ICELAND VISIT - VIVID IMPRESSIONS

Westman Islands are spectacular, especially when well-lit
as they were by the June sun on this day.  Birds nest in the
cliffs, and sheep are seen grazing on the uppermost
grasslands. The town of Heimaey with its well-protected
harbor is seen within.

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

Here's more about our trip to Iceland.

So many have commented on how they enjoyed the photos and commentary I posted on our trip to Iceland that I've decided to extend this topic.

Many points of interest are within an easy several hours' drive from Reykjavik.  Many tour companies will pick you up and return you to your hotel after an outing in the countryside.  But I would encourage any traveler to Iceland, if you have time, to also overnight outside of the capital city.  The major roads are good roads and are paved, sometimes with small or no shoulders.  Graveled roads that we encountered were a bit rough, but not unexpectedly so.  You drive on the right hand side, which makes it easy.   Icelanders speak English and Danish as second and third languages.  You'll have no problem communicating.

Not everyone enjoys riding, or riding on trails along steep cliffs,
but just the same, you have to admire the view.  Evy was the only one
in our group to see a Puffin that day, and a first for the season
according to her trail guide.  A tour boat is in
the distance, and other islands of the volcanic grouping
of Westman Islands.  (Taken by her trail guide.)

Our general impression of Iceland was one of extremely friendly and helpful people.

There must be exceptions, but we didn't encounter them during our stay, although we passed close by Iceland's national prison at Litla Hraun, less than a mile from Eyrarbakki and, coincidentally, the  address used in letters mailed to Arni Gudmundsen by his sister in the 1880s when it was farmland.

This prison might well be the major local employer.  This is where Iceland's most hardened criminals are housed, and razor wire and fencing aside, the prison farmyard gives off the look of a work farm.  We learned later from our driver on our way to the airport that there are about 80 cells in this prison, with another 40 being planned for the future closer to Reykjavik.

Reading online information, Iceland has 137 prisoners in all, on average, per day, some held in smaller prisons elsewhere than Eyrarbakki.  The average is 43 per 100,000 population, as compared with USA's 756 per 100,000.  Why the rather low number of incarcerated prisoners, we wonder?  One reason may be, if you are given a prison term, you could wait from several days or weeks up to five years to serve your term, whenever a cell opens up.  Descriptions I've read for the prison facilities posted on line describe it as "not quite four-star," but not rough, either.  Prisoners are encouraged to make the best of their time by either working or enrolling in education classes.

The women's prison in Reykjavik has approximately 40 cells, we were told, and until recently women prisoners were allowed out on Fridays, from 9 to 4, for shopping.

Our driver translated a couple of expressions into English for us.  Here is one:  If I say I want to "kick his ass," I say, "I'm going to take him to the bakery."  Putting it into English, that's about as sweet a deliverance could be.

Years ago, according to the sagas, vicious crimes were settled through agreed payment of silver, cattle or horses to the offended surviving family, and ultimately, banishment by the Althing court, sending the violent offender from Iceland for three years.  Could there still be an unwritten form of societal banishment practiced, in lieu of incarceration?

Horse riding - a popular pastime

Horse riding is one of the easiest ways to get around such a rough and tumble countryside, and stables can be found in many locations.   Evy took the opportunity to trail ride on our trip to Westman Islands. As it happened, she was the only rider that afternoon.  She was picked up and dropped off at the ferry by the woman whose family has the stable, maximizing her time on the trail.   And because of her experience, she was given a chance to ride one of the owner's personal mounts.  Along the trail there was plenty of time to compare the similarities of life on Washington Island with Heimaey, the largest of the islands in the chain.  (With approx. 5,000 population)  As it happened, along one trail Evy came within 20 feet of a Puffin.  It was the only Puffin the owner has seen this season thus far.  More birds will arrive later in summer for nesting.

Birding is a popular activity, both for locals and for visitors.  Besides sighting birds, there is a tradition on Heimaey and neighboring (and otherwise uninhabited) islands to collect Puffin eggs, and also Puffins.  This tradition goes back many years, and it appears to be closely regulated.   Young men practice swinging on ropes, a technique they use to gather eggs.   Puffin is served on some restaurant menus, although we didn't try it.  During their tour of the island, our grandsons had the chance to try the rope swing, tutored by their guide.

On our way to and from the port we did see many sea birds that I thought were terns or gulls nesting in the thousands of pockets within the cliffs.   The lone houses built on top of the cliffs are there as dwellings for the sheepherders and egg collectors, and establishment of a dwelling also goes with ownership, the right to collect birds and eggs.

This Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit was looking
for food in the tall grasses near the top of the crater,
along a trail frequented by hikers.  Cropping the
original photo has reduced the definition.

