Fine Facilities on the Faeroes (1)

Another Wish You Hadn't Started blog!

Torshavn (it means Thor's Harbour) is the capital of The Faeroes.

Tórshavn is the capital of the Faroe Islands, and as such is the seat of the Faroes’ self rule government. Today a part of the government is located on the Tinganes peninsula of Tórshavn. The Prime Minister's office is there. The other ministries are located in other office buildings in various places in Tórshavn, i.e. the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs are located near the Hospital of the Faroes in Eirargarður, and the Ministry of Finance is located in Argir in a building called Albert Hall on the street Kvíggjartún. The parliament, the Løgting, which was originally located on Tinganes, was relocated to the town square, Vaglið, in 1856.

We shall meet Albert Hall later! As we know, the internet knows everything and, despite asking about Albert Hall Torshavn, the system dished up several million pictures fo another Albert Hall.

Thank a bunch Google!

Local buses only came to Thor's Harbour in the late 1970s. Three arrived running four town services.

But the authority has always invested in new vehicles to keep a modest fleet up o date. Tomorrow, fbb will look at timetables and extend his research to the blue "country" buses.

More modern vehicles include (below) a small batch of these with a distinctive higher roof at the back. Maybe the engine is under that bit so people need a step up?

A delivery of four new vehicles is illustrated on-line ...

... and an even newer bus shows its face and battery back pack (or is it a gas, man!)?

Torshavn has a population similar to Dawlish which doesn't have its own transport company and what local services exist are largely tacked on to the Stagecoach interurban network No Dawlicious frequencies are as good as this in the Faeroes capital!

There does exist a network map ...

... which lists FOUR "normal" services, a schooldays only route (of which more anon) and three "villages" networks which run spasmodically.

All this information is on an enthusiast web site from 2020 and nowhere can fbb discover if it is still up to date.

fbb will sample timetables and the detail of the route map in tomorrow's blog with a huge dose of "polite suspicion".

Your brave blogger will start with route 1, 2 and 3 as they all serve areas to the south of the town centre.

Service 1 has a terminus with a view right over Tor's present Havn.

For those of our readers' who, even now, are planning a visit, notable features include a clutch of houses with very environmentally "green" roofs ...

... literally!

Apparently, it is cheaper and more sustainable than loft insulation but mowing it in the spring could be treacherous!

And here, rather unimpressively, is Albert Hall.

It has an eponymous bus stop which we will meet tomorrow.

Excitement all the way in an fbb blog!

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"NOT the Advent Calendar", but ...

     The      

  CHRIST -mas 

  Criss-muss  

   Confusion  

 Critique  2  

Part of the Christmas Story ...

... but Later.

Like the "Find The Fault" quiz in earlier blogs, we ask, "What is wrong with this traditional stylised picture?"

Almost everything!

As well as not being kings, there is no evidence to support that number 3. As we have seen, the Bible, which is the only historical account we have, just says some men. The number 3 assumes that each gift was carried by one wise man.

Almost certainly the gifts would have been carried by servants travelling with the Caravan, so the Wise Men would have been wise enough to let snivelling minions do the dirty work.

There are more Wise Men on the preserved ancient gates of the city of Nineveh.

But they certainly would NOT have been riding camels. Would you want to ride a camel for several hundred miles? Posterior pain would proliferate paracetamol-less.

Camels were the HGVs of those times, the men in silly hats would want something more distinguished as befits their status as ...

... what?

They were Magi, often disparaged today as being mere astrologers and not "proper" astronomers. 

But they were both. Back then, Magi studied the stars, plotted their locations, marvelled at the "Planetes" (Greek for "wanderers" because they did not obey the riles!) and generally did a good job.

OK, their motive was to try to see how the stars affected life on earth, particularly the life of their boss, the king!

But one document they studied was both astounding and a little scary!

Try to pretend the camels are horses!

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 Torshavn Transport 2 : Fri 3rd Jan