2024

Et 39-dagers eventyr av Darren and Janet Les mer

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Darren and Janet Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
- Vis reise
- Legg til bøttelisteFjern fra bøtteliste
- Del
- 26. mai 2024
- ☁️ 10 °C
- Høyde: Sjønivå
- Færøyene Streymoyar Sýsla Tórshavn Bojsengarður 62.008863, -6.77314662°0’32” N 6°46’23” W
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Dag 21
Tórshavn
26. mai, Færøyene ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
Late last night we arrived in the capital Tórshavn, which is on the largest island, Streymoy.

The Faroes are made up of 18 islands, all but one populated (one island only has 2 residents!). The major islands are joined together by 4 undersea tunnels, the smaller island are serviced by ferry, and the very small islands by helicopter.

In the morning we boarded buses and visited the village of Kirkjubøur, and the ruins of Magnus Church. The village, like many others and the capital has plenty of grassed roof houses.

Grass roofed houses are very common in The Faroes and are still being constructed. To make the roof, a layer of birch bark is traditionally laid over the roof beams, then a layer of grass upside down (ie grass down, roots up), before the top layer of grass is added right way up. The lower layer gives the roots of the top layer something to attach to.

We returned to Tórshavn and had a walking tour of the old town, before returning to the ship for lunch.

The afternoon was a walk on the adjacent island, from Nes to Æduvik. To get there we travelled through one of the undersea tunnels, 11km in length, and including the only undersea roundabout in the world, known as the Jellyfish Roundabout.

Our walk was described by locals as a "family walk". It was a challenging 4km walk across the peninsula, so more sore legs for us tonight! We walked 11km in total today.

When we returned to the ship we had some free time before dinner, so we went for a caching walk around town in drizzly rain and heavy fog.Les mer
Se oversettelse
Reisende Now that's some roundabout! Amazing scenery
26.05.2024SvarOversette
Darren and Janet Yes, it's a stunning country. The silhouettes in the middle of the roundabout represent a Faroese circle dance.
26.05.2024SvarOversette
Daniel Williams That's cool, is there multiple connected tunnels then?
26.05.2024SvarOversette
Darren and Janet One tunnel splits into 2, to service different peninsulas on the island, the roundabout saves them having traffic lights at the intersection
26.05.2024SvarOversette
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Darren and Janet Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
- Vis reise
- Legg til bøttelisteFjern fra bøtteliste
- Del
- 27. mai 2024
- ☁️ 12 °C
- Høyde: 70 m
- Færøyene Streymoyar Sýsla Sunda Saksun Tjørnuvíksskarð 62.24571, -7.17067862°14’45” N 7°10’14” W
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Dag 22
We're on strike*
27. mai, Færøyene ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
We had a plan for today, but it got scuppered by a general strike of minimum wage workers in the Faroes.... and as there were no cleaners working, the streets were not cleaned, bins not emptied and schools were closed. All the petrol stations bar 1 were also closed, so many bus companies couldn't provide transport, and locals were using their cars sparingly, so the roads were very quiet.

Our plan B was to reposition the boat to Hvalvik (Whale Bay... like the Scottish "wick", Faroese vik = bay), then use a local bus company to drive us to the other side of the island to catch a charter boat to see the Vestmanna bird cliffs and the thousands of birds nesting there.

We returned to the ship for lunch, then headed out in the afternoon to the village of Saksun, then back to Eysturoy Island (this time via a bridge across the Atlantic... much bigger than the one in Scotland) , for a visit to a lookout, and a scenic drive.

