Inside One of the World’s Most Remote Music Festivals BY BONNIE STIERNBERG The first thing I notice upon landing at the tiny Vágar Airport in the Faroe Islands — a small, self-governing archipelago that’s part of the Kingdom of Denmark, situated in the North Atlantic between Iceland and Norway — is that no one has bothered to check my passport. There’s no stern customs agent sizing me up or demanding to know what I’m doing here. And why would there be? The Faroese love visitors. That becomes even clearer when, upon traveling about an hour from Vágar to the island of Eysturoy and arriving in the remote village of Syðrugøta — with a population of roughly 500 people — I meet Maggie, the woman who will be hosting me in her home during my stay. Because of some unexpected travel delays, she’s not home when I arrive, and when she sees me standing outside as she and her daughter climb the hill that leads to the house, she’s surprised that I didn’t think to simply try the door. “You should have just gone inside,” she tells me. “It’s always unlocked.” |