Faroe Islands: Saksun Church

Saksun is located on Stremoy island close to the edge of a ravine in a bay, which used to be connected to the open sea. Though many years ago, the inlet to the bay was blocked by sand, so today the bay is more of a lagoon, and Saksun is one of the only villages in the Faroe Islands, which aren’t right by the sea.

There are lots of things to see in the area, with the small but oh-so-pretty Saksun church being the center of attention. The road to Saksun is narrow and very long and at the end, there’s an intersection, where you can either go left or right. To get to the church, you have to go right, but we went left and ended up on the other side of the ravine. Not much to see over there, except for some grazing sheep, which I decided to go and photograph. I kept a safe distance from the ravine, because it’s really steep and there’s no fence at the edge. We then drove back to the intersection and took the road leading to the church.

The church dates back to 1858 and it’s still in use. The church is a short walk from the village, and the picturesque location right in the middle of the rough nature makes it a popular place to visit for tourists and hobby photographers. In the summer, Saksun is a very popular place to visit, but in December, there aren’t a lot of tourists on the islands, and most locals keep indoors because of the weather, so Poul and I had the church all to ourselves.