Above, an art project at My Church, Hallgrímskirkja, that wasn’t there when I left!
On the way into town I stopped off at The Settlement Center in Borgarnes. It’s a museum of the early days in Iceland and also a walk through models telling the story of the Egils Saga. The audio tour was quite good – a modest, lovely detour, well worth it if you have the time.
Back in Reykjavik I dropped my bag at the guesthouse, then dropped the car, and then walked to the guesthouse through downtown. Look at this house…you know you’re back in Reykjavik.
When I started walking it was dry....and then rain that no one seemed to mind.
Guðbjörg and I had a wonderful last day in Iceland. We went to Árbær Open Air Museum and it was delightful.
We waited in the sweet café for the English language guide and we both just loved this kid. He’s studying history, not surprisingly has perfect English, and answered every question with a delightful and appropriate story.The old and the new..
Remember back three weeks ago (of course not!), next door to my guesthouse was a small local art gallery that had many pieces out on their lawn. These folks were working on a project and The Big Reveal was due on the day before I was to leave on my drive, so I was anxious to see it. I didn’t swell with joy but it was fun:
And here we have how it looks 2 1/2 weeks later. They’ve mulched it up and what they said was they had no idea what to do next – tend to it? change the plants? let it go wild? Now I’m a little invested in the whole thing and I want to know what’s going to happen. So..success you guys!
.I walked down to the bus station to get my covid test and a bus ticket to the airport.
Then in the morning, Home Sweet Home. The flights went well. Goodness I was so grateful for Global Entry and TSA Pre. Those lines in JFK were a killer. Comfort+ on Delta, thumbs up. Now it is the 11th so yes, it’s taken me some time to finish and I haven’t done a polish on these posts, but thanks to Marsha for keeping up with the proof reading!
The first two pictures are of the Snæfellsjökull volcano in Snæfellsjökull National Park. On a clear day you can see its peak from Reykjavik. There’s a technical reason why it is visible from so far away that I didn’t understand entirely, or at all. It’s a 700,000 years old glacier-capped stratovolcano (wikipedia knows all about it…). “The mountain is one of the most famous sites of Iceland, primarily due to the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne, written in 1864 in which the protagonists find the entrance to a passage leading to the center of the earth on Snæfellsjökull.”
I arrived late to Helgafell from the ferry. Helgafell is the name of the small community where I will stay for two nights in the small cottage on the right.
On the first night it was cloudy (surprise!) but on the second night I got to see the midnight sun for only the second time. All the other nights I was either asleep or it was cloudy. But two is pretty good! I took these pictures at the same time, midnight, out the same window, but a different zoom, and I added some contrast to the second one so we could see that sun. I should redo these…
Bárðar Saga Snæfellsáss Statue, designed by Ragnar Kjartansson. The statue represents a half-human, half-troll protagonist of an important saga. Notice the teeny little people in the distance, to get a feeling for scale.At the location of the Bárðar Saga Snæfellsáss Statue we find more bird cliffs.This is about 1/8th of the size of the cliff as it drops down to the sea. Poo, lots of poo. All the cliff birds back up to the edge of their platform and shoot poo out in the direction away from where they’ve settled. All the visitors giggle when they see a good poo fly.
Nesting..
..just hangin’ out.
The Park Ranger said ‘probably trolls’.
A classic lighthouse at the tip of the Peninsula.
This guy is Kirkjufell “Church Mountain” near the town of Grundarfjörður. There are so many gorgeous pictures of this place but I didn’t have the time…like so many other places, a drive-by. Just a reason to come back!
And now it’s back to Reykjavik and only two more nights before Home Sweet Home.
A car ferry bobbing around in the North Atlantic. I thought it would be a fun change of pace. It was a change of pace and a nice hit of deja vu for sure. More later.
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Látrabjarg, the westernmost point in Iceland at the tip of the lowest finger of the Westfjords. Látrabjarg is a monumental area of bird cliffs. So many birds. I read there were 160,000 pairs of nesting razorbills alone.
My guesthouse in Patreksfjörður had a lovely breakfast room:
I took a lazy morning and then headed out for the 1 1/2 hour drive to see the birds in the cliffs at Látrabjarg.
On the way another gold sand beach. Some of them are yellow, some red, it’s something I could look-up.
Here’s the thing about seeing puffins. During the nesting months they fly out in the morning on the early side and come back late so if you don’t catch them then you’ll still find a few who have stayed behind but not the nice crowds you see in National Geographic.
Fun Fact! auroraexpeditions says you can call a group of puffins “by a range of names – a colony, a circus, a puffinry, a gathering, a burrow, or an improbability.”
It was SO windy out there I have no idea how those birds stayed attached to the cliffs. Amazing. And I did see a few more puffins too. But these guys were not as lively as the ones in Bakkagerði in East-Iceland when I stayed at Blábjörg Resort, maybe because they were too busy hanging on.
There are thousands of birds, many cliffs, and a dozen different kinds of birds but when you see this you can know for sure, Puffins!
I passed this once before in the rain. Twice in the rain! I got the clear picture off the internet and saw the second member of the duo today and I’ll tell about it then.The ferry, and there is nothing else around except down the road 10 minutes there’s an overpriced restaurant even by Iceland standards. Many people I later saw on the ferry were hanging out there too.I heard a lot of people moaning about the bobbing around but I went outside and it was fine, cold but fine.Through the muddy front window, welcome to yet again another delightfully cute town, this one is called Stykkishólmur. I took this picture at 10pm. I’ll spend this night and tomorrow night here.
I left Heydalur on the late side because first I had to make friends with this Arctic fox, the only mammal native to Iceland. This guy came around the kitchen when she was just a kit, probably abandoned or orphaned, and although never tamed, when she has just had a litter she comes back for food because, they think, it’s easier than hunting.
Leaving Heydalur all I had to do was drive to my next destination and enjoy the landscape along the way. So weather-wise, not the best day for such a project, raining as often as not, and somewhere along the line the gps kept insisting I turn HERE:
The dreaded Impassable. But all the roads were open when I left. Did I put in the wrong destination? Eventually it all worked out but I don’t know how or by what route I reached Guesthouse Stekkaból in Patreksfjörður.
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Here are a few pictures I was able to catch between the rains.
This was an odd encampment setup around an area of protected nesting birds.Notice the gold sand beach on the left, more are coming.
Arriving in Patreksfjörður after the long drive I decided to eat an actual dinner in an actual restaurant and picked the ‘best place in town’. Oh my goodness, it was wonderful. I’ve had the lamb soup and the smoked lamb sandwich slices but I’d not yet had a piece of meat. I got the ribeye, prepared perfectly, I mean really really good.