Tonight's after dinner entertainment was a pub quiz in the bar, where we came a respectable 4th. *Our team name was "We're on strike"Les mer
Se oversettelse
Reisende Well done on the pub quiz, obviously not as many local questions!
27.05.2024SvarOversette
Reisende Wow, there are caches even somewhere that isolated?
27.05.2024SvarOversette
Darren and Janet Yes, there's 106 caches spread around the Faroes! The one I really wanted to get was on top of the tallest mountain, but our walk got cancelled 🙁
28.05.2024SvarOversette
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Darren and Janet Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
- Vis reise
- Legg til bøttelisteFjern fra bøtteliste
- Del
- 28. mai 2024
- ☁️ 11 °C
- Høyde: 32 m
- Færøyene Vága Sýsla Gásadalur Reyðastíggjatangi 62.107313, -7.43407262°6’26” N 7°26’3” W
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Dag 23
Farewell Faroes
28. mai, Færøyene ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
Our final day in the Faroes began with the ship repositioning during the night to the harbour in Midvagur, on the island of Vagar.

After breakfast we boarded buses to Sandavágar church. It is a light and airy wooden church, with a model of a boat hanging from the beams. We learnt that every church on the Faroes has a boat inside somewhere, some to commemorate loved ones lost to the ocean, a safe return from a voyage, or as a reminder of their link to the sea. There is no point on the Faroes that is more than 5km from the sea, and all but one settlement is on the coast (the other one is on a lake shore)

The village of Gásadalur was our final stop for the day. Until 2003 it was not accessible by road as it was considered too costly to blast through the rock and connect it's 14 residents with the rest of the country. However, following a generous government rethink, engineers completed a 1.7km-long tunnel in February 2003 to bring their blissful isolation to an end.

The tunnel also opened up the number of visitors to Múllafossur Waterfall, possibly the Faroes most famous tourist attraction. It falls 30m off the edge of a cliff directly into the sea and has a convenient viewpoint a short walk away.

On the way back to the ship we walked through the village of Bøur (only residents cars are allowed in the village), and had coffee and cake in a small family run cafe. The village was a base for British soldiers during World War 2, as it is close to the airport.

We set sail for Edinburgh after lunch and had a restful afternoon of presentations and eating, before the crew talent show after dinner.Les mer
Se oversettelse
John Kalaitzis Superlatives fail me....
29.05.2024SvarOversette
John Kalaitzis It looks like a model, it's so perfect...
29.05.2024SvarOversette
John Kalaitzis Haha. That's great!
29.05.2024SvarOversette
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Darren and Janet Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
- Vis reise
- Legg til bøttelisteFjern fra bøtteliste
- Del
- 29. mai 2024
- ☁️ 13 °C
- Høyde: Sjønivå
- North Sea 58.584303, -0.02360558°35’3” N 0°1’25” W
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Dag 24
Maybe
29. mai, North Sea ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
We have a full day at sea today as we make our way back to Edinburgh, so plenty of time to wander around the ship, catch up on reading, reflect on the trip... and start to pack. We also made our first visit to the bridge.

As we head south the weather is getting warmer, and the fog lifting. The Faroes and it's island neighbours in the north Atlantic could be described as the Lands of Maybe. Nothing can be guaranteed, as the weather has a habit of putting a stop to the best laid plans. Maybe the sun will shine today, maybe the supply boat will arrive, maybe the planes will be able land... In fact there are 37 different words for fog in the Faroe Islands. Slavtoka is a rainy mist. Mjørkabrúgv is a fog bank that sits on the horizon. Hjallamjørki is a thick belt of fog, above and below which it is tantalisingly clear. And fjallamjørki is a mountain fog, which descends from the heavens in a matter of seconds, covering small settlements "like a burst of breath on a window pane".

We had a preview of the trip video blog, compiled by one of the trip photographers, then a final dinner where all the crew were introduced. Docking is expected in Edinburgh at 3am, and we disembark after breakfast.Les mer
Se oversettelse
John Kalaitzis Looks like a very comfortable passage
29.05.2024SvarOversette
John Kalaitzis A Cornish cream tea with jam then cream. Those strange Devonshire people have cream then jam. All very weird
29.05.2024SvarOversette
John Kalaitzis That is a brilliant map
29.05.2024SvarOversette
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Darren and Janet Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
- Vis reise
- Legg til bøttelisteFjern fra bøtteliste
- Del
- 30. mai 2024
- ☁️ 18 °C
- Høyde: 57 m
- Skottland Edinburgh Grassmarket Edinburgh Castle 55.945352, -3.20535255°56’43” N 3°12’19” W
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Dag 25
Journey to the centre of Edinburgh
30. mai, Skottland ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
After docking in the early hours, we had time to enjoy a hearty breakfast before disembarking around 8am.

