Greetings!
There's only day (tomorrow) when we're not within sight of the coast, so I don't know why I'm feeling like all these great views of mountains into the sea are ending. It will be a little less exciting without the glaciers and the waterfalls. But given what we've seen so far, it's hard to imagine the rest of Iceland being any less awesome.
Everywhere we turn is stunning in its natural beauty. The golden fields of barley and hay, or recently-cut bales, wrapped up in multi-colored plastic awaiting storage. The brown Icelandic horses enjoying the warm afternoon sun on their backs (I wish I'd taken this photo, but we saw many looking just like it. I was just too into the big picture). Several films have used the other-worldly, middle earth scenery here, where high mountains meet uplifted seafloor, glacier-carved hanging valleys drop down to dark-green expansive wetlands and black sandy beaches.
The journey today took us through two mountain tunnels, and into one of the oldest fishing areas of Iceland. Almost a thousand ships from England and France carrying tens of thousands of sailors worked the fjords along this coast for a hundred years. Business was so good, that it was reported that African pirates once raided a coastal island nearby, sacked the homes and collected slaves.
One collection we did come across is the largest mineral collection in the world. Liosbjorg Petra Maria Sveinsdottir began collecting as a child with a rucksack, but her collection grew more rapidly when her fisherman husband retired, and he was able to drive the sleigh in winter to the mounds of rocks she had stored all over their property.
To see all of the photos we took today, click on Saturday, August 13th.
To see all of the photos we took today, click on Saturday, August 13th.
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