A day or so earlier, while overlooking a crater, I spotted an unfamiliar bird with my binoculars.   Later, I learned it was an Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit, fairly rare, at least to non-Icelanders.  This is a long-legged, long-beaked coastal wader that nests in grasses, usually in the lowlands.  Judging by its bright, rust-colored head, this one was a male.

According to a birding site at www.arkive.org, this bird has a most unusual migration characteristic that allows it to mate:

"Black-tailed godwits meet in Iceland from mid-May to mid-June to breed, and in an amazing act of fidelity and timing, faithful pairs meet after over-wintering up to 600 miles apart. Arriving within three days of each other, pairs mate, breed and incubate their eggs together. The male remains with the hatchlings for a short time after the female has left to migrate back to her winter home. At the point the male leaves, he is unaware of the location of his partner, and so migrates elsewhere. This monogamous lifestyle can continue for up to 25 years and is only broken if the male and female fail to arrive within the same three days. There is, as yet, no understanding of how the pairs time their migrations with such accuracy."

Hot dogs, anyone?

Said to be a modern day Icelandic national food, our family members found the excellent Icelandic hot dogs available at small stands in various locations.   One such place was a franchise stand in the center of Selfoss, discovered accidentally one day while on the way to the grocery store, and altogether six return trips were made by Hoyt, Thor and Chad.  These hot dogs (we think they may be lamb hot dogs) are typically served with mayonnaise, onions, sweet mustard, and maybe ketchup, on a toasted bun.

Thor had to have one last hot dog at the
Keflavik airport before flying home.

The only thing better than biting into one of these is to have a second hot dog at the ready, for when the first one disappears.

Woolen goods

Few who live in warmer climates can resist the beautiful woolen wear one finds for sale in many Icelandic shops.  The wool is known for its high lanolin content, it is soft, and the colors are generally natural, undyed colors.  Look carefully, though, as some sweater garments we found were knitted in China, or elsewhere, using Icelandic wool.  Nice, but nothing like having a sweater knit by Icelandic fingers.

Co-ops, in addition to many retailers, sell woolen goods produced by local knitters.  Prices may seem steep, but not for a warm sweater that will wear like iron, shed water and sleet, and help keep the wearer dry by wicking away body moisture.  There are no fleece products quite their equal.  There are fine wool dresses, jackets, and other stylish wear for ladies, in addition to the unisex sweaters.  You will see these sweaters worn everywhere, especially outdoors and when horse riding.  (Rain clouds are never far away.)   I got mine, a 3X found in a rack at the Gullfoss (waterfall) souvenir shop.   Here are Evy and son Atlas sporting hooded sweaters.

Thor, Mary Jo and Evy alongside the Gullfoss gorge.

Evy with son, Atlas.

  
So, we'll wrap up this extended Iceland visit with a few more photos, encouraging anyone who is able to visit Iceland.

Looking toward Westman Islands from black sand beach near the ferry jetty.

A poem by Eggert Olafsson (1726-1768) -

  We have traveled far across the land
  deserts, lava, sand, 
  glaciers, rivers, mountains steep, 
  caves, cliffs and chasms deep 
  - a comfortable journey from start to end.

-  Dick Purinton

View toward Eyjafjallajokull glacier.  

ICELAND - MANY CONTRASTS

A visit with cousins at Hotel Fron in Reykjavik.
L to R:  Thor, Gudney, Dora, Bjorg, Mary Jo, Chad Dick Hoyt, 
Evy and Kirsten.  (The young boys had already eaten and 
skedaddled to their room to play games.)

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

When thinking back on our short stay in Iceland and the variety of things we did, it's hard to pick one activity or moment over another.  But in wrapping this up, and in an attempt to avoid recreating our entire week on the internet, I find it hard not to include a number of photo highlights here.

I think we would, as a group, rate our visit with Icelandic Gudmundsen cousins as the best, and most meaningful.   We hope it won't be too long before some of us visit them again.

And I have mental images, too, (better than photos in many ways) filtered for their pleasant, special memories.  One such image was of a golfer as he walked over the hill, bag over his shoulder, and passed close by our building, which happened to be alongside a golf course as well as sheep and horse pastures.  Our location wasn't far from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano and mountains, with a glacier for a backdrop.  The surprising thing, it was 10:30 in the evening, and I was taking a peek at the golden light outdoors through curtains before turning in.   That brightness compared with our mid-day sun at home.

While we got our first hours of beauty rest, Thor and Hoyt drove our bus twenty minutes or so to a rural road that led into the mountains and then hiked a half-mile or more alongside a warm stream in order to take a dip in Iceland's first swimming pool.   (Built with the intent on teaching people how to swim.)  They reported good swimming, joining other tourists in the midnight bathwater.