Our tour included an extra day in Edinburgh, so 23 of us boarded a bus and began with a view over the 3 bridges of the River Forth.

Next stop was Jupiter Artland, an outdoor sculpture park on the grounds of a 17th century manor house on the outskirts of Edinburgh. On the weekends in summer they get 1,000 people a day visiting, but today was thankfully much quieter. Following a guided tour we had lunch on the grounds.

After checking into our city hotel, we had a few hours to spare before dinner, so we went in search of possibly the most low key tourist attraction in Edinburgh, the marker for the centre of the city (thanks JK for the tip).
It is a black post located outside the former GPO, and marks the point where all distances to the city are measured. Unsurprisingly, we were the only ones taking pictures with it!

Dinner with the group was in the hotel, and an early night before and early start tomorrow.Les mer
Se oversettelse
Daniel Williams That's very underated, just another bollard
30.05.2024SvarOversette
John Kalaitzis A very important bollard DC 😂
31.05.2024SvarOversette
Darren and Janet And very unassuming... just quietly getting on with it's job, despite having no friends around him 😁
01.06.2024SvarOversette
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Darren and Janet Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
- Vis reise
- Legg til bøttelisteFjern fra bøtteliste
- Del
- 31. mai 2024
- ☁️ 28 °C
- Høyde: 77 m
- Romania București Sector 1 Floreasca Lake Herăstrău 44.476805, 26.0768544°28’36” N 26°4’37” E
1 1
Dag 26
SCO to RO
31. mai, Romania ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
Early morning wake-up for our flight to Romania. We left the hotel at 6am with a breakfast bag in hand and walked to catch the airport bus.

We flew to Bucharest via Amsterdam, arriving at 5.20pm.

Marina arranged an Uber to collect us, and we arrived at her apartment around 6.30pm.

It's a warm evening and the outdoor dining scene is popular in Bucharest, so we walked to dinner around 8.30pm.

The restaurant was crowded with families and groups enjoying the balmy evening, and we had a relaxed dinner, then walked back to her apartment via a couple of caches... which included Marina's first find!Les mer
Se oversettelse
John Kalaitzis Looks rather yum!
01.06.2024SvarOversette
Reisende 👏👏
09.06.2024Svar
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Darren and Janet Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
- Vis reise
- Legg til bøttelisteFjern fra bøtteliste
- Del
- 1. jun. 2024, 13:14
- ☀️ 31 °C
- Høyde: 77 m
- Romania București Sector 1 Bucharest University of Bucharest 44.434977, 26.09801244°26’6” N 26°5’53” E
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Dag 27
Children's Day
1. juni, Romania ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
We woke up to a warm day for the first day of summer, with 33 degrees forecast. It's also International Children's Day and a public holiday in Romania.

We walked into the city centre, where many of the streets were closed and were filled with cafe tables, children's games and activities. Of course we stopped on the way for morning tea, lunch and caches.

After having ice creams in the park, we caught an Uber back to Marina's and had dinner in, before watching the UEFA Champions League final on TV.Les mer
Se oversettelse
John Kalaitzis Tell us about the potato. What is it supposed to represent? That's not a crown group casino in the background is it?
01.06.2024SvarOversette
Darren and Janet It's actually called The Memorial of Rebirth, but none of the locals can tell you that, they just call it the potato. It's supposed to represent the struggle and victims of the 1989 revolution to overthrow communism.
02.06.2024SvarOversette
John Kalaitzis I like it!
04.06.2024Svar
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Darren and Janet Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
- Vis reise
- Legg til bøttelisteFjern fra bøtteliste
- Del
- 2. jun. 2024
- ☁️ 30 °C
- Høyde: 97 m
- Romania București Sector 1 Floreasca Lake Floreasca 44.469028, 26.09180944°28’9” N 26°5’31” E
3
Dag 28
Casa Ceausescu
2. juni, Romania ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Today we toured Casa Ceausescu, also known as the Spring Palace, which was the Bucharest residence of the leader of the Communist Party. It was most notably the home of Nicolae Ceausescu and his family from 1965 until he was overthrown in 1989, so is generally referred to as the Ceausescu House.

