Tórshavn harbor. (Many locals made comments about all the oil in the harbor and it seemed very unusual to them, it can really be seen how much oil is in the harbor from the air)
Tórshavn, on Streymoy Island, is the capital city of the Faroe Islands. It’s known for its old town, Tinganes, crammed with wooden turf-roofed houses on a small peninsula. Nearby is Tórshavn Cathedral, rebuilt in the 19th century.
Tinganes is the historic location of the Faroe Islands landsstýri “government”, and is a part of Tórshavn. The name means “parliament jetty” or “parliament point” in Faroese.
The parliament met there for the first time in the Viking ages when Norwegian colonists placed their Ting (parliament) on the location in 825. It is one of the oldest parliamentary meeting places in the world, along with Tynwald hill in the Isle of Man and Þingvellir in Iceland. The Løgting has since moved to the north of the city, but the home-rule government still sits here.
The building on the outermost point on the small peninsula Skansapakkhusið, currently the government’s main building. The small main street on the peninsula is called Gongin and is home to the oldest parts of the city. Many of the houses on Tinganes were built in the 16th and 17th centuries and are still in use today.
The peninsula divides the Tórshavn harbour in two parts, Eystaravág and Vesteravág.
