Snæfellsnes

Hi, Readers. We haven't been blogging lately, but it's not because we haven't been doing much. There are lots of fun things to do in Iceland, and we have been quite busy. At some point we plan to post photos of some of our activities over the past several months. For now, let's focus on last month's day trip to the Snæfellsnes peninsula, about 2.5 hours from Reykjavik.

We began on the southern part of the peninsula, and afterward visited the northern part. First stop, the tiny village of Arnarstapi, near the snow-covered Snæfells glacier (Snæfellsjökull). If you are a fan of Jules Verne, you might remember that this was the spot from which The Journey to the Center of the Earth began. Perhaps you are more of a New Age type, in which case you know that Snæfellsjökull is one of the seven major power centers in the world.

In Arnarstapi is a sculpture by Ragnar Kjartansson called Barður Snæfellsás. It represents a half-human, half-ogre who was written about in one of the Icelandic sagas.

There are some beautiful cliffs here, and the sea is an amazing shade of blue that reminds me of the Aegean Sea.

The village church has a scenic view.

Up the road a bit in an area called Lóndrangar, we stopped when we saw a sign that said "dead whale." We didn't see any whale, though. Turns out the sign was there from last year, when a sperm whale beached itself here and died. Anyway, there are some interesting rock pillars there.

Continuing our drive around the peninsula, we planned to have lunch in Hellissandur because the hotel/restaurant there is supposed to be open year-round, unlike most such establishments which close from September through May. Unfortunately, they were not open after all. Good thing we brought sandwiches. We ate them at a pretty beach called Skarðsvík.

As we followed the coast road eastward, we saw Iceland's most photographed mountain, Kirkjufell. Of course we had to take a photo.

Or two.

One of the fjords here on the northern coast of Snæfellsnes, called Kolgrafarfjörður, has been in the news lately due to massive herring die-offs. The authorities still don't know why thousands of herring were belly-up in the fjord. NPR did a story about it. During our visit, the fjörd reeked of dead fish, although the poor creatures were no longer floating in the water. They had been dumped into giant piles on the shore.

We followed that stinky site with another.

Fermented shark, known as hákarl, is a traditional Icelandic food. First it is buried in the ground for 6-12 weeks, and then it is hung up to dry for 4-5 months. One of the leading producers of hákarl is located here in Bjarnarhöfn. They let us look at their drying shed.

Mmm, mmm, don't that look appetizing?

Uh, no. Hey, at least you are not being exposed to the ammmonia stench! Count yourself lucky.

We finished our day trip in Stykkisholmur, where we enjoyed some cake at Sjávarpakkhusið. Alas, no photo of the cake, but here is the harbor, which we could see from our table.

Mt. Esja

A few weeks ago we decided to climb Mt. Esja, which we see every day from our window. We were lucky to be out there on a beautiful day, just a couple days before snow appeared atop the mountain!

The shot above was taken partway up the path. Our car is parked down by the road, which is that squiggly line near the water.

The next photo was taken a bit higher up, looking down.

Here you can see how steep and rocky the upper part of the mountain is.

We made it to the top after about 2 hours.

The marker at the top shows the relative position of neighboring mountains and towns.

Looking in the opposite direction, there is a mossy expanse. It's soft and cushy to walk on. Feels like walking on pillows.

We can see our apartment building from here. See it? You might have to squint.

Looking up from near the bottom, it doesn't look like a strenuous climb. Most of it was mild enough, although the rocky top part was a bit of a challenge. It helps to bring sandwiches.

Árbæjarsafn Open Air Museum

A few weeks ago we visited Árbæjar Open Air Museum.

It put us in mind of both Colonial Williamsburg and Greenfield Village in Michigan. If you haven't been there, Greenfield Village is a part of The Henry Ford [museum]. Henry Ford went to different areas of the US, collected notable buildings like the Wright Brothers' bicycle shop and Thomas Edison's laboratory, and moved them to Greenfield Village so that people could visit them all together as a picture of American history. Well, Iceland's Árbæjar museum is a collection of Icelandic buildings that were moved to one location with the same sort of idea. You get a sense of Icelandic living standards changing over time by walking through the turf houses, ...

...timber houses, barns and churches of various eras.

It was a special event day, so many people were dressed in the traditional national costume, and there were performances of dance and music involving kids and adults. Everyone looked like they were having fun.

There were also displays about raising sheep and using their wool.

You could even visit with some sheep and feed them some grass.

Check out the horns on these guys. Two seem to be growing upward and outward from the temples, and another two come out of the area right next to the ears and curl downwards. How many horns does one need?

Berry-picking at Heiðmörk

We had great (sunny) weather on Sunday, and we decided to do something typically Icelandic -- pick wild blueberries. Late August to early September is the prime season for it.

Just on the outskirts of town is a public recreation area called Heiðmörk where people can pick as many berries as they want for free. We picked blueberries and red currants, but there are also crowberries and black currants. Here's one of our three containers of berries.

This little birdie, a meadow pipit, aka anthus pratensis, followed us around for a while. He was not at all shy and came up close to us, sticking by us as we picked berries, catching up to us as we moved along. Weird.

Reykjavík Street Art

There is lots of street art in Reykjavík. Some is evident in the form of murals.

There is also graffiti...

...and interesting social commentary.

Reykjavík City Library

The other day I walked over to the main branch of the Reykjavík City Library (Borgarbókasafn Reykjavíkur).

It's an attractive place with an exhibition space and cafe downstairs and most of the books, audio books, CDs, DVDs, and periodicals upstairs. I was especially impressed by the room of foreign language books.

There were lots, perhaps thousands, of English-language books, along with those in other languages.

Membership costs 1600 ISK ($13.26 at today's exchange rate) per year. Definitely worth it!

Velkomin til Íslands (Welcome to Iceland)

We're settling into our new post, Reykjavík, Iceland. Best thing so far: our view. Here is the sunset on Aug. 21, taken from our living room.

On the far right, you can catch a glimpse of the luxurious yacht, Octopus, owned by billionaire Paul Allen. It went away for a few days, but now it's back. Perhaps it took a trip over to the West fjords? Or Greenland? Another great thing: festivals galore! We skipped the Bacon Festival yesterday in favor of the Melodica Acoustic Festival. Saw some great performers, including Rob Maddison of Spaceships are Cool and Hjalti Þorkelsson of Múgsefjun. The Melodica Festival continues today. Maybe we'll get a chance to hear some more good live music.