The breakfast buffet at Country Hotel Heydalur was similar to all the others, I’m trying to think what made it better…two kinds of arctic char, two kinds of herring, homemade jams, different kinds of cheese, bacon and eggs (rare actually), bread and rolls warm and fresh out of the oven, pretty good fresh fruit, and then all the regular things too, the regular sliced cheeses and various meats, cereal, sliced cucumber, tomatoes, red bell peppers. More too. I see peanut butter and honey. They were always running out of things which was ok because if you asked they’d gladly bring more. At the end there wasn’t a lot of waste. Actually at the end staff would come through to fill a plate and then there wasn’t anything left.
I’m staying here all day and driving nowhere. Wow.
They have a nice pool to enjoy.And an outdoor hot pot.Plenty of lovely walks.
But Mostly! HORSES.
They live down in the fields and this lovely young woman brings them up when there are tourists around to go for a ride.
Giving us instructionsAnd we’re off!
I didn’t take many pictures on the trail because it was so rocky my horse’s hooves would occasionally slip meaning I had to pay attention, and we crossed water several times which was even more slippery. Near the end of the hour I was ‘getting it’ for the slips and it was a lot easier. In fact, it was a BLAST!
That’s the guide and the three other riders from Germany.
They have a big green house, I can’t believe I forgot to visit there. And they are planting trees every year around the hillsides. The trees don’t grow much though, and I doubt that they will be contributing much to the driftwood piles from Siberia.We finished out the day around 9pm enjoying a beer fest with my three Germans from the ride and another unrelated German whose friend had just left. Of course their English was perfect and I had a great time hearing about their trips.
I’m going to be talking about the roads and you’ll see why!
Good morning from Karuna Guesthouse. They didn’t offer riding here but they did let you snuggle those horses all you wanted and they left boiled up eggs from the chickens in the refrigerator for the guests.
I learned some things about the Icelandic horses. They mostly stay out all winter. They might appreciate a place to get out of the wind but inside they get too hot. They grow a huge winter coat and shed it in the spring. They put on tons of weight in the winter from inactivity and from being fed instead of grazing. You are not allowed to own horses unless you can prove that you have food for them to cover the winter. The government comes around and checks! Animal welfare is important in Iceland.
They’re helping each other shed their winter coats. It itches until they can get it off!This is why there’s not going to be much for today.
What you see above is a very decent gravel road. They come in ‘ok, I can do this’ all the way to ‘now I’m begging for mercy’.
Notice the tall yellow pole above. All the roads have yellow poles marking the road bed, taller and shorter depending on the average snow level. As you’ll see the roads are elevated and you don’t want to drop off!
The paved roads are fantastic especially when it’s clear. Even when it’s raining, for some reason I don’t know yet, the roads always look and act dry. They are smooth, so well maintained, the sight lines are excellent, I have not encountered a single problem with a driver either wanting to pass me or I them. It’s quite amazing. If you’re considering driving in Iceland, Go For It!
BUT you must check the weather every day and be ready to change your plans. I think I might change tomorrow’s plans because one of the roads I need to be on is both gravel and reporting high winds and high winds here push you right off the road.
Here’s the website and what the navigable map looks like. You can click click online. What’s awesome about this map is that it shows the gravel roads and paved roads in a different color. None of my other maps did. There are other roads, you just shouldn’t be on them.
And here’s the map for today’s journey, the longest in time of all my legs mostly because of the Mountains and Gravel Roads. (I’ve talked about that combination before! As I write this on June 2 all is well, the new car, a Kia Sportage, is holding up like a champ.)
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Some views when the fog lifted:
See the medium-height yellow poles, guard rails for sharp turns, how you don’t want to fall off the road bed.Another rainbow walk.Cliffs for nesting seabirds.Of course when I finally get a chance to grab a shot along this coast you don’t see any driftwood despite that I saw driftwood on every beach for an hour. So I nabbed a picture that looks right. How do we get driftwood on the beach when we (literally!) don’t have any trees? Siberia! It takes 4-5 years but it does arrive. They use it for all sorts of things (summer houses, bonfires, art projects, not commercially it seems.)I was hungry and not in the mood for a gas station sandwich so although I was not planning to visit the Museum of Sorcery and Witchcraft, they did have a restaurant. I had fish soup that was absolutely splendid so……I thought ok, I’ll have a look at their museum. It’s worth it for the food (everyone was exclaiming about their food). The museum was a ‘not so much’, but fun nonetheless.
It was a long day and when I arrived at Country Hotel Heydalur I just went to my room to watch a little tv and stretch out from the long drive. Oh no! They didn’t have blackout curtains so all night it was basically day! I told them about it in the morning and they apologized totally and fixed it in 5 minutes. Every accommodation has blackout curtains, even here, they just made a mistake. Like all the little stumbles on this trip, everything has been easily and cheerfully made right.
Heading west from Guesthouse Stóru-Laugar to Karuna Guesthouse I first took a swing by one of the Diamond Circle attractions, the waterfall Goðafoss [ˈkɔːðaˌfɔsː]:
Notice all the people. With every passing day there are more and more tour buses and cruise ships. I’m pleased with my timing because although I did have some spring time rain I didn’t have full on summer time crowds.I wish you could hear the roar. That fall in the foreground is probably 4-5-6 feet deep, I don’t know but there is so much water and it is roaring over with such force. It shows a little better in the inset which is an aerial from wikipedia.
Then I chose the detour to Akureyri to avoid the tunnel hassle of paying online within 12 hours (and to remind myself of Blue Car Rental…). I heard that it’s the only toll in Iceland. The detour landscape was some of the prettiest so far. At one point I wanted to get ‘down there’ and failed trying a couple gravel roads so I stopped at a place that was open to ask directions and Lo! it was an amazing art gallery.
Click on the link to read more about Safnasafnið. It’s “The Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum was founded in 1995 by Níels Hafstein and Magnhildur Sigurðardóttir. For over 30 years the museum’s founders have been passionately committed to collecting artworks by artists who have hitherto been seen as outside the cultural mainstream…”
The cats above are from the museum.
The seated woman is the owner and the woman standing is a friend of hers who showed me around in great detail and it was fabulous.A cat on the wall. I forgot to ask the story and I’m sure it’s a good one.She’s going to have an exhibit there next year and I got to hear so much about her thoughts and her art esthetic and world view. Now that was something. Good luck sweetie, have an excellent show!
The Troll Peninsula (Trollaskagi – The Peninsula of the Trolls). Of course like everywhere it’s hard to pull off the road so sometimes I just stop and Click. Oh, that reminds me, at some point I need to talk more about the roads…but now I just want to catch up with these pictures!
campervanreykjavik has this to say: “The Trollaskagi Peninsula is located in the north of Iceland, between the fjords of Eyjafjörður and Skagafjörður. Its landscape is very different from the other regions of the island. It currently lacks recent volcanic activity, and it has a glacial and alpine (climate). After the deglaciation, beautiful fjords, valleys, and peaks that were formed over the years came to light.”
