Monthly Archives: January 2019

Paradise Falls: Little Jewel of the Whale Fjord

When you turn off onto Road 5001 at the head of the Havalfjörður to visit the high waterfall Glymur, make note of the gravel parking area to your left. When you come back soggy and disappointed that Glymur is unattainable because of bad weather and high water and muck, why not stop and hike a hundred metres up the stream to Paradisarfoss? She’s a pretty little one, with a fine little forest of wild birches. You need never be disappointed in Iceland.

By Icelandic standards, that’s a very good trail there.

Well worth the trip! And no, this was not sunset. And, yes, the sky was that pink. It was just November 5, that’s all, when a stroll through the rain is like a walk through laughter.

The Magic of an Icelandic Dawn

It is best to leave the city in the dark and strike east. If you time it right, you’ll be right on time. Be right on time. You can sleep later. Now is not the time for sleep.

Heiðarbærjarhólmi

There is a special hour on Þingvallavatn. Right after darkness, it is light. Then the light extinguishes and the world begins without illusion: blue.

The soul rises early. Everything that follows is just light.

 

The Icelandic Sagas are on CBC Radio’s “Ideas”

The Icelandic sagas tell the stories of the country’s settlers 1100 years ago, and mostly the stories that Snorri Sturluson, who lived at a volcanic hill called, simply, Borg (the German “Burg” for castle and “Berg” for mountain have the same root). The Icelandic town Borgarnes, or Borg Point, is just up the bay, at the mouth of the Breiðafjörd, or Broad Fjord. The view from Borg at sundown at 3 pm in November is really worth a saga in itself.

The story of these sagas and their importance to literature, Iceland and memory, are being told this week on CBC Radio. You can listen in. Here’s Part One, which played on January 1…

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/map-of-the-heart-the-icelandic-sagas-part-1-1.4702465

… and part 2 which is playing tonight:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/a-map-of-the-heart-part-2-the-icelandic-sagas-1.4712468

Well worth a couple hours of your time. The light disappears quickly here.

It’s always good to warm yourself by a good story.

And even the ice tells stories at Borg!