In a country where most residents had no electricity or running water, it was an opulent house, with an indoor swimming pool, cinema room, sauna, hair salon and a golden bathroom - the rumour at the time was that the bathroom was solid gold, and while it is gold in colour, the guide told us is all gold plating and contains next to no actual gold (no photos are permitted inside, so we can't share any of the gaudy details)

Late lunch was at an outdoor terrace restaurant, and our first serving of papanasi, the national dessert.Les mer
Se oversettelse
John Kalaitzis Remind me, what does it consist of? I'm sure it's not a baked potato with a meatball in yogurt and caramel syrup, as it looks to my eye?
03.06.2024SvarOversette
Darren and Janet Yours sounds very unattractive! This one is a fried donut made with a sweet cheese dough, served with sour cream and blueberry jam (and the hole on top).
03.06.2024SvarOversette
John Kalaitzis Of course, now that you say that, I can see it...😂
04.06.2024SvarOversette
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Darren and Janet Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
- Vis reise
- Legg til bøttelisteFjern fra bøtteliste
- Del
- 3. jun. 2024
- ☀️ 34 °C
- Høyde: 81 m
- Romania București Sector 1 Bucharest București - Ilfov 44.430804, 26.10088144°25’51” N 26°6’3” E
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Dag 29
Bucharest Old Town
3. juni, Romania ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C
We caught the underground Metro to the city this morning for a walk around the cobbled, car free streets of the Old Town, a mix of restaurants, nightclubs, ancient churches and historic buildings. And a decent number of caches.

The weather was fine and hot again, so the walk was leisurely and the refreshment stops numerous. After a few hours walking and lunch al fresco, we caught the underground in the late afternoon back to Marina's, for a quiet night in.Les mer
Se oversettelse
John Kalaitzis Ooh, fancy....
03.06.2024SvarOversette
John Kalaitzis And the distance from here to its equivalent in Edinburgh is?
03.06.2024SvarOversette
John Kalaitzis Wonderful
03.06.2024Svar
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Darren and Janet Scotland, Faroes, Romania 2024
- Vis reise
- Legg til bøttelisteFjern fra bøtteliste
- Del
- 4. jun. 2024
- ⛅ 30 °C
- Høyde: 67 m
- Romania București Sector 1 Bârzeşti Fosta albie a Lacului Văcărești 44.398901, 26.13202344°23’56” N 26°7’55” E
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Dag 30
Park'n'Shop
4. juni, Romania ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
We caught the underground again today, this time south of the city to Vacaresti Nature Park, which is a wetlands surrounding Lake Văcărești.

The area was part of a large swampy area on the outskirts of Bucharest that was drained by the Communist Party and apartment blocks built at one end. President Ceaușescu wanted to build a reservoir which was supposed to be filled from Mihăilești Lake, 22 kilometres away, and a concrete dam was built to surround Lake Văcărești.

The plans were abandoned when communism fell in 1989 and the area was neglected. Due to the area being unused for such long time, plant-life and wildlife flourished and the biodiversity is now considered to be comparable to that of a small river delta. There are now a number of bird hides and walking trails in the park.

After lunch at a nearby cafe we caught the underground back to the north of the city, stopping at the shopping mall for some supplies and afternoon tea, before walking back to Marina's.Les mer
Se oversettelse
John Kalaitzis Incredible that this exists in a sizeable city and all because of an accident of history?
04.06.2024SvarOversette
Daniel Williams Dam, they were expecting a lot of water then
04.06.2024SvarOversette
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