They have ski areas here……and cows! These are the first cows I’ve seen! I’ve been looking for cows because of SKYR and where were all the cows you need to make all the Skyr?! They make cheese too, and very delicious butter. I just asked google where are the dairy farms and she answered with a map – mostly in the West so I should be seeing more of them. Oh yes, the church.
A couple more pictures from the Troll Peninsula.
See that tunnel entrance in the middle on the left? It came in several parts, entrances and exits, and it was long. I think it’s this one: “Strákagöng [ˈstrauːkaˌkœiŋk]) ..along Route 76. It has a length of 800 m (2,625 ft) and was opened in 1967. It is the second tunnel ever built in Iceland, only preceded by a minor tunnel of 30 meters between Ísafjörður and Súðavík. Prior to the tunnel the only road connection the town of Siglufjörður had was a very difficult mountain road built in ’46, that was closed about 5 months a year due to snow.”
Reaching the charming town of Siglufjörður I strolled around a little, got some gas and food, and found a liquor store. I bought myself some beer (you can only buy liquor in a liquor store and they are not obvious at all and this is my first. But now that I know what they look like I see them easily.)
This is a window, not a picture, in the dining room at Karuna Guesthouse. It’s the first time I’ve cooked in a guesthouse kitchen. It was sociable and fun. I’ve met mostly people from Belgium and Scandinavia. Also there are a lot of workers here for the summer from Central Europe. It was a pretty long drive and I arrived late, cooked and visited, and went to bed!
So, as it turns out, I didn’t actually travel the whole Diamond Circle, more like the Diamond Moon, and then I caught a little more of it the next day. I stayed at Guesthouse Stóru-Laugar for two nights allowing for a full ride on the Diamond Circle but I guess the hassle with the car did take its toll.
I saw Mývatn on the 28th when I had to switch cars, Húsavík on the 29th, and Goðafoss on the 30th, leaving town. We’re doing the 29th now.
I liked Húsavík! When I first rolled through around 10am on Sunday it felt like a peaceful and prosperous fishing town. After having a look around I drove on for an hour or so, then drove back and by 1-2pm the place was buzzing with tourists and the port was busy with whale watching tours, their current claim to fame.
Here’s what visithusavik.is has to say: “The town of Húsavík sits on the eastern shore of Shaky Bay, known around the world as the Whale Capital of Iceland. In the past years whales have been spotted in 98% of all whale-watching trips.
“It is also the site of the first house built in Iceland, in the year 860, by Swedish viking Garðar Svavarsson. Húsavík is conveniently located for day trips to most of the major attractions in Iceland, part of the Arctic Coast Way and the starting point of the Diamond Circle.
“Húsavík served as the setting of, and inspiration for the song Husavik, in the 2020 Netflix film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.”
If I ever visit a town, or drive for an hour, and don’t show a picture of a church it’s not because the church isn’t there. The church is there.More color shows up every day.
Before I came to Iceland I had heard that gas stations were the social halls of rural Iceland. And I experienced it myself!
Often these pumps just sit like this with nothing around. You pay with a credit card at the grey stand and them pump your gas. But often they do have a shop or a fast food restaurant.This is down the road from Guesthouse Stóru-Laugar. Since I was here for two nights this quickly became My Store. The first time I went in I was just figuring things out when I noticed that all the locals who came in bought ice-cream cones and then sat outside or stood around in the sun to enjoy them and chat with their neighbors. So I got one too. And by the second time I sat in the sun too and it was Fun! On my third visit the folks in the shop were saying HI!
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Then back to the guesthouse for more snuggles with the horses.
The main reason I chose Blábjörg Resort was because it had a reputation for being nearest to ‘The’ puffin viewing opportunity. I’m actually wondering why that would be the main reason since I have never given puffins much thought, and I was about to miss it. But it was so close, I should go.
At first I thought oh great, this is it?Fortunately I continued to the end of the parking lot and spotted that viewing station on the crest of the hill on the right. It was the perfect day for some stair climbing.There’s one.
And more too!
From heyiceland.is “They seem to have very conservative family values and usually pair up with the same partner as previous years – some have been together 20 years! They raise their single chick (or puffling) over the course of summer and return every year to the same burrow with the same mate.”
Above the first one arrived back and flapped out an “I’m Home!” and the second one emerged from the burrow for some “Welcome Home” flapping in return. I spent the longest time enjoying the puffins that I had almost missed entirely.
I couldn’t catch any on the wing. Walking around they are odd and awkward, a little like…When I first caught sight of them I said Oh my goodness puffins look like John Oliver! The internet thinks so too.
Now comes the –it Happened Event. It was fine in the end, you’ll agree, and unbelievably I only lost a few hours. Remember all those Mountains and Gravel Roads from yesterday? Driving back, after about 30 minutes I started the up up up part, but the car did not want to up up. Come on car! But no, it felt like I was driving an old VW Bus in the Sierras, 40 kph while everyone was whizzing by at 100. I figured I’d just keep going since there was nowhere to stop anyway. The paved roads are all elevated without a shoulder so I was thinking if I could make it to the gravel I’d have a place to stop.
The car did just kept puttering along and eventually the ‘Check Injection’ light came on and it became clear the fuel injectors were in a very bad mood. By then I was 45 minutes from anywhere. If I could make it the 45 minutes I could get help. And so it was! I made it to the Mývatn Nature Baths where they were holding a marathon and where the parking lot was full of tour buses. (I had been hoping to enjoy the baths but it was so crowded, imagine how it’s going to get when real summer hits.)
Blue Car Rental sent out a mechanic from the only mechanic’s shop I’ve seen since arriving (Lucky Dog Me especially since it was on a weekend!). He declared the car a goner but I was able to continue on to my guesthouse where I went to sleep and in the morning the old car was gone and a new car was in its place. Good job Blue Car Rental, they sent a driver from the airport, an 8 hour drive. Pretty impressive, right! And I got an upgraded car too, and brand spanking new.
Through the windshield.There was a pullout for this one.The marathon! In the far distance you can see some spouts and all the runners came through smelling like sulfur.A stop beside the Mývatn lake.The guesthouse host has Icelandic Horses!Those manes are as thick as a sheep’s coat and trimmed up some. I say that because left alone the manes get much longer.I think she has 4 or 5. These guys were out in the pasture.
Remember I talked about Fish-Lamb-Skyr, being the vast majority of locally produced food, you can imagine the source of all that fish, and sheep are everywhere. They dot every field, dots being not so photogenic. So here come some taking a mosey down the Gravel Road in the Mountain.
Which gives us a chance to talk about Icelandic wool. What makes it so special is that it’s so water repellent.
From icewear.is: “The wool of Icelandic sheep is unique in that it contains two different types of hair that serve as a natural barrier from wet and cold weather. The outer layer is composed of coarse, long hair known in Icelandic as tog. The tough and fleecy tog is a water-resistant layer. Underneath the tog, there is a layer of short hair, known in Icelandic as þel. The softer þel layer keeps the sheep snug and warm even in the worst of weather conditions. If any moisture escapes through the water-resistant tog layer, the þel is able to keep the animal warm even when wet. These dual layers, when combined in knitted clothing, provide the same kind of protection for the human body, even in rain or snow.”
