Faroe Islands review

Now that we've made it to Iceland, before we forget, here's some thoughts on the Faroes.

--the islands are very small, you're never more than 3 miles from the sea;
--this is one of the least populated countries in the world, the capitol, Torshavn, is the smallest world capitol and also the site of Europe's first parliament, founded in the 800s;
--the country seems to thrive on its quaintness and small size;
--we recommend Hotel Torshavn in the main city;
--the art museum in Torshavn is an amazing building and space surrounded by the town park, both are worth a half-day to explore as is the Natural History Museum;
--driving was easy despite the one lane roads, one lane tunnels, and sheep;
--one lane tunnels and roads have turn-offs every 100 yards on the right side of the road so you can pull over to let approaching cars pass;
--2 of the islands are connected by undersea toll tunnels...tolls are collected on the honor system at gas stations located near tunnel entrances;
--the sheep are everywhere but are generally afraid of people and cars;
--hiking is the main outdoors activity, paths are clearly marked for the most part and each small town has a sign board located near the town's main road which shows the location of the paths;
--best hikes were along paths that cut through pastures to the sea cliffs;
--Guesthouse of Gjogv was great: perfect location, nice rooms, and home cooked breakfasts and dinners...the owners are also very helpful with advice on hikes and sites, they even knew about TYR and hooked us up with the band's first CD which to date has been impossible to locate;
--multi-level cascading waterfalls are everywhere...we stopped taking pictures of waterfalls after a dozen, there are hundreds;
-- super bright rainbows are everywhere thanks to the weather which runs in 20 minute cycles: rain, wind, sun...hats and umbrellas are useless, best to have a windbreaker with a hood handy...you can easily follow the rainbows to where they start, double rainbows are common;
--temperatures were in the high 40s and low 50s;
--Aarvosta was the best restaurant in Torshavn; and
--grass roofs are common, every town has ten houses with them.