North West

 Eric the Red's house.

 The travelogue photo of Kirkjufellsfoss.

 The black sand beach

 The coastline around Hellnar.

The group.

Monday, August 21^st

After a 9 am departure and about an hour drive, our first stop was at a small museum where there was at the reconstructed sodhouse of Eric the Red, who was the father of Leif Eriksson. Leif was born in Iceland and was the Viking who sailed from Greenland and discovered Vinland (Newfoundland and maybe Nova Scotia) five hundred years before Columbus. We sat inside the rather large home that reputedly housed up to 30 people, adults, children and slaves (Irish prisoners) and listened to the history as told to us by a young guide. In some ways this place was the beginning of Canada. I remember being enthralled in elementary school after the expeditions of the Vikings.

We continued driving to the north west through more beautiful valleys until we arrived at the Kirkjufellsfoss Waterfall. This waterfall is the one often featured in travel magazines and websites.

From there we drove to Stykkisholmur and around the pennisula to Snaefelsjokull NP where we got some excellent views of the volcano of the same name. Then we walked down to the beach created by the volcano. This was a beautiful black beach with magma formations along the shore.

Next, we drove to the coastal area around Hellnar. We took a short hike here along the cliffs of the coast, admiring the views, the birds and the blow holes where surf pounds the shore. I organized a group photo here. Then we drove to our guesthouse for the night. They had overbooked the place so Mohammad, Tim, Arthur and I were shuttled down to a different farm about ten minutes away. This was another really old farm house. Then we returned for dinner. Dinner was prepared by our hostess. She had cooked a variety of delicious meals, mostly a variety of fish. We ate in a very crowded dinning room. Tim, Mohammad, Arthur and I had a couple of beer and talked and then we were shuttled back to our residence and had one more beer.