Leaving Hotel Framtid my idea was to go straight to Vök Baths, well not exactly straight because I thought to enjoy a couple more of the fjords before returning to The Ring Road resulting in, and I should have checked this! connecting through Mountains and Gravel Roads. .
I’ve seen that design of poles in many places and now I finally see what they’re for, flags. Here’s the entrance to another fancy hot bath.
The picture on the right is from their website. Notice the ladders out of the pools and into the sea.Emerging from a dip in the North Atlantic Ocean…where it’s cold…I’m here, where it’s warm..
Now we have to cross over another mountain (Fjarðarheiði mountain pass) to reach Seyðisfjörður [ˈseiːðɪsˌfjœrðʏr̥] described by Lonely Planet as a delightful and bohemian place so I thought ok, good, bohemian, I wonder what that will be like.
Delightful and bohemian? That is a hoity-toity Silversea ship! I couldn’t find the year-round population of the town but I would wager it to be less than the number of people on that ship.I do like these two buildings, and here’s another rainbow walk. On the left, you can’t see the building, there’s a good restaurant, my fresh fish was delicious, and the restaurant was occupied almost entirely by the ship’s crew. What a smash-up-side-my-head of déjà vu. I could close my eyes and be 35 years younger.And the well-regarded church.Bon Voyage. They have a fishing fleet and a fish factory here too.
Now it’s time for more Mountains and Gravel Roads. And this time man did I get cranky because…
…because it wasn’t just the Mountains, or just the Gravel Roads, it was the construction (the rain isn’t even worth mentioning!).
I zigzagged through pushing machines, digging machines, pounding machines, and once the area of machines was done I hit the worst gravel road so far. When I arrived at Guesthouse Blábjörg I was feeling the twitch come on. But then……a nice pint of pale ale at their bar, my favorite, and A Midnight Sun! My first!
The view from the porch of my hotel in Djúpivogur.
I am not complaining about the rain. I totally expected to have ‘weather’ and I’m thankful that it hasn’t, for example caused the road to close. There is one road and no alternate routes so if The Road (aka The Ring Road) closes you have to turn around and find a place to wait.
Also I’m not complaining about the rain because its letting me have a half-day of rest and right now that feels like a great idea. Now I’m going to write about FOOD!
This is a typical stop at a market. I eat that pepper like an apple because the quality of the fruit is risky. Even the bananas can be risky, not yet ripe but already bruised inside. Most of the gas stations have mini-marts attached, like a 7-11 where you can get a variety of packaged goods.
My favorite is the tuna sandwich. And it’s the exact same tuna sandwich everywhere so far. Like there’s a sandwich place in Reykjavik that supplies everyone, or so it seems. Just yesterday I went into one of the gas stations for a tuna sandwich and the guy said the delivery from ‘town’ wasn’t here yet, it usually comes around 11. So I went to the market (this was in Vik, a place large enough to Have a market) and the guy there said the exact same thing, they’re waiting for the delivery from town, which is how I ended up with Spicy Chicken. They do a smoked arctic char and egg sandwich that is actually my favorite but I’ve only found it once.
Which brings us to the topic of bread. Bread is an important part of every meal. I think I’ve had it twice every day that I’ve been here, rolls, sandwich bread, freshly sliced loaf bread, and all this bread in every form is soft. There are no crunchy crusts. Even when it looks like it might be crunchy, but no. HOWEVER, they are, every single one, delicious. How/why I don’t know but every day I look forward to some new style of soft bread.
Following are pictures of a typical breakfast buffet. The guesthouses that offer breakfast have the same ingredients but fewer options, one kind of cheese, one kind of smoked lamb..etc. And these are the ingredients that make up every salad and every sandwich. (Except for my tuna sandwich!)
They also have a few kinds of cereal with the option of milk or Icelandic yogurt called skyr which I’m loving when I can find it without added sugar or flavoring. I think Whole Foods carries skyr so I’m excited to check it out. Coffee-tea-juice too.
Cheeses, ham loaf, sausage, pepperoni, herring, fish salad, boiled eggs in the background
Smoked lamb two ways, lamb paté two ways, cucumber, tomato, peppers
Soft bread(!), 3 kinds of homemade jam, pancakes w/syrup, some sweets
I didn’t try all the meats, and I didn’t try the pancakes which was an oversight. Maybe they’re different? Everything I did eat was very good.
Some days this would be it, breakfast at my guesthouse and late lunch from the market with a street snack or two added in – like a pastry from the bakery or a hot dog from the stand. Or I’d have an early lunch from the market and soup or an appetizer from a restaurant.
I have been to many restaurants. This is day nine of my trip and that’s a lot of eating to account for. Most importantly for me when eating in a restaurant is to remember that basically what ingredients they have locally is fish, lamb, and skyr. Even wikipedia doesn’t have much to add. Fish-Lamb-Skyr. My campaign to eat local fresh fish every day has slipped even when I ‘count’ smoked arctic char used in the salads and appetizer plates.
It’s a lot about the soups. Every place seems to have at least two. You can guess! Fish Soup and Lamb Soup. I’ve eaten several varieties of both and yes, they are delicious.
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I did do a couple things today – Lonely Planet says you absolutely must check out The Viking Café, so I did of course. You can pay a little for the privilege of driving around…
…which I didn’t do having just driven on the longest dirt road yet to get there.
Then from the main road I caught a glimpse of this and went in search of a view. Two more glaciers and even more farther along. Those red cabins are a design you see around often and there were probably 10-15 clustered around here. They call them ‘bag cabins’ meaning you bring your sleeping bag and enjoy an evening indoors. I’m not sure if they have bathrooms.And while I was chasing for the view I came down a farm road and enjoyed this rural mural.
I took myself to Hotel Framtid early so I could rest, and it’s been one treat after another. Thanks to one of the cooks, a Honduran(!), who let me in early, then thanks to the restaurant manager who said not so many people order the brennivin so enjoy it’s on the house, and then when I noticed there was a sauna downstairs the hotel manager kicked it off so it would be ready after dinner. What a pleasant afternoon and evening!
Fresh fish, the catch of the day! This is a hotel restaurant meal and I think in light of international guests they rather unsuccessfully attempted a salad.
What’s going on here?! The answer comes at the end of the day.
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Leaving Guesthouse Carina (it was like a super-clean and well attended hostel in Vik) I did the backtrack to see Reynisfjara, the black sand beach, and all its natural wonders.
Dyrhólaey ArchWatch out for the Deadly Sneaker Waves!
