Our colleague Amy Snow recently visited the Faroes for the first time in May this year. She was particularly taken by the story of The Giant and The Witch – Risin and Kellingin:
While travelling around the Faroe Islands recently, I found out about an old Faroes legend.
In the small fishing village of Eida, if you look out accross the waters you will see two figures standing alone from the cliffs called Risin and Kellingin – meaning the Giant and the Witch.
According to legend, Risin and Kellingin were visiting the Faroes from Iceland. They fell in love with the islands so much that they wanted to take them back to Iceland. Risin tied a huge rope around the strongest part of the island he could find, and they both jumped into the sea to start dragging the islands to Iceland. They worked through the night trying to pull the beautiful islands closer to their home. Suddenly the rope snapped and the mountains cracked, ruining their plans. As Risin and Kellingin were not allowed to be seen in the sun, time was running out for them....
As dawn came and sunrise was upon the islands, the Giant and the Witch didn’t realise it was daylight and were turned to stone forever, leaving the islands were they were, together with a big crack in the mountains.
When I went to visit Risin and Kellingin, the air was filled with mist, making the legends really come to life in such an eery atmosphere. The Village Eida is only an hour and half away from Torshavn and is on the island of Eysturoy. It was my favourite place in the Faroes and can be seen from so many different locations on Steymoy.
If you'd like to visit the Faroes and Iceland, why not take a look at our North Atlantic Explorer itinerary.
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