This photographer on Dyrhólaey is out of bounds. She crossed a barrier to get here. Thousands do.
Some die. Is this view not good enough?
Is this one not good enough?
What about this? So bad you need to die to get a different one?
We’d rather you were alive, really. Really. Besides, if you just turn around, you can see almost forever.
Then we could all go back and grill a lamb or something, drink some lava beer and have a great good time.
Well, ok, maybe not that.
Here at the head of the Hvalfjörður the old trails leap off across country. The old cairns remain, to still mark the way in bad weather, or good. As you can see, there’s a chasm between cairns. No amount of scrambling is going to make that worthwhile. You’re likely to break a fetlock, or worse.
Reading these cairns is not a matter of following straight lines. Obviously, the rock, the cleft and the sky are part of the trail, too, and the reading is a way of orienting oneself in multi-dimensional space, not map space. If you’ve ever read an Icelandic novel, you’ll recognize the pattern!
Women were put to death for visiting elves here on Viðey in Reykjavik Old Harbour. Now there is a shrine to Maria made out of cut glass in their honour and in honour of birth and motherhood in general.
On the other side of the island is the John Lennon Peace Tower, which beams light up into the winter darkness.
Iceland. Giving Peace and Light a chance since 870.
Plus picnics.
The snow’s falling, the budget is tight, you’re sitting in your rental car trying to defrost two hours from a cafe, and it’s lunch time. What to do? May I suggest …
Icelandic flatbread, a Danish twisted donut, herring-beet-apple salad, skyr (fresh-cheese-yoghurt with zero fat and 17g of protein — I like pear or blueberry the best, but there are a lot of other flavours, too), and the one you love. Cost? About a third of a cup of tea and 10% of a bowl of soup in Reykjavik. At this rate, you might be able to afford dinner! And by the time you’re done, you might be able to see out!
A Farm in Iceland 