Above and below, from guidetoiceland “with its enormous basalt stacks, roaring Atlantic waves, and stunning panoramas, Reynisfjara is widely considered to be the most beautiful example of Iceland’s black sand beaches.”
Dyrhólaey Arch again from a different angle. Not so much of the roaring Atlantic waves, but it was still wet from yesterday so I had to be careful not to ruin my new shoes…
I really like Vik, the most town-like place I’ve seen since I left Reykjavik. Maybe the place with the little kids might be bigger but I didn’t get around there. I got the below picture off the internet. There are several guesthouses, a small market, five or so restaurants, three gas stations, a picturesque church, and it’s clean and welcoming.
This is mostly what I saw on my way to Hali Country Hotel, an actual hotel, with the first private bathroom of the trip.And then, in a black and white world (that I did not photoshop!), the sun would power through…More and more glaciers would reveal themselves.Occasionally the sky would clear, the rain would become just a drizzle, and if there was a spot to pull over I would, to admire the ever present waterfalls……all of them so gorgeous.
If you remember from the The Reykjanes Peninsula two days ago we passed through miles of lava covered in a moss-like growth. You can see the same thing here. On the Peninsula it was a grey-ish color and here it is definitely green.
From buubble.com regarding Icelandic Moss: “For the sake of transparency, it only fits to clarify that Icelandic moss is not a moss at all but rather a lichen. At one time or another, its leafy, cushioned, and upright appearance led to this misnomer, and it has stuck ever since. However, do not be fooled; Cetraria islandica is still officially part of the fungi kingdom, formally recorded by Swedish botanist Erik Acharius in 1802.”
TA-DAAA
From the tour company: “The Glacier lagoon (Jökulsárlón) … is told to be one of the greatest wonders of nature in Iceland. This lagoon is a recent one, the result of a warming climate. ((The guide told us the glacier has retreated to create this lagoon in only 7 years. The guide told us a lot more which I hope I’ll remember!)) The surface is at sea level and sea water flows into the lagoon at high tide.
“Huge blocks of ice constantly break off the glacier, Breiðamerkurjökull, and large icebergs float on the lagoon. The lagoon is not very wide but it is up to 250 meters deep which makes it the deepest lake in Iceland. Breiðamerkurjökull is an outlet of the Vatnajökull glacier.”
Those suits were amazing. We were roaring across the lagoon in a zodiac all toasty warm.The face of the glacier.When the ice breaks off from deep down in the glacier it looks like this when it hits the surface.
Oh goodie, SEALS!
Whooo, this is something!It was so awesome the (totally cute and delightful and entertaining) guide had to take a picture of it himself. He’s thinking the arch will collapse in even just a few days.Here we are back at the landing. Yes, a most recommendable experience.
This is Heba, my host at Guesthouse Heba. She was showing me the Icelandic genealogy website that put her at the 29th generation from the first Viking to come to Iceland. If you know any Icelandic people, here’s the website in English.
Here come waterfalls… in the RAIN… from guidetoiceland.is “The whole area is geologically very young, formed during the last Ice Age by the lava flows from numerous volcanoes in the area. The lowlands are surrounded by volcanically active mountains, notably Eyjafjallajökull and Hekla.” These are the two volcanoes I could see from my balcony at Guesthouse Heba. What a stroke of luck that yesterday it was a sunny.
From the road.Seljalandsfoss, an excellent waterfall whose claim to fame is that you can walk behind it. The path starts at the circle……and ends at this slippery and often handrail-free stairs.That walk behind the falls isn’t going to be for me this time, so wet, so slippery, no handrails. On the right you can see an easy walk “after visiting Seljalandsfoss, it is common for visitors to continue north to the waterfall Gljúfrabúi, which is found partially hidden behind a rock face……Because of Seljalandsfoss extreme popularity, Gljúfrabúi is widely considered the hidden gem of the scene, as it is too often overlooked.”Not going in there either!I took a side trip to look at some sites from the Saga of Burnt Njal. Everyone in Iceland knows it and Les gave me the book to read before I left, so I know it too. I swung through Oddi and Hvolsvollur and although there wasn’t anything to see related to the saga I did get to see……adorable children! I think you can see five kids here, there were more, scrambling over this tractor. I caught the teacher’s eye, pointed at my camera, she smiled back..Click! Can you imagine a nursery school teacher taking a bunch of little ones out to an active farm yard to climb on machines? I was happy for them.A roadside attraction, an old church with a long story. Trolls are involved.Skógafoss[ˈskouː(ɣ)aˌfɔsː], one of the largest waterfalls in Iceland. Notice that path up to a viewing platform. Nope, not doing that either – it’s raining and slippery and I am being careful.Wow.Hoping it would stop raining I went out at 10pm for a drive to the puffin cliffs, the black sand beach, and the Basalt columns on the beach at Reynisfjara. No luck but maybe I’ll try again in the morning. That’s a restaurant btw, already closed for the night. Reynisdrangar [ˈreiːnɪsˌtrauŋkar̥]
I showed pictures yesterday of the two volcanoes you can see from the guesthouse balcony. The house sits directly on a volcanic beach.
Guesthouse Heba
What ‘they’ say about this exact spot: (I’ll copy out the sign later)
And speaking of the guesthouse, my evening and breakfast companions were an adorable couple from Belgium. I was going to take their picture but then they showed me a picture of their daughter’s two Icelandic horses and I absolutely had to have that one instead!
One of the great distractions of driving is the constant presence of Icelandic horses in the fields. These guys must have had their manes and tails trimmed up because in the wild their manes and tails are very long and flow in the wind and when they’re cavorting with each other and prancing about, tossing their gorgeous heads from side to side, it’s downright pornographic.
On the way out of town, Stokkseyrarkirkja.For an hour the entire view was these fields of lava and the I-don’t-know-what that is covering them.
Driving along the Peninsula on the coast I saw a few of these thermal plants. As you can imagine thermal power is an important source for the Icelandic economy and has largely freed them of fossil fuels.I went off the track to chase down Reykjanesviti [ˈreiːcaˌnɛːsˌvɪːtɪ], the oldest lighthouse in Iceland lighting the way between Reykjavik and Keflavik. A total tourist attraction and I don’t care, it was fun!A little walk from the parking to enjoy The Bridge Between Continents also called “Miðlína” or The Midway Point.
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More lighthouses. It’s not surprising there are so many lighthouses since I am driving along the coast of an island where fishing is a primary occupation.
Mostly from visitreykyjanes: “There are two lighthouses in Garðskagi, the older one was once regarded as one of the best lighthouses in Iceland because it stood low and therefore mist was not a problem. Although there was risk of the lighthouse being damaged because of surf and it was sometimes not visible because of a sea storm.
“A new lighthouse was built on Garðskagi in 1944. At 28 metres it is the highest lighthouse in Iceland and was in second place in a survey which Rögnvaldur Guðmundsson supervised concerning the favorite lighthouses of the Icelandic people. Engineer Axel Sveinsson designed the lighthouse but the lighthouse is a radar transponder and used for weather surveillance.”
