Reykjavik to Sauðárkrókur (by van, 319km): We started the day with breakfast with David and Tom at a cat cafe with crepes. Then we did some last-minute jacket shopping, then checked out and headed to the bus terminal, where we were scheduled to meet Will, our driver for the week. Most of the day was the long drive up to the north coast of Iceland. Bill entertained us by reading two sagas from a book of Icelandic sagas he'd brought on the trip. We made a couple of stops, at a sod church, and at the really interesting turf house museum at Glaumbær. We arrived at our hotel, shook down the bikes, then went to dinner at a nearby restaurant. A few of us tried out the hotel's outdoor hot tub after dinner.
view from our hotel in Reykjavik |
scaffolding view from our hotel |
interior of hotel room |
cappuccino at Café Babalú |
interior of Café Babalú |
we found a book nook upstairs to eat our breakfast |
breakfast crepe! |
Tom and David at breakfast |
giant Playmobil person guarding the stairs |
building in Reykjavik with metal siding |
exterior of Café Babalú |
a house with metal siding |
a house with pride flags in the window |
look at those roof shingles! |
look at that roof sod! |
walking to the bus terminal to meet our van driver |
a menace |
you can see Hallgrímskirkja from everywhere in Reykjavik, part N |
luggage, awaiting a van |
construction near the bus terminal in Reykjavik |
could that be our van? |
it is! now we're inside the van |
underway, looking at the coast of Reykjavik from the van |
mountains in the clouds |
marshy view across the Kollafjörður (fjord) north of Reykjavik |
big mountains, small cows, much fog |
coast near Grundarhverfi |
view across the Hvalfjörður |
TUNNELLLL |
rock face north of the Hvalfjörður |
dark clouds and water through the van front windshield |
mountains, fog, and houses across the fjord |
more mountains, fog, and water |
more mountains, fog, and water |
enough mountains and clouds? we're just getting started |
a flat marshy landscape |
looking across some rainbowy water at Borgarnes |
seagull over streetlamps entering Borgarnes |
sky back across the water |
houses on the cliffs |
green mountains in the interior of western Iceland |
more green mountains |
transmission lines over a field in the rain |
first view (i think) of Hrútafjörður, our first northern fjord |
green fields and buildings at the edge of the fjord |
green farmland and mountains in the rain |
view at the edge of a fjord |
green fields, much small cows |
road, river, mountains, rain |
a different shade of green field |
a monument near Víðimýrarkirkja |
a quick stop to visit reconstructed sod church Víðimýrarkirkja |
a stream going off into the mountains |
our van and bikes |
the Skagafjörður Heritage Museum was closed, but we walked around the sod church |
roof of the sod church |
trying to look into the sod church window |
gravestone behind the church |
the green side of the church |
back on the road with fields and haybales |
...and mountains |
next stop, the turf farm at Glaumbær |
the museum is closed, but we can still walk through the houses |
air-preserved stockfish |
sign describing locations of 11th century longhouse remains (the buildings currently on the property were built in the mid-18th-19th centuries) |
mountains visible from Glaumbær |
exterior of sod houses |
interior of sod houses (it's dark in here) |
interior of roof |
interior of walls |
farm equipment in front of wall interior |
the farm equipment has pointy teeth |
close-up of wall interior |
dirt floor of sod house |
living room of sod house (this one has a significantly more finished interior) |
and a wood ceiling, even (wood is historically rare in Iceland; the deal is that the sod protects the wood from the elements, so it will last longer) |
Gina on the ladder up to the attic |
the finished houses are pretty dark inside too |
roof of the attic |
kitchen equipment, mostly for cheese-making |
kitchen storage barrels |
the wheel |
19th-century bed and storage furniture |
bed with bonus animal horns |
wall of beds |
look, a musical instrument of some sort |
look, some yarn in progress |
more textile-related equipment |
a game board and pieces |
more sod walls |
view from the window |
finished room of sod house |
COFFEE |
a giant stove area with big metal pots (apologies for the dark photo) |
reference unit sod house |
turf farm parting shot |
sod wall of turf farm parking lot |
back in the van in the rain |
Hótel Tindastóll, our lodging for the next two nights |
fuzzy mountain behind hotel |
outdoor hot tub at hotel |
building with a green facade |
water view of Skagafjörður from the hotel parking lot |
hotel room |
view from our window, fjord and mountains |
harbor view |
rooftops of Saurðárkrókur |
Gina, on a hotel porch |
David, on a hotel porch |
a beer at dinner at KK restaurant |
a buffalo pizza stick, at dinner |