Atlas, Chad and Zander posed in front of a crater after climbing down
to the bottom.  Where there are volcanoes there will be craters, and this
one, rather small, was caused by implosion of material falling into
a pocket of molten lava, rather than exploding outward.

Near our Hellisholar hotel dining room 120 Icelandic horses were pastured.  They belonged to a 60-person riding group that was on a 3 or 4 day trail ride.  They had double their number in horses in order to trade off mounts when necessary.   Those horses certainly caught Evy's attention, and so did two lambs that had found an opening in the fence and wandered off along the roadside looking for their mother.

It does make me want to hug the lambs when I see this photo.  After hanging around for a short bit, they were off.   It was not uncommon to encounter sheep and lambs outside their pastureland, alongside the road,  one danger we were warned about when we rented our vehicle.

  *    *     *     *

Joining us as a host for our visit in Eyrarbakki was Linda Asdisardottir. She also took photos for the Selfoss paper.   It was Linda who made pancakes with whipped cream for desert, and they were delicious.  Little Magnus ate four of them before we knew it!

Desert is served!  Linda Asdisardottir with Thor and Aidan.

Behind the museum, in one of three small buildings found there, were fish drying on hooks.  Evy took a photo representative of the once common activity of drying cod along the shore.  At one time, dried cod was a major export, but I believe that much of today's catch caught by modern trawlers is either shipped fresh or frozen.

While on the subject of fishing, we were determined to try whale.  Iceland is one of the few countries that still hunts whales, and it is available in stores and on certain restaurant menus.

Our opportunity came on our final night in Reykjavik, at a restaurant with menu items that ranged from lamb (a common Icelandic  dish) to escargot and minke whale.

The boys, who opted for hamburgers and a tenderloin, sampled the escargot (thumbs up from all!) and they loved the taste of whale.  Sliced into small strips and cooked medium rare, this minke whale compared with the finest beef anywhere - "The other red meat," Thordur called it.   Next time we won't wait until our final day to order whale.   Reading the news, Iceland ships much of its catch overseas to Japan (sometimes through a broker nation).  Iceland's whaling ships have been under pressure from Greenpeace, but they remain resolute as a nation to continue a practice they've long enjoyed.  However, Iceland also tracks the numbers and types of whales sighted and caught, and it is believed the balance shows an increase in the minke population.

Cod drying in museum shed in Eyrarbakki.  We noticed an
absence of insects, flies especially, one reason
why this method has worked so well for centuries.

Magnus and Aidan ponder the menu.

Among the traditional Icelandic dishes we tried was cured shark.  This delicacy we would not rate highly, and except for me, none of our family was able to get beyond the fishy stench the ripened shark gave off.  Naturally high in ammonia, the shark's meat is buried (we didn't find out for how long, but it seems it could have been buried a bit longer).  It is sliced into small cubes, and it remains about as pungent as anything I've ever eaten.  Most off-putting however, was the chewiness, a texture like super-gristle that refused to break down under my molars. 

After the fourth or fifth cube, my mouth warmed as if a nasty chemical had been released from the shark bits.  Shark would not be recommended other than to say, "I've done it!" and it requires a fair amount of chaser afterward, which is perhaps the point, after all.   

We can imagine viking ships off on long voyages, stormy weather or calm extending their days at sea, having only a sack or basket full of shark bits in reserve to keep them in good health.  That would be a last resort protein item, we should think, but a food that would last through any voyage.

Shark bits were pungent, and they had to
remain outside on the balcony before they  
wound up in the dumpster.  We didn't
find out where the nether parts of ram 
pickled in whey were sold, but that's a 
delight for another trip.

 

























A news item we heard concerned the Russian training ship Kruzenshtern.  This large, four-masted sailing vessel arrived in port on our second day in Reykjavik.  Upon departure from the pier, before it had even cleared the innermost harbor, it rammed broadside two of Iceland's naval vessels.  Those ships were moored side-by-side at a pier not far from the municipal wharf where the Russian had ship spent the evening.  There was plenty of open water to maneuver and no undue weather to blame.   Upon its departure, whether from human error or mechanical failure, the world's largest sail training ship T-boned the naval ships, inflicting enough damage so that Iceland's navy would be declared unseaworthy until repairs were made.  Our driver on our way to the airport joked, "This has wiped out 2/3 of our navy."  The third naval ship is apparently the vessel on permanent display at Reykjavik's Maritime Museum, veteran of the famed "cod wars" against Britain's fishing fleet decades ago.

Putin will make good for repairs, we should hope, to soften this aggressive action!  (You can see the ships on impact by trolling through the web media titled, "Reykjavik Grapevine.")

-  Dick Purinton

After 70 years, now would be a good time to stop 
boastingand build bridges instead.   The 376-ft. bark Kruzenshtern 
was built by Germany in 1926, and it was seized in war 
reparations by the Russians in 1945.