Second place? I had to look it up. Oh good, the one I took a detour to see earlier in the day is Number One.
Coming back I was hungry so I asked google what was around for a nice bite to eat. She told me there was a wonderful Fish and Chips place and lead me here(!?). That’s my car on the right, a Nissan Qashqai. Never heard of it but so far so good. So the fish and chips…not really to my taste, much to my surprise!
This is the great plain of “Þingvellir[ˈθiŋkˌvɛtlɪr̥], anglicized as Thingvellir the site of the Alþing, the annual parliament of Iceland from the year 930 until the last session held at Þingvellir in 1798. Since 1881, the parliament has been located within Alþingishúsið in Reykjavík.”
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I got the car in Reykjavik and spent the whole day traveling through The Golden Circle and what gorgeous weather it was – tee shirt, vest, and sandals weather.
First stop Þingvellir National Park Visitor’s Center. Notice how the Icelandic flag has a V cut out of it. This indicates that the site belongs to the people..or in other words all the government locations fly this flag.The park is full of boardwalks, paths, and bridges.The church in the background and the buildings have a story too, but I want to talk about the ground. All the ground is volcanic rock, some newer than others and you can tell a little about the age of the last eruption by what covers the volcanic material.This is also the location of the Mid-Atlantic Rift. From guidetoiceland.is: “As you enter the park from Reykjavík, you descend a steep cliff into a valley. Looking upon the face of this cliff is to literally look at the edge of North America. If you drive through the park, you will ascend on the other side adjacent to another wall; this is Eurasia. The valley in between, in which Þingvellir is contained, is the rift valley.”Notice the circle of benches in the upper distance on the left. It reminds me of the meeting of the chieftains at The Thing. The other picture is the path back to the visitor’s center, a little steep but not too long.Gullfoss, where it was so windy I was getting soaked through and gave up on getting that better view.Walking toward..Geysir, the geyser after which all other geysers are named.
I checked into Guesthouse Heba and from the edge of their balcony I can see two important volcanoes, one where everyone is waiting for it to blow and the other one that closed down airports all across Europe in 2010.
Dinner at Fjöruborðið! A really delicious bowl of soup and a beer. I won’t te$$$$ you how much it cost.
MAGICAL SOUP STORY! (copied from their website)
…The soup is magical. It is suitable for numerous occasions and happy moments on ordinary days, but Fjöruborðið takes no responsibility for consequences or stirring adventures that could result from ingesting it. It has a will of its own and, as such, it is risky for those who don’t want to venture beyond the average. This is the most famous langoustine soup in the Republic of Iceland, prepared by handsome cooks who step naked out of the ocean at Stokkseyri with their catch: the plumpest langoustines who desire only one thing – to get onto dry land. Adventurous creatures from the ocean world want to join us in just the same way as we want to join them in the depths.
People have struggled against storm after storm to get here and enjoy this soup. The desire for it can be so strong that rational thinking simply blows away with the wind. Below the black rock face at the Þrengsli mountain pass, between mountain vistas, under the stars, people rush toward the sea to sit down with our guests and party-happy ghosts, surrounded by some tickling pleasure coming from magical bowls at The Seashore, where a thousand candles cast their glow on weathered faces and loving wineskins. Matarást, the Icelandic expression for “love of food” takes on a new meaning.
Fjöruborðið Restaurant in the village of Stokkseyri is an enchanted place of delight. People have to tear themselves away from it – but that’s all right. There’s only positive magic inside, tickling both stomach and soul. And now the magic has been sealed into jars for those who struggle with an irresistible craving for this great seafood delicacy from Icelandic waters, even when they’re unfortunate enough to be not close to the restaurant. Enjoy! Remember to live life to the fullest, and enjoy every pleasure and suspense that a good day brings.
Another cool mural on a side street I could easily have missed. I’m sure I missed plenty.
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Today was the first sunny morning since I’ve been here and everyone was so excited. The streets were full of people looking like this, with their faces soaking up the joy. On the corner of my block is the renowned Einar Jónsson Museum where there is a large sculpture garden that I stroll through often.
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I found a new street to walk on and first thing, what’s that smell? What are those people lined up for? Bakery Treats! Of course I went in there and it was worth it.
Brauð & Co. (I copy/paste all these Icelandic words that I don’t know how to type.)These corrugated metal panels are everywhere, on roofs and the sides of buildings, and they are even used as fencing.So many murals in such a small city and almost entirely unmolested.My wander took me past Harpa again. Irresistible!
It seemed a lot so I looked it up, there are 8 Vietnamese restaurants in Reykjavik, and a couple markets too.The woman at the Maritime Museum let me just sit here in this fabulous chair with an entertaining view of the waterfront before I tackled the walk back home.
What I did today: I rested some, walked around town, went to a couple museums, had a ton of fun with some kids, enjoyed the Sky Lagoon with Guðbjörg, and ate a yummy dinner with my guesthouse mates.
The National Gallery of Iceland, only one exhibit hall was open. One of the docents was a little bored it seemed and spent a long time telling me what was open elsewhere and helping me pronounce their names.The Settlement Exhibition, nicely displayed artifacts from the olden days.I like it.Another picture is the top one. I kept seeing these large groups of teenagers roaming around town in crazy costumes. These kids told me The Whole Story, showed me pictures, laughed and told jokes, signed me up for their Instagram. It was So much fun. And every one of them spoke Perfect English. I was awed.Then Guðbjörg picked me up and we were off for a beautiful few hours at the Sky Lagoon, the latest hot water extravaganza in Reykjavik.
And after it all, at 9pm I just had to eat. This place, Loki, is down the block from my guesthouse and when I went in……these women who are staying at my guesthouse were having dinner, invited me to join them, and it was lovely. I have so far met my goal of once a day eating fresh fish right out of the ocean. And I got a shot of ‘the National Drink of Iceland’, Brennivin. It’s a grain-mash liquor flavored with caraway, I would get it again.The view out the window of the restaurant. My church!
Guðbjörg is Hilda’s Uncle’s Icelandic girlfriend and we had a great day today thanks to Guðbjörg who drove me around for the afternoon, took me to her house for coffee and cake, and then we went out for dinner at her favorite restaurant. What a day!
Let’s pronounce Guðbjörg! I tried to type it out and created more confusion in my mind. Here is a link so you can listen to Guðbjörg and to my church Hallgrímskirkja. You might think the church should at least start ‘Hall’ but oh no. And here’s another good one that will come up a lot: Þingvellir. These will make you smile out loud!
This picture was from yesterday, around my corner. True Story. Not one of my not infrequent ‘poetic license’ mix-ups. Thursday I awoke after having eaten mostly on-the-road food for a day and a half and I said to myself, I could eat a carrot. After I finished writing Wednesday’s story I went to this cafe and Lo! their soup of the day was carrot ginger. It was meant to be!
