Christina here. Today I continue the tale of my recent journey to Iceland. (You can find Part I here):-
A trip to Iceland would not be complete without a visit to two special places - Thingvellir (Þingvellir) and the Geysers. We drove south east to Thingvellir first, the place where the Vikings held their annual meetings (Alþingi) to dispense justice and decide on laws. It's a natural rock formation, a bit like a canyon with an amazing waterfall – Öxarárfoss – on one side. In a spectacular setting up on a hill overlooking a huge lake nearby, the waterfall came as a complete surprise. It’s hidden away among the rock formations that form two curtain walls, like fortifications on a castle. Views over the surrounding landscape are out of this world. There is a large grassy plateau below, where the Vikings taking part in the Alþingi would have raised their tents and camped out. When we were there, the place was incredibly windy and I nearly froze to death as the rocks acted like a wind tunnel. It was so cold!
Things improved at our next destination, the famous geyser Strokkur which wasn’t all that far away. The whole area smelled like rotten eggs because of the sulphur in the water, but it was fascinating to see the geyser erupt every five to seven minutes without warning. It was the only one at present, as another one nearby is dormant right now. All around were little smoking springs, as if the brown soil itself was smouldering. There were also pools of various sizes, beautiful and very inviting, but at 80-100 degrees extremely dangerous! You can’t even stick your hand in or your skin would burn off. Strokkur was not as big as I had imagined it, but still impressive and I’m so glad I got to see it.
An hour’s drive from there, we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere in yet another strange landscape – more like a moonscape actually that could be great as a backdrop for the Star Wars films. Nothing green anywhere, just stones, up a small bumpy rough dirt track that led to a place called Stöng in Þjórsárdalur. This was another archaeological dig where a Viking longhouse had been found buried under lava. It is believed to have been abandoned in 1104 AD due to a volcanic eruption of nearby Mt Hekla. In 1939 a farmstead was excavated here by a Nordic team of archaeologists who uncovered the farmhouse itself, a cattle shed and a smithy. A protective structure was built over the site in the 1950s and that is still in place today.
You can go inside and walk around the stone foundations, which was brilliant for me as I was able to visualise how it would have looked. I was impressed by the sheer size of it – there was a huge main room, the hall (skáli), where people worked during the day in winter, ate around the hearth and slept on the wooden benches along the walls; a smaller living room (stofa) where looms stood and with a fireplace in the middle of the floor; as well as a pantry and an enormous bathroom with toilets. It must have been quite magnificent! A great Viking is supposed to have lived here – Gaukur Trandilsson, who is mentioned in the famous Icelandic saga, Njálssaga, as one of the biggest heroes of the Viking era. Unfortunately the manuscript of the Gaukssaga is lost, but on a rune stone at Maeshowe in Orkney there is an inscription that says Gaukur was here – Viking graffiti.
At that point, we thought we were finished for the day and headed for our next hotel. However, along the way we spotted a spectacular waterfall called Seljalandsfoss. It looked small from afar when you spot it from the ring road, but is massive up close and it turned out you could go behind it to look at it from all sides. It’s the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen and it was exciting being so close to it. Very noisy, with water falling 65 metres from high above with some force, and when you go behind it and look out it’s absolutely magical. We were very lucky and the sun came out just as we went past so I got to see a rainbow in the water. Awesome!
We ended the day in Vik, the southernmost town or village on the coast, which has a lovely black sand beach and views out to rock formations in the sea. Our hotel backed right onto a steep hill where seagulls nested – we spotted them from our bedroom and they were chattering all night. At that time of year, it doesn’t really get dark at all, and I could still see them clearly at half past midnight.
The next day, we drove for two and a half hours each way just to see something called Diamond Beach. We found it on the south coast, along with the Jökulsárlón lagoon whose still blue waters are dotted with icebergs from the surrounding Breiðamerkurjökull glacier, part of the larger Vatnajökull glacier. The glacier lagoon flows through a short waterway into the Atlantic Ocean and some of the chunks of ice wash back up onto the beach, which is black sand (from the volcanic rock). The result is the most incredible sight – like diamonds on a bed of black velvet. Big pieces and small, some of them blue or turquoise in colour, others see-through. All different shapes, and I imagined one was a whale. In the lagoon itself, more pieces were floating around, bigger and heavier, moving from time to time. The water is turquoise too, such a beautiful sight and definitely worth going all that way for!
On the way back to Reykjavik we drove up a scarily steep dirt road to a clifftop at Dyrhólaey, where you could see nesting sea birds. It lies above Reynisfjara black sand beach, which stretches for miles along the coast, seemingly forever. Again, I nearly blew off the cliff; the wind was so strong I could barely hold the camera! There were some rock formations that looked like part of an arched bridge and apparently you can walk across the top, but we weren’t that brave.
On our final day, my long-suffering husband was dragged to yet another museum at Njarðvik, which contained a replica longship of the kind used by the settlers. Named Islendingur (Icelander), it had been built in the year 2000 by Gunnar Marel Eggertsson, a shipbuilder like his father and grandfather, who was related to the famous Leif Eiriksson through his mother. He and a crew sailed the ship to America to commemorate Leif’s journey and to prove that it could be done. It was absolutely huge (23 x 5.5 metres at the widest point) and it had to be as the settlers brought cattle and provisions etc for their new life. I was ecstatic at being allowed to sit on board and just see how it felt. Again, perfect for my story.
After that we drove around trying to get a glimpse of the active volcano nearby, but it was nowhere near the roads and we would have had to take a three hour hike if we wanted to get close – being a confirmed couch potato, I didn't fancy that. So we had to make do with watching the plumes of smoke in the distance.
That evening, we tried eating fermented shark and dried stockfish – apparently staple fare for the Vikings – and I can safely say I don’t want to eat that again. I could still taste the dratted shark the following morning ... It wasn’t as bad as Swedish surströmming (rotten herring basically), but I can live without both.
I can definitely recommend a visit to Iceland if you get the chance to go but bring warm clothing and be prepared to travel long distances. Your reward will be stunning views wherever you look and some fascinating sights. Well worth it!
Have you ever tried any weird types of food and did you like it? I tried chocolate covered ants once, but I won’t be in a hurry to repeat the experience …