Connected to the cafe is a gallery, I showed a picture of a cat statue yesterday from the gallery. So outside the cafe and gallery these guys were working on a project. They told me the big reveal would be Saturday at noon. So I asked them if there would be a party. Oh yes there would be a party and I was most welcome to attend. Oh you bet I’m going to that party!
Guðbjörg picked me up and we were OFF!
That’s Guðbjörg at the entrance to Perlan, built on top of several gigantic water tanks that feed hot water into Reykjavik. Inside they have interesting displays and around the dome there’s a great viewing platformThe spire on the left is my church, I live a block from there.In front is a small church, then there’s the house for receptions and official entertaining, and behind that the home of one of the main government officials..I have to remember who..Einar Benediktsson, 1864 – 1940 beloved poet and national hero in the independence movement.This is where in 1986 the presidents of Russia and the US, Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan, met to end the Cold War.
Below the inset is from the internet as is this, mostly from Guide to Iceland: “Þúfa was designed by the Icelandic artist Ólöf Nordal, who sought to create a place of serenity. On top is an old fishing shed, the kind used historically to wind-dry fish, as a callback to Iceland’s past. Fishing was the lifeblood of the country for centuries, and how Icelanders managed to work in the tumultuous seas, harvest their catch, and utilize it for lasting food, clothing and oil, is a fascinating story. The hillock of Þúfa also has ties to Icelandic culture; the hidden people in folklore were said to be able to live in an alternate world within rocks and such hillocks.”
My picture has rain spots! It rained off and on most of the day but it never got bad. This made my heart quicken and Guðbjörg kindly turned around so I could have another look.This is so gorgeous.We stopped off at Guðbjörg’s home for some coffee and cake, so civilized. Note the circle in the ground in the upper right, that’s a cannon embankment from WWII and the government thanked her for letting it be……and looking out from the back you can see the remains of an old fort high up in the middle. What a beautiful home in a glorious setting……and there’s homemade chocolate cake, two different kinds!
Here come some scenes from around Guðbjörg’s home. She said in Reykjavik you can get out easily all year round, they don’t get snowed in and all these paths are walkable.
One of the few Catholic churches around. Iceland is very predominately Lutheran, it’s a state religion actually. The picture on the right is the Parliament’s Garden.Time for dinner at Fish Market. It was deeelightful and deeelishiousThe oldest church in Reykjavik built in 1840 before its neighbor, the Parliament building, built in 1881. They both have the marks of the Danish king who was in power at the time.“Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat”Here we are at the end of the our day, it’s after 10pm and twilight hasn’t hit yet.
The flight went very well, here I am writing this the next day and I can hardly remember pleading for it to be over, so, excellent.
From the airport I took an easy-peasy bus to the main church and from there walked the one block to Freyja Guesthouse arriving around 10:30am. It’s lovely, I have a pleasant and modest room, nice windows, and a comfy bed, plus a good bathroom and kitchen and lounge shared with two other rooms. I’m happy!
Back to the church, called ((Hallgrímskirkja (Icelandic pronunciation: [ˈhatl̥ˌkrimsˌcʰɪr̥ca])). This is how google thinks you will to learn to pronounce Icelandic words. Don’t be fooled by the English looking letters or the missing Icelandic markings in this particular word. Pronouncing Icelandic place names – it’s going to be a project!
Their stand-out organ.You can barely see this statue in the first picture, over on the far left. It’s Leif Erikson (970-1020) and wow, Alexander Calder made it. But no, not MY Alexander Calder. There are three Alexander Calders, all sculptors (my guy, his father, and his father’s father(!). I digress…the statue predates the church and was a gift from the US in 1930 at the “Althing Millennial Festival, commemorating the 1000th anniversary of the convening of Iceland’s parliament at Þingvellir in 930 AD.” No doubt more to come on this.
I walked around town for a couple hours, it’s adorable. I’m not sure if adorable is what they were going for but on first flush that’s where I’m landing. Adorable.
Peeking through you can see some mountains. I think it would be glorious when you can actually see the mountains.There are several streets in this central downtown area that are pedestrianized and even when there are cars, there are not so many cars but there are still no parking places.When people are in line for food, Get In That Line. The most delicious hotdog? wellll. One of the most interesting hotdogs? for sure! They had these super-crunchy onions, at first I thought it was bacon!
Here are a few murals from around my ‘hood. I’m quite sure there are more.
I caught a couple hours nap this afternoon because I had 8pm tickets at the Harpa Concert Hall to see Eva Ollikainen (everyone calls her Eva) conduct the Iceland Symphony Orchestra playing the Shostakovich Symphony no. 5. I had orchestra center seats and I wondered why they were so inexpensive. Maybe because the concert was a perfect 1 hour in length? It was an Impressive performance.
Harpa Concert Hall. I had seen a picture of this place and I wanted to see a show inside!A bit of the inside. There are a few venues, I wanted to go to the main theater and it was fabulous, four tall tiers of balconies, comfortable seats, nice sight lines. And these walls of windows. Good job!You can see these amazing walls/facade from the outside too. If you’re interested here’s a write-up from the architect. There are pictures and a tab for the text. It’s Very cool.
On the train across that fancy bridge from Sweden to Denmark. I didn’t get the rain off the window.
I looked up from my book for no particular reason and WOW, what’s this? A windmill farm in the ocean!
“Lillgrund Wind Farm is located about 10 km off the coast of southern Sweden, just south of the Öresund Bridge, where average wind speeds are 8 to 10 metres per second. With 48 wind turbines and a capacity of 110 megawatts (MW), Lillgrund is Sweden’s largest offshore wind farm, which will meet the domestic electricity demand of more than 60,000 homes.”
The trip home was uneventful, just the way we like it. SAS Coach Plus is worth it btw. I rode plain coach over and plus back and plus is Better.
My last full day in Sweden. I might have mentioned before that Jim, Rick, and Baby stayed in Stockholm for these few days that I’m in Eslöv. They are all coming to Eslöv tomorrow and after fond greetings with hugs and kisses I’m going to Copenhagen to spend the night before my dawn flight back to LA. They’re all going to a Swedish wedding where fika will be involved I’d guess, and I’m going home to Lilly’s birthday.
I’ve been wanting to visit Malmö for decades, since I read all the Martin Beck police procedurals. And here I am in Malmö.
Now there’s an even better reason, and here I am, in the handsome lobby of the…
Turning Torso, which dominates the skyline was designed by Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005.
You can read about the engineering, it’s interesting, too bad about the rainy cloudy day. Google will happily show you more sparkling pictures.
Unfortunately all the modern art was packed up and I wasn’t feeling it for whatever was available. It was cool to walk around though.
I should have taken a picture of the Malmö train station but I was fussing with my umbrella and buying a ticket and etc. Getting around on the train system is quite simple and straight-forward so if you can walk or catch a frequent bus to the train you’re good. But don’t try to get to Lill’s home town on the train…you’ll be walking for hours!
I finally found a Sami book to read on kindle, it’s pretty much the only one:
“With the Lapps in the High Mountains is an entrancing true account, a classic of travel literature, and a work that deserves wider recognition as an early contribution to ethnographic writing.
“Published in 1913 and available here in its first English translation, it is the narrative of Emilie Demant Hatt’s nine-month stay in the tent of a Sami family in northern Sweden in 1907–8 and her participation in a dramatic reindeer migration over snow-packed mountains to Norway with another Sami community in 1908.”
Remember my ‘half-Sami-girl’, she told me that very few groups still live in the traditional way but they are trying to revive the language and skills of the migratory people.
We took a short side trip to look at a lake in Vombsjön(?), a date-night-site, and then we enjoyed this tunnel of trees, there since Lill was born. We’re going to see a lot of that!
Lill had never visited this church despite it having been erected in 1759-1761 “The church of Öved, one of the most characteristically Rococo-style churches in Sweden and unique in Scania.”
The side-buildings that appeared abandoned to storage were from 1810, and originally a school and an old people’s home.
Too bad we couldn’t get in because the interior is supposed to be particularly interesting.
…THE store. The store where all the cool kids hung out. It was a pretty amazing store too, actually once a hotel and converted into this store by the father of the current owner in 1956. The rooms still had walls with the products distributed about so that around every corner was something different.
Marita’s family farm. Marita’s brother was going to be there and we were going to enjoy a Swedish fika, but our timing got out of sync and he wasn’t there. Too bad for me!
…is two years older than Lill and grew up in this store. Her name is Anna-Maria and she and Lill have known each other since the beginning. When Anna-Maria invited us upstairs Lill was in shock. In all those years she had never once been upstairs.
…and this is the view from one of the windows, practically the whole town.
Now’s a good time to mention that an English speaker could move to the smallest village in Sweden and never have to learn Swedish. EVERYone spoke English to an excellent standard. Wow.
We had gone to the store so Lill could buy flowers or plants for our next destination, the gravesites of her parents and other relatives too.
There it is, the farm where Lill grew up. It looked occupied and well-cared-for. You know I wanted to go down that long dirt road to see the house, farm Mickeberg, but this was good too, to feel for the scene.
As we drove thorough town I learned oh, the tailor used to be there, and that was the pharmacy, and that was the dress shop, and over there, the book store.
So the buildings looked pretty good to me, occupied, tidy, just not a real town like Lill remembers.
Here we have Grandpa and Grandma and Aunt and Uncle. I’ll ask Lill for more information. It’s interesting, in Swedish there is a different word for your grandparents on your mother’s side and on your father’s side so it’s more clear about whom you are speaking.
So here it is:
Mormor och Morfar are my Mom’s parents. MomMom, MomDad
Farmor och Farfar are my Far’s parents. DadMom, DadDad
An approximate map of our day, to help me remember.
We came upon this amazing section of very old farms refreshed and still in use today. They could have been in the museum in Lund. I hope to find that google has sent a car around!
The hand-made Tower of Babel. Here’s what it says on the sign. Pronounce as you will:
Samhällsbyggaren
Och Industrimannen
Christian E. Nilsson
Eslövskungen Kallad
Byggde Stenberget ÄR 1887
Enligt Uppgift Efter Förebild Av G. Dorés Bibelillustration Babels Torn
Ett Barnbarn Lät Prägla Denna Minnestavla
This is a rather charming quote from a TripAdvisor review:
“”In post-war modernist architecture occupies Eslöv Civic House a special place. This cultivated a distinctive design idea with vibrant room forming and artisanal processing of materials, all gathered to exclusive elegance.” The young architect Hans Asplund did the drawings to the Civic Hall in New York in 1947 when he was working with the United Nations building complex. Construction was completed in Eslöv 1955-1957. Civic Hall is like a fan from the fifties aesthetic from the big world placed in Eslöv.”
Eslöv came to prominence because of its central location in a farming district and its railway station.
We took the 10 minute ride into Lund, a much bigger town and home to a large university.
I saw this quote in several places but haven’t been able to identify the source: “Voted the best place to live in Sweden, Lund is a safe city with the healthiest and youngest population in the country.”
“Archeologists date the foundation of Lund to around 990, when Scania was part of Denmark. From 1103 it was the seat of the Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lund, and the towering Lund Cathedral, built circa 1090–1145, still stands at the center of the town. Denmark ceded the city to Sweden in the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658, and its status as part of Sweden was formalized in 1720.”
Inside the cathedral. The astronomical clock, the Horologium mirabile Lundense, was constructed c. 1380. After having been in storage since 1837, it was restored and put back in place in 1923. It tells time and so much more.
Those minimal side chairs took my fancy. Oh look I thought, Ikea.
“The crypt has remained largely untouched since its consecration in 1123. The crypt is identified by its numerous and densely built pillars. The pillars are very different in style and were built by the architect Donatus. The most famous pillar is the one with the statue of a man embracing it. Local legend tells that the figure is Finn the Giant, builder of the cathedral.”
“The crypt’s main altar is the oldest altar in the church and was consecrated on 30 June 1123 by archbishop Asser. The crypt contain many sarcophagi, chests and grave slabs. Among its most important works of art are the relief-decorated well and the tomb of archbishop Birger Gunnersen, created by Adam van Düren in the 1510s.”
“Another column has a similar sculpture of a woman, the wife of Finn according to legend. It is not known who the man on the column actually represents, but it could be the Biblical character Samson.”
Henric Schartau (1757–1825), a pious Swedish Lutheran priest, stands guard between the cathedral and the visitor center. The old cathedral is reflected in the lantern window.
You can’t see the lantern window in this picture which is the best part of the cathedral visitor center, it’s off to the right, and modern and cool.
Founded in 1666, Lund University is one of northern Europe’s oldest, broadest, and finest universities and is consistently ranked as one the world’s top academic institutions.
“Four Egyptian sphinxes guard the entrance to the temple of knowledge Regia Academia Carolina. The University building became the new main building, a role that the King’s House had had for 200 years.
“The University building was built in 1872-1882 according to the drawings of architect Helgo Zettervall. He mixed different historical styles: Greek Renaissance-inspired facades and a Roman villa-type interior. .. Zettervall chose the most modern items available to create a landmark building in Swedish 19th century architecture.”
We decided, because we were there and why not, to visit Kulturen, both an indoor and an open-air museum that features an extensive collection of historic buildings and beautiful gardens spanning two adjoining sites in the heart of Lund.
I don’t want to say hodgepodge or mishmash, I’ll just say that the interior of the main building is full of things nicely displayed in their own internal logic.
There was a large retrospective of the work of Katja Geiger—better known as Katja of Sweden—was Sweden’s first internationally renowned fashion designer.
